The paper this morning said they were closing the SB Mtns for the rest of the fire season. This is going to be a real killer for me, because this is the time of year I usually ride the mountains. Hope the deserts cool off soon!!

 

I heard that too.When are they sposed to close it?

 

Last Friday at noon. I tried to get up there before the closure, but it didn't work out. Actually, much of the area open to riding has burned in recent years.

 

We went up there saturday morning.I went up 4n16 from Lucerne valley as the gate was open.We went to horse springs campground to cook lunch and there was signs posted all over the place.We headed up 3n14 to big pines flat campground but was greeted by another gate about a mile before we got there.

We figured that we should start headin home before the rangers catch us.This is where the fun begins!We must have been following the ranger because we are locked in,he must have shut the gate behind him.

Back down the way we came up(4n16) and the gate was locked,No way around this one.Back to 3n14 and the gate was locked just above oak springs.Back up to one of the atv trails(3n59?)towards the hot springs and we found a smaller locked gate that had barbed wire on each side.

We were able to unwind the wire and get out(there was no other way out,while treading lightly)onto Mike Castro's property,rode past the lower hot springs parking lot and down jf-6(powerline rd that leads to Deep Creek rd,2 miles from my house) into Apple Valley,there is a gate at the bottom of jf-6 but it was open.

I had no idea that they would shut it off as fast as they did,usually they give a couple of weeks notice......not one day.

Time to start writing letters again.

 

hello guys well sorry to hear about sb mountains closing but if you dont mind the drive head over to gorman.I was there yesterday and it was 68 degrees. It was perfect weather to ride.

 

Chris-Once you're out of the National Forest, does anybody bother you when riding dirt roads?? I notice that part of the land is BLM which should be legal (yellow on the national forest map), but below that is private (white on the map). Around Apple Valley, can you ride dirt or powerline roads with impunity???

Think of the poor people who live where there are no mountains at all. This is what it must be like!!

 

<< Chris-Once you're out of the National Forest, does anybody bother you when riding dirt roads?? I notice that part of the land is BLM which should be legal (yellow on the national forest map), but below that is private (white on the map). Around Apple Valley, can you ride dirt or powerline roads with impunity???

Think of the poor people who live where there are no mountains at all. This is what it must be like!! >>



Once you get out of the mountains theres too many houses.Somebody is always calling the cops and it becomes a big hastle,even though on private property the cops cant do anything.

If you look at your map,in S.Apple valley there is a powerline road that comes off of Deep Creek road(runs right next to the Mojave river
).It is called JF-6 and as of yesterday is still open to riding,I'll let you know if it gets closed.

The next place to ride (legally) is the Stoddard valley area between Victorville and Barstow.This place is full of lave rock and the stuff will eat tires alive!I don't even want to think of crashing in it....ouch!

 

We were at Staddard once, and a guy rolled out his brand new Raptor and took off riding. About 30 min later he was back with one of his tires in shreds!! We often ride Wild Wash on the north side of the freeway. From a distance, it doesn't look like much, but once you're back there, it's pretty nice.