Posted: 12/7/17
Story & photos: Rodney Wills
This is a four-part blog series:
• PACK CONTENTS FOR A SCX10 TRAIL HIKE
• Getting There – SCX10 Hike Over Redonda Ridge – Big Bear, California
• Hiking the Redonda Ridge with an SCX10 Trail Honcho
Planning a SCX10 Hike over Redonda Ridge OHV Trail 1W17
The back story of the pre-story - inspiration overflood...
You can't plan for inspiration, you have to be open to receive it at all times.
Back on September 24th, 2017 Jason Markley of Pedals Bike Shop and myself road our Yamaha TW200's up to Big Bear, California for a day of dual sport trail riding. Nothing technical, just wanted to clock 100-miles in the dirt on our mini dual sports for the day.
It was a great pleasurable day of putting in the dirt miles, nothing technical, nothing high speed (impossible on these bikes! hehehe), just consistent riding to get the miles in. After lunch in the Fawnskin area of Big Bear, California we went out Coxey Road (one of many dirt roads in Big Bear) and just pass the Big Pine Flats Campground, Jason took us though a little fence opening with some trail markings. I paid no attention to the trail name we had just taken, but I should have known when I saw the two black diamonds on the sign though... In no time we hit this great wall of rock and dirt.
The photographer in me had me jumping off to snap a photo of Jason before helping him! For the next portion of our day, everything we had done earlier in the day ( easy) was now juxtapositioned against this trail that was kicking our little bike's butts! And ours!
Small diameter tires (in height) with low foot controls, especially in comparison to our normal dirt bikes, is what made this trail most difficult! I bent the brake foot lever and gear shift lever respectfully around each foot peg due to banging into massive boulders that I was attempting to thread through and around. While the advantage of low seat height is a plus on these little bikes, the ground clearance is the negative, everything has it's trade-off.
To add to the situation, the sun was going down fast. We didn't know if we would be on-trail in the dark and we still would have a 30-mile commute back down the mountain. The high of the day was 59-degrees and the temperature is already dropping.
Upon reaching the end of the trail in Crab Flats, we came upon the trail's end/start sign.
I took a photo as I wanted to know what trail we traversed for future reference because the whole time along the trail my brain was thinking, "this would make for a great SCX10 trip!"
Upon getting home the thought of going back and SCX10 hiking that trail kept growing.
But just what is this "1W17" trail? Why did it seem familiar to me?
Digging around on Google got me to the San Bernardino National Forest webpage with not much information. https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/sbnf/recarea/?recid=74053
However, further search tells me this is the Malcolm Smith Trail! If you've watched "On Any Sunday" then you know Malcolm is a bit of a legend in the motorcycle world! But how did this become "his" signature trail? No real info readily available... Another story!
While on the trail at about the halfway point it all came to me that I have been on this trail a couple of times before back in 2009 as my buddy John Schultz and I rode it on bigger motos.
That day back in 2009 we ran the trail both ways and on our way back down we wanted to see how these 4X4's were coming though here! I also discovered there are different sections to the trail as the section we road today is the moto-only section or the 50" or less vehicles... something like that.
What I remember about that ride in 2009 was that is was quicker for us to get through here on our bikes in comparison to the Jeepers. It's one thing to thread two wheels through a rock garden and even a "footpeg scraping" boulder garden, but to put 4-wheels through these obstacles got our curiosity on one particular section. We stopped and waited to see how the Jeeps come through as we were able to thread through the rocks with our bikes, but the Jeeps will have to straddle, go over and work around some of the obstacles.
Remember all this, digging up these old photos, the "flood rush" of memories, my excitement level about the possibility of SCX10 hiking this trail grew even quicker!
I started by getting the Big Bear map out and visualizing the dream.
Then I start exploring the possibilities with some more visual planning. With Google maps I start selecting screen captures and printing them out for a larger view. The trail is not indicated on Google Maps. I had to flip into satellite mode and find it visually.
With a yellow highlighter, I start highlighting the path so I can see it from my desk.
Now I have some nice inspiration on my wall!
Now it's time to start making more solid plans...
I walked into Scott Roberts (SR) office and asked him if he would like to hike with me over this trail as he has hiked a few trails with me previously. My idea was to have him document my efforts over this trail.
SR agreed to roll, but said we should use this trip to shoot a video for an upcoming project. I was planning on using my GCR1 SCX10ii, but SR suggested a little something different. I like the idea and my simple plans instantly turned into bigger plans as timing of an upcoming project aligns, thus more personnel which leads to more planning. SR also said that Tony Phalen should come and shoot with the second video camera as SR would be shooting with camera 1. I'm usually the one shooting all the video for us, so this will make for an interesting change. SR went on to state that we should invite Anthony Rivas as he "has a good eye," lives close enough - maybe, and if he came, could capture the whole trip from his perspective for his social outlets.
While I am a little concerned that I am loosing sight of my original goal, it is the end of the year and I rationalize the team effort as a team bonding effort. It has been a tough year, thus roughing it in the backcountry with the team is a perfect counter-balance to the mental stresses of work. I'm sure lots of you are laughing right about now, "oh the stresses of working at a big time R/C company!" "Really dude!" I say the same thing in talking with my bicycle-moto-auto industry colleagues!
But I do think about what you think about us, I think of how you will react to what we say and do, I think about what you think of what we write-say-do...
I try to be self conscious and always try to wear your shoes on my feet. I'm a size 10.
OK, back on trail topic! Once it becomes more than just covering "the three primaries" for myself, adding the dynamics of the group becomes more critical!
Food, water and shelter are "THE" three primaries in my book.
It's one thing when we you only have to worry about food for yourself, but when you have to look after your team, especially in the remoteness of outdoors, it's a little more serious. But it's kinda' old hat for me now as I've done this a few times. I have the formula (so do all moms); X # of guys (kids), X # Breakfasts, X # Lunches, X # Dinners, X # of days and I can quickly assemble what food supplies are needed. More names are added to the feed list and I will get into those details later.
Time to choose which pack I will use as I have various ones collected over time.
Between hiking, mountain biking, motorcycling, I have various bags for various jobs.
Sometimes... rather always referring back to The Book of knowledge:
I always have this book close by as it is a great reference with years of knowledge behind it! If you are remotely interesting in hiking the great outdoors, this book has been the standard of which Field & Stream magazine has dubbed as the Hiking Bible, The Complete Walker IV by Colin Fletcher & Chip Rawlins. Read my review here:
https://www.axialadventure.com/blog_posts/1073924197
Tools of the trade:
Aside from the personal gear, the R/C will need support as well. I've honestly have yet to assemble a "field tool kit" separate from my full R/C tool kit, just for RC hikes, until now. This is my minimalist R/C tool kit as it will only consist of 7mm nut driver, 1.5mm hex driver, 2.0mm hex driver and a pair of bent needle nose pliers.
The beginnings of the assembly of necessities. Just choosing the pack is my hardest decision almost every time! It's shouldn't be.. It should just be, stack everything up and fit it into which pack it fits best, or better yet, just have one pack and that it, that all.. But I'm a bit of a "gear junkie" and "bag lust" is at the top of the pile!
When I am multi-tasking my mission I have to think through every process. I'm not just hiking into a remote location, I have to carry batteries, tools and spares for the R/C rig. Plus, I will most likely be carrying camera gear. Even though I am not shooting the video for this trip, it's my nature to document in photo the trip on a personal level, but at the same time, I have yet to find a specific camera pack that suits the other needs.
In the photo above, here are the items shown: London Bridge Trading LBT-1476A
Standard Three Day Assault Pack • North Face Boonie Hat • Stance Training Crew Socks • Bedrock Bags • Topo Designs Accessory Pouch • Aerostich Ultralight Stuff Bag • 5.11Tactical Packable Jacket • REI Silk-weight thermals • 5.11 Tactical Socks (backup's) • Source WXP 3L Storm Valve Hydration System • Petzl Headlamps (2)
I will get more into my load-out list details in another article.
In the mean time, hydrate hydrate hydrate & stay the course.
#SCX10LIFE #AxialAdventures
FURTHER READING:
• PACK CONTENTS FOR A SCX10 TRAIL HIKE
• Getting There – SCX10 Hike Over Redonda Ridge – Big Bear, California
• Hiking the Redonda Ridge with an SCX10 Trail Honcho
