Spring in the Alvord

[kurtw]

I headed out to the Alvord last weekend with a bunch of friends to enjoy my 40th birthday riding some of the best stuff around. You guys who have been there know what I mean... I was out there for four days....now back, it feels like four months... There's no better way to get away from it all.

There's a ride report going on that other site. Rather than just linking it or copying everyone's stuff here, I'll let you find it if you want the photos and dialog. But here's a video that I did using some photos and videos from everyone. Enjoy.  

Alvord Desert with Bend Dualsport from Kurt Windisch on Vimeo.

[DogBoy]

[sigh]Someday.[/sigh]

[bubba zanetti]

Simply stunning ... a bump ... a couple of us are headed to Lolo this weekend and are discussing this ride for spring ... next year.

Awesomeness x 10 for the video, the music and the feelings they give ...  


My vote for post of the year .... fwiw.





 for the rest of you .. please go back to the hot sports reporter threads .... please.

[R Doug]

 I cannot view enough of your photographs.  

I've seen these images on the facebook, but not your video compilation.  Well done.

[Mastros2]

That was wonderful!  Thank you for taking the time to share that.  Wow.

[XLR8]

Wow that was fantastic.  

Obviously I have not checked in here in a while.  

Great stuff.  

[kurtw]

Thanks. Always good times out there. Even when they're not so much. I've been meaning to post a Fall in the Alvord report. Maybe I'll do that tonite.

My friend decided he didn't want to ride his bike down the mountain.

[XLR8]

I just noticed someone had a C14 out there.  

The Heli looks ominous. I've seen that a few times myself. I hope he was OK.

[kurtw]

Yep he is well. Report later along with reviews of SPOT and ACR

[kurtw]

(a) FALL in the Alvord
September 2010

I was considering a quick trip out to the Alvord and Thursday call from a friend visiting Bend and looking to ride out that way sealed the deal. I took Friday off and met up with my friend Erik and his wife in Frenchglen Friday noon.

Erik and Nichole had never been up in the Steens so we drove up to the top of the Steens Mountain Loop to take in the views.





A storm was moving into Central Oregon so I wasn't sure what to expect on top. The weather up top was great with just a little breeze.





After getting our fill of jaw-dropping views, we returned to Frenchglen and then continued on to the Alvord Hot Springs via a stop in Fields. Again, the weather in the Alvord was perfect. There weren't many people around, just an encampment of land-sailers and a family camped nearby exploring on quads.



We had time Friday night for a quick ride before it got dark. A friend's photos of the windmill from a previous trip and the challenge of trying to find it lured us across the playa. Erik was riding his new KTM 300 (e-start!). Not the best bike for the usual playa land-speed record tests.



But we played around in the monkey dunes and worked our way southeast until we found the windmill.



I love sleeping in the Alvord after an evening soak. Truly one of the best things. The only thing to disturb a perfect night's sleep was the coyotes raising a ruckus in the early morning wee hours. I love that.



For Saturday's ride, we wanted to find something more appropriate than high speed desert blasting for Erik's 300. So we decided to explore several of the roads up into the Steens that are still legal to ride on. Erik is a veteran of Gifford-Pinchot so this seemed more like what he's used to.

I was loving having my 450 for this trip. For some silly reason I've always had the 640A out there, which makes a serious workout if I'm trying to ride very hard or fast (off the playa, at least).



We worked our way up a big rocky two track climbing towards a high ridge on the east slope of the Steens. We passed a few wilderness signs on side spurs and continued on up the open road. At some point we lost it and realized that we were bushwhacking through the sage as we contoured around towards the next drainage. Going back the way we came was starting to look questionable as the bushwacking lead us down into the gully.

So we got off the bikes and scouted on foot for a while. We spotted a major two-track climbing up the other side and found a faint doable track leading across the dry streamed. We decided that was our best bet.

Cool old mercury smelting equipment in the gully.





The road that we were on climbed higher up the ridge towards a big grassy plateau.



We reached an overlook with lots of neatly piled rock cairns and stopped for as many pictures as my riding companion could bear.







At this point there were a couple of different major two tracks leading back downward. With a promising return route, Erik took off excitedly.

The next thing I knew, I was watching a surreal scene of Erik cartwheeling through the air next to his KTM. Hands. Butt. Feet. Hands… When he came to rest in the middle of this rocky plateau. What got me worried was the fact that he wasn't moving once he came to rest. I got to him quickly and he was conscious but staying still trying to assess his injuries. Head and neck were fine (Arroh helmet, EVS neck protector, Dainese back protector). His hip and lower back were in pain.

After a couple assisted attempts get up over the course of the next 10-15 minutes, Erik decided that it wasn't going to happen. His last attempt left him nauseous and in too much pain to keep upright, even with help. Erik, who has some paramedic training, told me that he was worried that he might have internal injuries and in any case was not going to be able to ride down.

Given the risk of internal injuries and what that could imply, we decided to get started on an evac plan. Eric had an ACR Personal Locator Beacon (http://www.acrelectronics.com/) and I had my SPOT tracker. Given the concerns and the decision to call for help, we doubled down activated the SOS function on both.

At this point, we worked on getting Erik comfortable and set up for a wait. The rocky ground and his fragile state made that a challenge but we got his back protector off and managed to shove it under his hip. We decided that I should ride down towards camp to get a 911 telephone call through.

[kurtw]

Okay...

So at this point I marked the waypoint in my GPS, geared up, and took off down the road that I think leads to the desert floor. It didn't exactly. It lead to another rocky gully that lead to the road I wanted. No problem. I picked my way down, reached the road and was at camp in what seemed like no time at all.

I gave Nichole a rough outline of the situation. I had explicit instructions to down play the details.

Then I got out my phone and rode out onto the playa to where I knew I would have reliable signal. I asked Nichole to follow with her phone. I called 911 and gave them the full situation and let them know that evac would require a heli. I was able to give them the GPS coords, and all the identifiers from the ACR and Spot locators.

They dispatched air ambulance from Bend (1hr 8 mins flight time) on the spot and let me know that a BLM ranger was in the area and would be making his way to the location on a quad. I was doubtful given the gully that I descended to get to the road.

Before I turned to ride back up to Erik, I set up Nichole with her phone to manage the situation from camp (I had given 911 her number also) and sent a few messages out to my wife (my emergency spot contact) to let her know that I was okay. There was also a message on my phone from the Spot emergency response center so I called them back to get them in the loop.

Then I was riding back up. The ride up went quick except I stopped before the gully to look for other options. I didn't want to spend a lot of time exploring and other options didn't look promising, so I worked back up the gully.

During the last stretch before reaching Erik, I began to wonder what condition he would be in.

When I reached him, he reached up to give a thumbs up before I even got off the bike, which was a huge relief. We made some adjustments to the stuff he was lying on to make him more comfortable and he was in good spirits but the shock and adrenaline was wearing off. Now he was in real pain.

I wasn't there for more than 10 minutes before we heard a quad engine cresting a nearby hill in the opposite direction from where I had ridden up. Soon, our BLM ranger, George, motored up. I couldn't believe how fast he got up there.

George quickly got in contact with his dispatch, 911, and the air force. Yes, the Air Force is who gets the signal from Erik's ACR beacon. He confirmed the location with everyone and started getting the site ready for the helicopter. The area was wide open so this just involved setting up some make shift wind indicators.

[kurtw]

Before the heli got there, we got Erik ready to fly so the crew could package and load him as quickly as possible. Once the heli landed, everything was anti-climactic. We all got him on a back board, got the pain meds flowing, and loaded him. Before we knew it, the heli was airborne and headed for Bend.

Emergency over, I had some time to BS with George. He is a dirt biker. He told me he had a KTM 450 that the BLM got for him and he told me about crashing it and off the edge of a nearby road (broken leg and arm IIRC) while watching some hunters in the wilderness.

But he doesn't use the KTM as often as he liked because he can't carry anything on it. Then he noticed my Giant Loop Coyote bag and wanted to know all about it.

I followed George down on my bike. This was an interesting ride down, along a different route than the one I used earlier. He stopped to show me where he had crashed his 450.

A little further down, he stopped again. Excited: "A huge Mountain Lion just ran across the train in front of me into the bushes. A huge Tom!" The bushes were about 20ft away. "I'll go flush it out so you can take a picture!"

So he went tromping around in the bushes, hand on his sidearm. But the cat was hunkered down good and never made another appearance.



We stopped a couple more times when George wanted to show me various interesting sights or recount stories. George is a first class guy whom I would ride with any time!

My third trip down the mountain was uneventful but I was sorry that Erik missed this part of the ride because it was spectacular.

Back at camp, Nichole had already left for Bend and George just needed to collect some info for his report.

Then I was alone in the Alvord.

Weird.

I decided that there was no reason not to rinse off and have a quick soak in the hot springs before following Nichole.

Earlier in the summer, vandals had destroyed the photographic memorial that someone had hung for Karl, Alvord resident, long time caretaker for the hotsprings, and all around good guy from what I've heard. A number of us had worked together to find a decent photo of the print and reconstruct the image. I hung the print of Karl that I had made and hastily framed before the trip.



After that I got on the road headed back to Bend.

Erik was released from St. Charles the next day with a fractured pelvis and minor fractures in two vertebrae. His back protector surely saved him from much worse in those rocks. Those are the kind of injuries that heal in 6-8 weeks without any real treatment needed. He is very very happy to just have some broken bones that will be healed relatively soon.

[kurtw]

Some thoughts on the SPOT and ACR devices:

I had my Spot2 device and Erik had his ACR PLB:
http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=102
http://www.acrelectronics.com/product2.aspx?sku=2883

When we determined that Erik couldn't ride out and that he may have internal injuries, we triggered the emergency signal on both.

What I can say for sure is that they both sent out an emergency signal that was immediately received by the emergency services.

For the SPOT, that is their International Emergency Rescue Coordination Centre (IERCC) based in Houston, Texas. They immediately called my cell phone and my emergency contacts requesting information about where I was and what I was doing. They also contacted the Sheriff and BLM offices in the area.

The ACR beacons frequencies are montiored by the Air Force. Erik's emergency contacts got phone calls from the Air Force asking the same questions and contacting local authorities.

Keep in mind that I also made my way down to where I could make a 911 call after triggering these. I think even with all the tech, it's still important to provide as much info as you can. If the situation allows you to get a call though, this could still make a big difference by providing info and helping to organize the most appropriate response.

From my (limited) point of view, the 911 phone call was what really got things in motion and let them know about the injuries, inaccessibility of the location, etc. 911 confirmed dispatch of the helicopter before I hung up to return to Erik.

The bottom line is that both beacons both worked perfectly, and exactly as advertised. Both drew immediate response from the authorities that monitor them. Thee helicopter pilot confirmed that the coordinates given by the beacons were spot on.

If you have a Spot, get the extra rescue insurance. Regardless, get a membership from whichever air ambulance serves your area. I have Lifeflight out of PDX (came with my supermoto track membership) and the SPOT insurance.

For anyone trying to decide between the two beacons, there are some interesting differences apart from the non-emergency tracking and check-in features offered by the SPOT. Again, the function and response from both was exactly as advertised so I have no worries in that regard with either one.

The ACR uses a sealed in battery that is not user replaceable (it can be sent in for refresh). This is actually a good thing since if you forget to change batteries in the Spot before a trip, you could be SOL when you need it most. The ACR also has an antenna that whips out when you need to deploy, which could help in wooded areas. On the other hand, the SPOT has a lot of great features in addition to the SOS function and the cheap rescue insurance is good anywhere in the world, which is great for people traveling outside the membership area for their local air ambulance service.

Both worked perfectly in this "test".

[bubba zanetti]

So glad your friend was not more seriously/permanently injured. That must have been scary.  Also glad to hear that the Spot works.  I ride everywhere with mine and hope if it is ever called upon that it functions similarly.

Great pics and tale Kurt !!  

So tell me. Bringing my big KTM to the Alvord is not really recommended? Or are there reasonable areas for a 950 to ride there aside from the playa?

[kurtw]

We covered some serious ground with XLR8 on his 990 a couple Falls ago. The 990 did great and there is at least as much to ride on a big bike as there is a small one out there. This last trip was just focused on some more technical riding that I've been wanting to do but there is relatively little of that there.

Reports from the trip with XLR8 and mtrider16:
http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,44895.0.html
http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,44129.0.html

[DogBoy]

Gosh. So glad you're friend wasn't hurt worse and was able to recover. Thanks for such a thorough write up of the situation and equipment. A real guide for anyone who might find his or herself in a similar situation. The new photo of the hot springs caretaker was a very classy move.  

Now that I'm through being gracious, what happened to the 300 EXC?

[kurtw]

Now that I'm through being gracious, what happened to the 300 EXC?

The 300 was pretty much completely unscathed and I rode it down after being shuttled back up by the ranger on his quad. That would sure be a fun bike.

[XLR8]

We covered some serious ground with XLR8 on his 990 a couple Falls ago. The 990 did great and there is at least as much to ride on a big bike as there is a small one out there. This last trip was just focused on some more technical riding that I've been wanting to do but there is relatively little of that there.

Reports from the trip with XLR8 and mtrider16:
http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,44895.0.html
http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,44129.0.html

I'm not yet a very accomplished rider so the two-track we rode on in the Trout Mountains was pushing my ability in a few places and I took it slow because it felt like a flat from hitting a rock at speed was imminent. I also got a little tense in some of the deep silty dirt. And there were a few places getting down onto the playa with full side cases that I had never experienced behavior like that from a bike.    I took Neduro's (from Advrider, also sells Dual Sport Techniques DVD) dual sport class a few years ago and that really helped. For the main tracks, including the road up to the lookouts of the scenic gorges, the 990 is great though.

[mtrider16]

Nice report Kurt.

David