[R7]

The weekend started a day early as things were a bit slow at work so Todd and I decided to head to Maine early Friday morning rather than late afternoon. We left about 4:20am to make the 5-6 hour drive north. I had stayed at Todd's the night before and drank a couple glasses of wine with his wife Leigh so I had a headache for the whole morning... The forecast wasn't looking good for the weekend but we were going to make the best of it no matter what the conditions. On the ride up once we got in Maine, it was clear by looking on the side of the roads that the area got large amounts of rain as all the streams and rivers had overflowed.... We are going to get wet and muddy weather the sun shines or not...

We got to Todds grandmothers summer camp about 10:30am, it was cloudy damp and cool. The water on the pond was about 2' higher than normal, did I mention we were going to get muddy?
We didn't do much that day, just kinda hung around and went to do some food shopping later in the day. We also stopped for some candy, dirty toy magazines and the all important beer.. It was a early night as there was some riding to be done the following day.

Saturday the weather looked a little better, no real sunshine but it was bright and somewhat warmer, it was time to ride. After a quick breakfast, we geared up and were on our way. I had a full rain suit on over my gear as I normally get covered with mud being on the quad, Todd just used the rain pants being on 2 wheels and having more mud fling-off protection.
The trails were not as bad as we had thought, not riding Friday gave the water a chance to go down some I guess. Our first stop was a waterfall that normally runs kinda slow this time of year and on through the summer, not today....

What do you think, can we cross here??

The first real trail of the weekend was up next, it was a small mountain climb that's hardly ever used. It was a little over grown but still fun and all that much more challenging.
About halfway up, we took a short break to let the bikes cool down a bit.

There were quite a few trees down and crossing the trail but with a little work and almost looping a few times we made it over most of them, except this one we had to blaze a trail around.

We made it to the top of the mountain after about an hour and took another break. Usually on a nice day there's a tree you can climb up and see for miles but it was to wet and damp for that...

We made our way back down the mountain and decided to take the long way around back home. Our intentions were to climb another mountain but we found the plot of land to get to it had been closed down last fall to all motorized vehicles. I know it was to wet to make it up it anyway but we were sure gonna try our hardest to make it.
The last leg of the trail home was a complete mudpit, probably 3 miles of mud and water. I was covered from head to toe and my yellow rain gear was now solid brown, my quad didn't look much better.... One good thing when we got back, it was again kinda damp out so the mud never dried and was easy to wash off. We had a good solid 6 hours of riding in that day and close to 60 miles in the dirt.
It's always fun to end a good day sitting by the camp fire and getting drunk. Beer, a lot of twizzlers, all on top of a good super..... yeah the next day wasn't going to be pretty...


It was a late night and we slept in until about 10am Sunday morning. Again, it was cloudy and damp outside. We never ended up riding that day and just did some driving around. We went to Moosehead Lake and stopped at a Yamaha/Kawasucki/Bombardiar dealership to have a look around, pretty cool that it was open on Sunday but there wasn't a Yamaha toy to be found other than a used MX bike and outboard motors...
That area is known for the moose grazing on the sides of the road and wouldn't ya know it, i left my camera back at camp. Needless to say a good sized moose crossed the road and we had front row seats. Later that same day (again no camera) coming back from my aunts, we say another moose in a water hole on the side of the road. It's amazing how unfazed they are by people and also how fast they can make their way through thick woods.
It actually dried up just before the sun set so it was more beer and another fire for us. Did I mention we killed 4 1lb bags of red twizlers in 2 days?

Yet another late start on Monday and yet again, it was cloudy and damp. We're riding no matter what the weather today, it's the last day and have to end it with 5 1/2 hour drive home so we had to have some fun.
And again I put on the full rain gear over my riding gear in hopes of staying somewhat clean and dry. We head out about noon time in the opposite direction as Saturday. I wanted to stop by another water spot to see what it looked like, it was pretty cool looking.. Normally you can ride out onto the rocks and there isn't much water flowing but not this weekend..


After a few new trails for the weekend, we figured we'd hit the fun mountain again that we did on Saturday. It's one of them trails you can ride up and down all day and have just as much fun every time, you dirtriders know what I'm talking about... haha
Todd wanted to take the Punchbowl trail back, I didn't want to because I knew I'd get stuck and even more covered in mud. Well we took the trail and as expected I got hung up on some roots and shit in a water hole, it wasn't all that bad other than my footpegs being under water, I don't like wet feet... haha And of course on the Punchbowl trail, stopping at Punchbowl Pond is also a must.. Notice the fog?


On the way back Todd had to play on a rock so I took a couple pictures. Dirtbike riders are such squids, can you imagine the erosion done to this rock?? haha
Little wheelie


Those heavy dated TTRs can catch air?


What's this, a smoke show? That type of stuff should be saved for bikeweek...


That was it for the riding for the weekend, probably only 30 or so miles for Monday and close to 60 on Saturday wasn't all that bad considering the weather conditions.
I cleaned the bikes quick and we packed up and left for home about 4:30pm, I was home by 10:30pm that night. As much as you hate to leave a mini vacation, it's always nice to be home.

[Half Squid]

Looks like you had a great time! Dirty Toys rule, especially when the weather is too shitty to street ride!

Great Read and great Pics Mark!

[R7]

Thanks Mike, we did have a killer time And the way the weather has been this spring, the dirty toy has been getting a lot more use than usual.
Are you getting another one sometime? I know someone that you've delt with before is selling another pretty killer bike, make a good tard to

[Zorlock]

Thanks for sharing the adventure with us man. Great pics.....and when bikes are involved, even a crappy weather weekend can turn out alright.

4 - 1lb. bags of twizzlers?? hmmmm, sounds like the munchies to me...

[mikeb]

excellant pics, looks like a great time. i'm working on getting a one day ride together. not much interest besides you though. btw my big 650 4x4 coulda crossed those streams

[richw]

I liked it

[ChR1s]

Nice pants.

[MissTwisties]

Nice pics! Someday, I'll have a quad!

[R7]

Thanks for the compliments

ChR1s, i knew you'd say something about the pants but at that point staying dry was more important than looks

not much interest besides you though. btw my big 650 4x4 coulda crossed those streams

I'll be getting the NH orv sticker next week, i'll be ready any time after that.
There aren't to many things that could cross them streams even when they are low. The water in the first set of pictures where Todd is standing is over 6' deep when the water is low in the summer time.

I'm not sure when i'll be able to go again, i'm going to try a couple more times at least this year.
For those that don't mind camping, i have a small camp (no power or water, but there is a outhouse) on 5 acres of land if anyone wants to go up for a weekend to camp out and ride. It'll be a 10-15 minute drive from my place to the trails

[bentbryan]

Good stuff!

[Nazo]

Yo, Good pics Mark.
I skipped through alot of the Novel, but I really like those pics. Looks like you had a great weekend of fun.