Elbe Hills Fun Ride

Hi ya' all, it was a beautiful day here in Washington and I just had to go find something to do. Elbe is a small 'Train Stop' at the South end of Alder Lake on the Nisqually River at the Junction of Hwy 7 and Hwy 706 towards Mt. Rainier. Elbe Hills is an OHV area off 96th Street about half way between Elbe and Ashford.

I'll let the pictures do the talking, because I just had too much fun with the little 'Pigglet'.

Majestic Mount. Rainier looking east


Getting ready to find trouble


Found trouble, darn gate was closed


Came back down out of the snow and found some rocks


Rocks led to mud and water holes, I didn't want to go through alone, will have to wait for my buddy to get his XR650L back on the road.

Just one of the many splended views (this was looking back towards Tacoma in the far off distance above the tail you can see the snow capped Olympic Mountains)


The area has trails for 4X4 and ATVs, this was rated as a 4X4 trail, but it gets pretty hairy as you will soon see.



This was at 2700 feet and although the temperatures were cool, I was sweating my butt off, time to take a break loose the under warmies and walk the hill down to see what lay ahead (Rocks, roots and slick mud, Oh the JOY)


This was looking down, trust me it was steep


Looking up, about halfway to the first turn on a three-hundred foot elevation change


Lookin down again at the that first turn


Looking up from the turn


A resting place just after the turn and a lot less rocks (I'm pointing at the Mountain but the light meter didn't adjust for the best picture, you'll see it without me)



Back off the hills and on Hwy 706 there's this crazy place with all sorts of metal figures, I'm surprised it's taken me 17-years to stop and take pictures



Aagh, finally back to Elbe, with dead batteries in the camera so this is it, then 20-minutes to home.



It was a magnificent day, and I only had to say "Good Save, Good Save" twice on that hill. I almost christened her twice going down and over those rocks, but managed to save it both times all sprawled over the tank and handlebars. Don't think I would have saved the 1150 from certain doom on that hill.

Any body that wants to go ride with me, there are lots of trails and places I still need to explore up there.

Until the next time, have fun and go out and ride.


Doc

Very nice!

Great report, Doc, and good pictures, too. I love to see a bike in its element. Looks like you and piglet had a blast!

SFDOC said:

Looking up from the turn

Click to expand...

Oohhh... fun! Did you ride that?

Thanks for the report.

Ian

Visian said:

Oohhh... fun! Did you ride that?

Thanks for the report.

Ian

Click to expand...

Yep, first gear, lots of clutch and skidding the back tire down, and judicious use of the front brake.

Those rocks in the that picture were what messed me up the most. I came down the right side of the trail mostly up on the dirt (Left as your looking at the picture) and then tried to go around the rocks to the left and right of that tree root, I hit one them other rollie rocks and almost lost the front end. Since I has to start out again sitting down, I didn't have the ballance to get through the next 20 feet hit a few more rocks and drove off the trail just little and on the second save of the day. After that I got to stand up again, and the trail got better too, it was mostly dirt, mud and few more firmly planted boulders thrown in with some more tree roots.

It ain't the 'Pig' (weighing in at nearly 600lbs) but at 420lbs, little 'Piglet' is still quite a handful compared to my YZ @ 240lb which has a lot more bark. The GSD is maybe a little too smooth in the power delivery department, but hey, that's what I bought it for, garage to ride and back to garage, no trucks no trailers. I'll get better on it, just gotta keep riding.

I'm not in any hurry, but it's not gonna be a true off-road machine until I've dropped it a few times on each side.