El Dorado Canyon, March 27, 2013

 

Sometimes a picture just says it best. Had a blast riding out to Keyhole Canyon to look at the petroglyphs. Pretty cool to see the pictographs inside the Kiva structure. The bottom picture looks like a pictograph of a Spanish ship. It is documented that the Spanish conquistadors came through here in search of the legendary city of gold "El Dorado". Could the natives have documented this by painting a ship in their huts?

Polaris Woes

Polaris Woes

I normally don't like to talk much tech, as I would rather be spending time out seeing the sites but

several things have been annoying me about my Polaris Sportsman 500 H.O.

Before I get to the things that annoy me, let me first talk about the things that attracted me to the  Polaris Sportsman 500 in the first place.

1: Price.. I got mine for 5500 plus tax brand new. Using tried and true technology Polaris has managed to make a long lasting utility ATV for a reasonable price. I'm not about to pay 10 G's for a 1000cc Can-Am that is loaded to the gills! Remember that a more expensive ATV doesn't  help you explore the back country any better.

2: Utilitarian.. It only has the options I need.Steel wheels (instead of expensive and brittle alloy) 4x4 and reverse. I chose to not go with a bigger larger ATV with features like power steering and fuel injection to keep future costs down. Expensive options in my opinion are more likely to fail down the road and require highly trained techs to repair.

3: Dimensions.. at 83x48x48 it is large enough to seat just about anyone. I am 6'3" and 200 lbs and i fit on it just fine. a few extra inches of ground clearance wouldn't hurt but its not the end of the world. Also it has 11.25" of ground clearance, where the Kawasaki Brute Force only has 9.4" making the Sportsman ideal for clearing larger rocks.

4: Power.. The 500cc motor provides more than enough power to haul me and plenty of gear up the steepest of hills and even in the sand. As long as I keep up on service and have newer air filters it never really bogs down. It goes just as fast as my buddy's 650, just takes a few more seconds to get there!

Now... The things that annoy me

+Polaris went through all of the trouble to develop this new system that was supposed to revolutionize how we carry our gear on ATVs. They called it "Lock & Ride" where they basically turned the metal grid style racks we were all familiar with and happy with, and swapped them with flat plastic racks with no grids, only little holes where you can stick what are basically boat drain plugs in to hold your gear down. By doing this they made it so that regular aftermarket rack bags and other accessories with the standard u-bolt design would not work, forcing you purchase Polaris brand accessories. 

Unfortunately Polaris does not manufacture nearly as many accessories  as the aftermarket companies do, so we miss out on the ability to utilize some really cool gear!

Also, boat drain plugs don't do a very good job of holding down things that are really heavy when on a rocky trail that bounces around. 

Recently I purchased the Kolpin Fuel pack Jr with the Lock & Ride bracket for added fuel security on long trails. It only came with 2 of the plugs which are rubber grommets with screws and washers so when you tighten them down the rubber grommet becomes fatter inside the plug, therefor holding it snugly in place (in theory). There was only one position I could make this fit on my rear rack. Everything seemed fine until i got into rougher pieces of the trail. The whole fuel carrier which was still attached to the bracket kept bouncing off of the rear rack. I quickly realized I had to keep this thing attached some other way. I did what any redneck would do and bungeed it down to the rack bag and away I went.

Recently I also purchased an Ogio Honcho rear ATV cargo bag. I bought it because it had the best ratings out of all of the ATV bags I have found and it was a soft bag ( I dont like the thought of rolling and having a hard shell cargo box landing on me). It also has a dust shield to keep belongings dust free, and 2 insulated coolers for carrying beverages or lunch. Only problem was that it has Velcro straps which are supposed to attach to a metal grid style rack. The velcro straps weren't long enough to reach any of the holes in the factory composite rack Polaris has switched to!!

I tried several different ways of mounting this bag to the bike, and I am still trying to perfect it. I ended up drilling holes into the rack and bolting the fuel carrier onto the rack which now vibrates terribly, and the Ogio rack bag still shifts around on me quite a bit on steep slopes. Polaris should make an aftermarket steel rack with a grid style system to replace the crappy composite racks they come with now! Or better yet, just start manufacturing them with the old style racks again!!

I have considered butchering my 01 Sportsman 500's rack to try to retrofit it on my 2012 Sportsman 500, but have decided against it.. Maybe if i found an older style rack for cheap online I would consider trying it.

Polaris should bee ashamed of this. In my opinion it is a cheap marketing trick to get people to have to buy Polaris accessories. Polaris should focus on what they do best, which is build quality ATVs. Let aftermarket companies do what they do best, which is build quality accessories.

Spring Moutains = No Petrolgyphs

 Why are there no petroglyphs or Native American sites in the Spring Mountains?

I was up in the Wheeler Pass area behind Wheeler Peak looking for petroglyphs today. Of course I have never heard of petroglyphs up there or seen any and I started wondering why? All of the petroglyphs and Native American sites in the Southern Nevada area that I have found are in the lower elevation areas where there are no trees. It would make sense to me that the natives would hunt in the Spring Mountain area because it plays host to a large assortment of game animals, so why don't we find Native American relics up here? 

The way I see it, there are several reasons that can explain this.

A: the native peoples of this area liked hunting in the lower desert area because of line of sight. The forest of trees in the spring mountain area makes it difficult, if not impossible to be able to spot game from far away. Maybe they never quite mastered or even tried to hunt in the higher elevations in the trees.

B: There are sites here, they just got overgrown by trees and other brush and therefor stay hidden from site, or there are no trails going near where these sites are. There are vast amounts of wilderness in the Spring Mountains where there are no trails currently. Just because there isn't a trail now doesn't mean there wasn't a trail there long ago.

C: People visiting this beautiful area for the last 150 years or so already found all of the Native American relics and either took them home or destroyed them. There is evidence of Mormons in this area long ago. Mormons believe Native Americans are actually of Jewish descent who were sent here by God around 1400 BC. But if the Mormons took all of the Native American relics here, why didn't they take them in other areas where Native relics can be found near Mormon settlements?

D:We do know that the Spring Mountain area is considered a "Land Island", meaning the terrain in this area is greatly higher in elevation than the surrounding areas and therefor the animal and plant life in this area is entirely different than the animal and plant life in the surrounding lower elevation area. It is thought that being in such isolation causes species to evolve differently than in other areas, so we get some species that are specific to these areas. Maybe the natives were unfamiliar with these species, and this type of terrain and never actually tried their hands up there...

Solo Riding

Solo Riding

Lately I have been doing a lot of solo riding during the middle of the week due to a schedule change at work. Solo riding is probably one of the most dangerous types of ATV riding there is. To me, riding alone gives me a different kind of rush than any other riding. It is a conscious decision I have made to not let my weird work schedule prohibit me from doing something I love. It is the art of self reliance. If something goes wrong the only person to blame is yourself. On the same token; if something goes wrong the only person who can help is yourself.

When riding alone it is important to give yourself the best chance possible to make it out alive in case something goes wrong. Let someone know where you are going and when you plan to be back. This person should ideally have knowledge of the area and the means to get there. You should bring enough food and water to last at least several days. It is all the more important to have emergency gear like fix-a-flat, a small air compressor, a first and and snake bite kit, the means to build a fire and a map. I personally bring a 2 way radio with me so that in case of an accident I can scan the channels and send out an SOS.

Knowledge is power. Knowledge of the land and the distances between A and B. It is not going to help if you manage to get a hold of someone if you cant tell them where you are. Knowledge of where resources like water and shelter are. Knowledge of the weather forecast and patterns.

The decisions one makes when exploring along are magnified that much further. When you are along you have to do your due diligence to mitigate risk.

Logandale, NV - Friday March 1

Logandale, NV

Logandale is the Mecca for off-road travel in Southern Nevada. Known for its beautiful rock formations and sandy trails it makes for perfect ATV riding. The Logandale trail system contains over 200 miles of trails with all kinds of terrain. It has something for everyone, from novice to expert and everyone in-between.

I love Logandale for its rich history dating back at least 1200 years. The Anasazi Native Americans left some interesting and beautiful petroglyphs.

If you look around the area where the petroglyphs are you will find little huts under the rock structures where it appears the Native Americans lived.

You will also find a dam in a canyon area which held water in and made the area moist and fertile. The dam was build by the Mormon settlers in the late 1800s. The dam made it possible to grow crops in the otherwise non fertile sand. The crops and water must have also attracted wild game in the area which made for easy hunting. 

We know there is wild game in the area because of the animals depicted in the petroglyphs.

We also know there is wild game in the area because of this..