Fandango Road's evil twin and Summer Lake...Doggystyle!

After a good night's sleep and a cup of coffee, I'm ready to tell this tale.

Jon and I had plans to meet at the 27th street Shell at 8:30am. With that in mind, I show up at 8:40am. Fashionably late is my thing. We hang out for a bit, shoot the shit and discuss our route for the day. Fortunately, we both love the desert, exploring and dirtbikes. This will be a great day!

We did the usual slab out to Ford Road, out to the powerlines, up and over Green Mountain and into Christmas Valley for gas. I was about to take the obligatory Ford Road pic when my camera pooped out..."Change the batteries". Weak...A pic-less mega ride?!

After a re-fuel in X-Mas Valley, Jon asks me if I wanted some batteries. You've had these extra batteries this whole time?! I'm gonna kill you!



From X-Mas Valley, we bomb east down the highway toward Wagontire. Jon wants to try Burma Road. Evidently, it will intersect Fandango. Something new and exciting? I'm in!

Shots from X-mas to Burma...


Not the best for the li'l 400 with 14/47 gears...


Jon contemplates jumping into the ditch along side the shoulder of the road. The crazy bastard does it!




We chose not to head all the way down to Burma, but to hook up with it via another road. One of the dustiest, siltiest roads I've been on in a long time! A taste of Baja!



I actually had a slow speed crash in Jon's dust cloud. I couldn't see shit, ran into the side of the road and dumped it. No blood or broken parts...It's all good!

Jon making sure we're on the right road...


As you can see, the road improves. We head from sand and silt to "dirt" This is gonna be alright!


Nearby scenery...



Burma Road is named after the Burma Rim, which is along the left side of the road...For miles.

Jon's 747-like contrail...




You can see the road continue into the depths of the desert in this shot...


More...

After awhile, the road got shitty. What I mean by that is rocky. Reminiscent of the "other" Fandango Road. Every couple of seconds I'm screaming, "FUCK!" from all the head-on rock strikes. Oh well, I was seeing some cool stuff and still had air in my tires!

Shot from the one gate we had to open. Looking East-ish.


Sure the road got shitty from time to time but, after awhile, you'd run into some neat stuff. One of the larger playas in the area.



As we go, the quality of the road varies. Looking back from where we came from. Notice the large pile of mustang shit!



I saw "road apples" for MILES and kept wondering where all the wild horses were. My patience payed off. Ponies! I believe the Abert Rim and Hart Mt/Warner Peak are in the background.




We finally hit a "main" road we were able to haul the mail on without gnarly rock gardens. This would cross Fandango and lead us over the Colgans into Paisley. We first had the idea of hitting Lake Abert and gassing in Valley Falls but, we thought Paisley would be better on time.

Shots into Paisley...









A welcome sight and feel...


Shots from after lunch coming up...

Jon had always wanted to go around Summer Lake...The back way. He tried once with his brother without success. I told him I'd be down to try it! I asked a pair of old timers if it was possible to achieve this feat. "If you're walkin'!", one says. Good enough for us! He tells us to take the first right past Red House and the rodeo grounds...

Lookin' good!


A little too far away to tell for sure but, there was some work being done on the side of the is ridge. Paleontology dig?




The road was in pretty good shape. As we got closer to the lake, it got a little more sandy and there were frequent washouts. One minute you're riding the desert sage...The next you're on a lunar-type landscape...Then on a lakebed surrounded by sand and grass. Prolly the coolest part of the ride!






Yeah, this is the road...

The washes get bigger and bigger...




Jon to find his way around...


And in...


And out...


Be careful...These guys sneak up on ya!



Off to my left, this catches my eye...


My GPS says "lost cabin". COOL!





Tall reeds in the desert...


Shortly after the cabin, about 25 miles from Paisley...


We sure as hell weren't turning back!

More...

A shot from our north-bound snafu, looking east...


West...


We figured we'd head east, toward the ridge and try to get around the private property. We successfully made it around the property, got within feet from the road that would take us back to HWY31 at Summer Lake and we're turned around by a fence and locked gate. We were now wedged between two chunks of private property SHIT! We contemplated sneaking through but, we did the right thing and continued east to get around private land #2. Unfortunately, the road ended and we were forced to bushwack through these sage-infested mini sand dunes for nearly 2 miles. Wrestling the bikes through this shit in 95 degree heat was no fun at all. Either this or head back 30 miles and go around.





Finally! We had muscled through the brush and onto a main dirt road that took us into the "town" of Summer Lake.



After an XR fill-up and a couple of Gatorades, we were on the road to Silver Lake and Pitcher Road. High-speed gravel all the way up into Fort Rock and into the tall, cool trees of China Hat Road into Bend. (Jon splits off on FS22 into LaPine, where he is staying).




Fort Rock ahead, to the left of the road...




A pair of maps...



The END! Thanks for tuning in!

9am-7pm...293 miles...Good times!

What was with the kid skateboarding in the middle of nowhere?
Cool Cabin too.

Cait wrote:

What was with the kid skateboarding in the middle of nowhere?
Cool Cabin too.

Yeah, the kid's just rocking down this road. You should have seen how fast he jumped off and ran to the side of the road when Jon blasted by him!

As always, great ride documenting!