Leg 20 – Topsy Grade in the Klamath River canyon. Here we go again. Finally coordinated and planned to get out and resume our march to the Pacific Ocean. Dwane and I both developed a 4 day weekend off plan and he came down Thursday night so we could head south on Friday morning and take on the Klamath to I-5 section. I prepared the mini-bikes in the week or two before and was anxious to try out the new torque converter belt drive I’d installed on mine. I bought an adapter and this snowmobile type belt drive off the internet and had installed it 6 months ago. I tested it out with my son Daniel this last summer by riding up the jeep trail to the top of Cultus Butte in central Oregon near little Cultus Lake. Seemed to provide much greater pulling power, which I need more than Dwane, at slower speeds and a higher top speed. The first time I tried out the modified mini-bike at home I pulled a wheelie. Our plan was to drive down I-5 and cross the border at Hilt and attack the Klamath River to I-5 section from the CA side of the border. This was necessary due to the National Monument and wilderness designation of about half the border land to the north in Oregon in this section. The Soda Mountain Wilderness was established a few years ago and as part of that change the roads, of which there are many in the area on the north side of the line, were closed. So we headed south on I-5 in my new-used pickup pulling our little trailer and the mini-bikes to the Holbrook exit just south of the border crossing near Hilt. We pulled off the freeway at the border to reconnoiter the Hilt area at a wide spot downhill from the Siskiyou summit. The GPS indicates, and our maps confirm, that I-5 is about mid-way between mile points 30 and 31. We may run into private property issues, but it appears there are several nearly parallel routes for the first few miles west from I-5 when we attack this segment. We continued through Holbrook to the east and along the north bank of the Klamath River. There are two reservoirs along the Klamath River south and west of where we last hiked down into the canyon (Leg 14) from mile point 104 and we planned to drive the north side of the lakes. Copco Reservoir is the upriver reservoir to the east and Iron Gate reservoir is down river and hence the first one you encounter when driving up the river from I-5. We were hoping to confirm some of the roads leading north from these two reservoirs to the border that we could use as access points. Our plan would be to drop our bikes and take the pickup further east before hiking back to the bikes. We’ve found that taking on 5-6 mile segments in this manner actually working east, but hiking west by leap-frogging with the truck and bikes works best. Unfortunately, we didn’t find the two or three roads leading north from the reservoirs we were watching for to be usable. Most were posted and gated. We may need to contact the Pacific Corps, which operates the two reservoirs and has purchased thousands of acres of lands in this area, to gain access. We continued on to the Topsy Grade Road and the area we’d last visited and hiked out of in the middle of the night during Leg 14. This picture is at about MP 108 looking back west down the river valley. We found the point at which we dropped on to the Topsy Grade Rd, near mile point 105 and found a road leading south to the base of the steep canyon wall. We launched out to pick up MP 106, dating from 1982 and pictured below, and ended up climbing halfway up the slope before figuring out there was something not functioning properly on my GPS and starting back down the slope. Ultimately, Dwane found it by following a survey line we had not noticed when heading up the hill. My new-used hand-me-down Magellan seems to take several minutes to hone in on our exact location precisely which is significantly different from my previous Magellan. The hike to the west towards an anticipated river crossing was fairly easy through a pretty mature forest that broke into an oak forest. We found 106 thru 109 in fairly short order just as they were stored in my GPS as waypoints. Someone has erected their own piece of heaven between 106 and 107. We gingerly and quietly bypassed a nice cabin. MP 109 and 108 were along the canyon several hundred feet above the river as the Klamath swings east-west at this point. We found the historic bridge and ford site near MP 109 at a slow bend in the river and canyon. It’s a designated park site. This picture is looking down at the river from above MP 109. We’d hoped, based on looking at satellite pictures and maps, that this point would be crossable on foot or with the truck. Unfortunately for us, the water was running very high. In order to maintain flows for the salmon now coming up river from the Pacific and being pursued by the hundreds of fishermen we’d passed below the reservoirs early in the day, Pacific Corps was dumping a lot of water from upstream reservoirs. These dams are destined to be removed in the coming years under a massive, multi-agency environmental project underway in the Klamath Basin. At this old bridge site we were in an oak forest and we noted the thousands of acorns strewn across the landscape and began a conversation that lasted the whole weekend trying to think of a commercial use for them. We couldn’t come up with what seemed like a reasonable way to utilize them other than raising squirrels, to what end we weren’t sure, but the debate continues. We’re open to any ideas because we know where a few tons could be had fairly easily. After walking back up the road to the truck we were pushing daylight, so we headed back up the canyon again in the dark as we had on foot months before. At the top of Topsy Grade near the historic stage stop site overlooking the canyon we headed back south to pop out on Hwy 97 at Dorris. We took a drive around town, but nothing that was open really appealed to us as a possible dinner site. From Dorris we headed north to Klamath Falls and our favorite place to stay – the Comfort Inn on the south end of town. Leg 21: Grizzly Flat Saturday morning, we saddled up, enjoyed the breakfast at the comfort Inn and then endeavored to head west on Green Springs Highway. We planned to find attack points from the north of the border and river east of the wilderness area. What a confusing area this turned out to be. After several hours, including a few tense minutes talking in turn with several local ranchers each insisting we were trespassing and needed to basically get the hell off their land, we found a road that took us to near MP 118 and Jenny Creek which runs south into the Klamath. We parked surreptitiously in the forest and headed out quietly into the ranchlands to the east along the state line and quietly reached MP 117 and then backtracked to catch MP 118 on the way back west to the truck. We saddled up and endeavored to find a way to get down to the river further east and near the crossing point but wandered for hours among the maize of old timber roads and even railroad grades without success. In the middle of one of countless quick stops and back up to check an intersecting road I lost track of my small trailer and promptly “customized” my rear fender as I jackknifed it into my truck. Oh well. At one point we ended up on top of Grizzly Mt, view from below, which required slugging our way through several miles of brush clogged logging roads that took off a few pounds of paint from my truck. As the day wore on we eventually bugged out back north to the Highway and headed back to the east and the Klamath River crossing at the upper Dam. A road system depicted on the map meanders down the north bank along the canyon wall. As it turns out it’s 17-18 miles of rough, rocky road full of kidney jarring holes and bumps. We passed several camp sites somewhat developed by Pacific Corps, although I can’t imagine many timid souls traversing the rough road to get to them despite their beauty in the rugged canyon. We came on a flock of wild turkeys as we neared our objective across from MP 109 and now on the north side of the Klamath. Picture below. As we neared the part of the canyon across the river from Topsy Grade Rd and our last mile point, # 109, we came upon an old ranch site now presumably owned by Pacific Corps and abandoned from its original purpose. The ranch is on a beautiful stepp above the river canyon with a large farmhouse and barn still standing. When we crept up to take a look at the site I forgot to bring along my camera. There’s even an abandoned 65 Malibu station wagon at the site and I contemplated removing the one piece of undamaged body side molding remaining. Ultimately, it would have taken some tools to remove the molding and we decided to get back to camp. Still had some daylight, so we headed out on the bikes to recon the area ahead of us above the canyon rim to the west. We had noticed a primitive road leading north up the canyon wall from where we had determined to camp for the night. So we saddled up. We warmed up the bikes by taking them down to the river and back looking over the high water and debating if we should simulate crossing the river. After getting back to the camp site we headed on up the side road we had noticed coming into the canyon from the north. After a mile or so of rocky switchbacks and rough steep lengths of “road” we reached the canyon rim and two traversing east-west power lines. We turned down the power line to the south which appeared to be the closest intercept to the point above the canyon from MP 110. We hit the canyon overlook after a mile or two of riding as the daylight was fading. Got some pictures of the canyon looking east including of the ranch area immediately below us and where we were presently camping for the night. We knew we were close to MP 110, but the recon pretty much confirmed it was just below the rim cliffs and probably unreachable without a hazardous climb east of the ranch through the no trespassing posted area. We headed back down the road in the dark and Dwane managed a face plant in the dark as his front wheel caught a rut in the road. These dang things are really maneuverable but that also makes them prevalent to taking off in a different direction of their own choosing. I noticed he had lagged behind me in the dark although I could still see his light. I paused assuming maybe he thought I had taken off on the wrong branch, but realized when I saw his dirt caked face illuminated in my headlight that he had encountered a problem. Nothing broken, so we continued back down into the canyon in the dark riding our brakes and basically skidding down these cat trails with our rear wheel functioning as an anchor. The hot ramen at camp lightened our spirits as we plotted the attack for the next day and laid out our bags in the back of the truck. We don’t have my newer truck equipped to carry our large, tradesmen style canopy, but it came with a fairly high fiberglass canopy. I have an army cot that fits along one side of the pickup bed and Dwane can stretch out on the floor. It was a pretty restful night, all things considered. Leg 22 – Grizzly Flat Continued In the morning we re-loaded the bikes on the trailer and started the long slow climb in four wheel drive up the cat trails leading to the power lines above us. Our Camp near the abandoned ranch: We drove on down to the spur we’d found the night before in the dark and walked along the rim until intersecting the state line near a shack that had been built on the edge of the canyon. It overlooks mile point 110 at the base of the cliff and was likely abandoned as part of the lands Pacific Corps has acquired. Got the pic below the next day – 110 is at the base of the tall trees, middle frame. Little piece of heaven, in deed! It was certainly rustic, but would have been comfortable and dry with a view to kill for. After exploring and capturing some pics we got in the truck and headed back down the power line angling towards the border until coming upon No Trespassing signs and loose barb wire stretched across the power line right of way. We figured it wasn’t likely we’d get a good reception if we jumped on the bikes and didn’t want to get lost trying to find a way round through the maze of logging roads to the north, so we dismounted. We locked up the truck and bikes, loaded up our day packs with water, and started west to find MP 111. Since we didn’t have any real alternatives, we braced up for a long walk to and back from MP 116. The territory is rolling hills of oak savannah with little rocky buttes, lots of dry grass, and the occasional brushy spots. Came on some pretty knarley looking oaks, a few ridges with rocky rims and grassy slopes. Being fairly warm and dry we were on the watch for snakes, but only had one such encounter on top of the rocky butte Dwane is on top of here. . I had a point loaded in my GPS that should have been a monument on top of one of the rocky buttes on which we obtained a great view. Never did find the monument or anything else on top, but as I was looking among the rocky shelves I startled a rubber boa snake. The darn thing was as startled as I, but instead of going away from me it darted between my feet to scurry into the rocks below the small ledge I was on. Anyway, we endeavored on bagging MPs 112 through 116 in the fairly open terrain. Caught the picture below of a beautiful red headed woodpecker whooping it up in the mud holes around Wild Gal Springs, but it’s barely visible at center frame. The pic above is MP 115. We made good time along the fence lines and strategized about whether to reverse route back along the border, or detour north or south and pick up the largely parallel power lines. As we headed back from 116 we decided to take the detour perhaps a half mile to the south and pick up the power line. Pretty uneventful except for a half dozen curious horses that skirted around us at the gallop and then fell in behind for a half mile or so of trailing us from a distance. We made it back to the truck with some daylight left and headed north following the main roads intending to make it back to the highway and on to K Falls for the night. Breezed past several deer hunting camps as we navigated a little more successfully than the day before, although we did make one circuitous route selection ending up passing thru the same intersection a couple of times. We eventually found the right main road and popped out on to the highway and headed East. Back in town and at our favorite Comfort Inn we headed to Denny’s and dinner. Unfortunately, our favorite road meal, meatloaf, wasn’t available, so we had the pot roast instead and plotted our next segment. Leg 23: Malin We decided to fill in one of our skipped segments in the morning and headed south and east of K Falls to Malin. We had skipped a 5 mile segment over a ridgeline from the Langell Valley west to Malin and the Klamath Valley at the end of Leg 13 and a long day. This picture is looking down at the point where we decided to give up late in the day on Leg 13 and head out to the road. We’d crossed the river and made it up to the base of the steep hillside along the pipeline before deciding that another 5 miles wasn’t going to be possible before darkness fell. The newly installed natural gas line runs along nearly the whole segment never more than a quarter mile from the border, so it made for easy walking. While roaming around looking for a road to take east with the bikes we passed through a piece of property with a house literally next to the graveled road. It was a nicer house and the route wasn’t posted with No Trespassing signs so we simply slowed and proceeded by the house. We ended up coming back down this road after hitting a dead end and this time there were two men working on loading a vehicle near the house. We pulled up slowly and when the turned their attention to us I stopped and rolled down the window to talk. Had a brief conversation about what we were up to with the eldest guy, appeared to be father son duo to me, but we didn’t really introduce ourselves. The father had a pretty good sense of humor and wished us well on our sojourn after suggesting which road we should take to get east to pick up the border. We found a road that parallels the border to the south and left the truck at a locked gate, with no signs, unloaded the bikes and headed east to the point already described overlooking the point we’d left off during leg 13. Before we took off on foot back to the truck about 4 miles west we decided to reconnoiter the gas line right of way with the bikes a little more to be sure we could use it as the route westward. We climbed a couple of small hills on jeep trails with the bikes to get back around to the pipeline and I got the bright idea to try going up the cleared pipeline right of way on one of the steeper slopes. I figured with my modified bike I could pull the steep face of what was the highest ridge on the leg and get a good view of our route if I attacked it going diagonally up the slope. Dwane waited at the base of the hill and got to watch my plan’s weak point exposed from several hundred yards away. I was just getting to the steepest part of the slope perhaps 2/3 the way up the ridge when my bike lost traction and slipped out from underneath me. I bailed off trying to keep my balance and remain standing, but made two mistakes. First, I didn’t have the presence of mind to hit the kill switch on the bike, and second I stepped off the bike facing downhill. Well the bike laid over with the engine still revving and I nearly did a face plant as I fell prone into the dirt. I wasn’t carrying a lot of momentum, so I managed to sort of catch myself. After getting the bike turned off, checking it over, restarting and heading back down the hill we decided it was time to get to hiking and stashed the bikes in the brush. Dwane did say my spill looked pretty dramatic from his vantage point. The route along the pipeline was a little bit up and down, but generally easy and we enjoyed the view to the south. To the south we could see Clear Lake in California. Neither of us was aware of such a large lake being so close to the border. We agreed it merited exploring on some future trip if the opportunity presented itself. The hike west was pretty uneventful given that for most of it we were walking along a 100 meter wide cleared swath across the ridges and trailing valleys. Made it back to the truck in just a couple of hours and headed back to get the bikes. We got close and walked around another locked gate to retrieve the bikes and load up before heading back to K Falls and on home. All in all, I figure we drove over 700 miles and walked about 30 miles to get credit for 20 miles of state line and mile points. It appears, with 12 miles remaining to reach I-5, we’ll likely do the next westward segment in two parts. Haven’t figured out if we can ride our bikes down the rural highways to/from the Iron Gate Reservoir, so we may need to get someone to drop us off. We may plan to do the Lakeview area gap during the winter, if the snows don’t get too deep in the next couple of weeks. We’ll see.