+ Week Rocket Science and other Riding Tales

[ZoomerP]

I'm not sure the Whale Snot Trail was ever officially a trail. It started as a National Forest road which kept deteriorating as it went along. They only closed that part that was deteriorating. Unfortunately that was the fun part.

My guess is that they didn't have the budget to maintain the road, and there may have been a messy recovery of truck from that section that tore things up bad enough that they closed it.

Death Valley has considered a different approach to their growing problems related to morons bombing down rough roads. Instead of scrambling to keep the roads in relatively good shape and responding to more and more accidents, they were trying to leave some sections alone so the degradation prevented high speeds and discouraged morons from driving on them at all. I like the idea, and I think other areas will do more planned degradation. Some high traffic trails in Colorado come to mind.

 

[klaviator]

My guess is that they didn't have the budget to maintain the road, and there may have been a messy recovery of truck from that section that tore things up bad enough that they closed it.

Death Valley has considered a different approach to their growing problems related to morons bombing down rough roads. Instead of scrambling to keep the roads in relatively good shape and responding to more and more accidents, they were trying to leave some sections alone so the degradation prevented high speeds and discouraged morons from driving on them at all. I like the idea, and I think other areas will do more planned degradation. Some high traffic trails in Colorado come to mind.

There had been no maintenance for years. You needed a serious 4wd or a motorcycle to get down it. Until I "discovered" it a few years ago no one I knew even knew the trail existed. My friends who had been riding the area for many years had no idea it was there. The trail dead ended at a beautiful spot on the Sipsey river. Across the river we could see signs that there used to be access there but we could never find it. The trail/road on the other side had probably been closed off earlier. It is possible the issue was that the trail was on private land but there weren't any sign of that. I have seen the many trails and roads being closed in Georgia and North Carolina as well. Eventually we will become like some western European countries where there is little or no off road riding left.

 

[ZoomerP]

As I view your trail photos, I think about how remote some of those areas are and the history they've seen, especially during the Civil War era. When those areas are closed to vehicular traffic, I have to wonder if anyone will bother (or be allowed) to hike in there again, and what justification is used to support their closure. We need wild places, but that doesn't have to mean removing human activity from all of them.

 

[klaviator]

It was a beautiful day today so I headed for pulaski, TN to grab the tag in a local tag game. As I rode along I stopped to take pics of potential new tags.

I took some new to me roads.

This old store has seen better days.

 

[klaviator]

I had to stop and document my epic water crossing

I saw the sign for a historical monument so I U turned and went to check it out.

California happy cows? Maybe not.

 

[klaviator]

I found the tag in Pulaski.

Then I wandered around town for a while and took some pics.

 

[klaviator]

I had a light lunch then headed towards home. I kept looking for potential new tags.

I can't use this since my bike isn't in the pic but I thought it was an interesting house so i did a drive by shooting.

 

[klaviator]

I have taken pics of this bridge with some of my other bikes.

Looking the other way.

This would make a good tag:

So would this but I have used it before.

This next pic has no identifying marks but is on our regular route when we start our rides in Ardmore.

Same spot but I wanted to get the barn in the pic.

That was my last pic. I think I rode around 150 miles to get and set the tag.

What was the new tag? The Waterfalls.