Alone, Dead Battery / BDR Moto Adventures Ep4

Hey there everyone, JR here. Welcome back to my channel. In the previous episode, I was out on the Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route experiencing ignition problems on Old Gray Bull. The engine would quit and I could get it going again, but I knew there was an issue, so I returned to base. I've been going through the electrical system. I think I've got it squared away. Time's going to tell, but we're going to head out on the out for an adventure again, so I'm glad you're along with me. Let's get going. Oh man, deep cinders. The battery, too dead to crank. JR, back with you. We're on the Oregon BDR just at Big Lake, Section 5, I believe. We're going to head up into the mountains here. It's about 530. I've got some ideas of where I'm going to camp. It's beautiful weather right now. We're at 4761 feet right here. We'll be climbing up a little higher, and we'll go see where we can find a camp tonight. Glad you're along for the ride. Nice and silty. Should be fun. Okay, and rocks. Hello. Okay, this is extremely silty and loose, and it's like riding basically on the beach, almost. Whoa, whoa, whoa, Nelly. Oh, some deep stuff here. Whoo! I do not want to be picking this thing up. I don't know if you guys can see how deep this is. Black, silty dust, talcum powder sand. I think I could use a steering damper right about now. You never know when a deep section of sand is going to just pop up on you, so using your speed and weight judiciously Very cool. Little gray bull cool down a little bit. Island Junction Shelter. Quite a nice view. Wood stove. Supply of wood. Built in 2006 by Oregon Nordic Club members. Now past a couple of lakes. People were occupied at them. Going on down the trail. What a beautiful trail it is right now. Out of the sand and into gravel and rock. Well, good morning from Cache Lake in the Willamette National Forest of Oregon. Waking up from camp. Not the greatest tent spot. All this just fine talcum powder that puffs up at every step, but it was the campsite that I had to take, and not all bad. Well, the water is warm flowing out of that very shallow lake. I managed to get a foot wet down there filtering water. Got to deal with a wet sock and being cut out. Well, we're on our way. All the shadow and sunlight kind of disguising where the ruts and the bumps are. So it's a silty rocky climb. Gotta look way ahead and pick your line. Lots of silt. Okay, I'm sure we go which way? This way. Just getting started in this loose stuff. I don't think I'm doing that. Not by myself. I'm not feeling like a 73-year-old hero right now. Of course, you can't necessarily tell how steep that is, but it is steep and who knows how much worse it might get. Forget about it. Tire sliding just backing up. Now, that wasn't the route up to Cache. It's just up ahead here. Faked me out. Well, let's give it a try. So I think this trail is the trail to the top of Cache Mountain that I'm looking for. It is not, but I think it is, so I hit up it anyway. Hard to stay in your line and keep from slapping into this brush along the right-hand side of me too. Okay, we're getting some views up here already. Just pay attention to the trail in front of me. The old adage, you go where you look. A really nice view. A beautiful spot to pick up the bike. Deep cinders. Just turning it around. Volcanic cinders. Four or five inches deep. Well, maybe I got my drop in for the day. It wasn't too hard to pick up. It looks like we're safely back down. Okay, here's the turn off to Cache Mountain. Am I stupid enough to go try something again? Well, maybe I am. Okay, lots of rocks. Lots of silt. Okay, this doesn't look like fun. Not by myself. Now, can I get turned around? All right. Took a little work, but I got it turned around. I need a hero. Not today, you don't. Okay, Cache Mountain, you kicked my butt. Good for you. Well, nice view. Even if we didn't get to the top. Sometimes it's the best of valor to turn around. No, you got to know when to fold them. Riding solo. All it'd take is a broken leg up there and the proverbial feces would hit the proverbial fan. And we're down. Let's go see what the rest of the trail has to offer. Thank you, Lord. I think there's a little cave up here. Go check it out. It's cool to see that there's a natural cave that still allows access to the general public. Well, I guess if you had a flashlight you could go spelunking back in there. I don't have a flashlight and I'm not a big fan of crawling around in caves. I did it one time and heard a bunch of rattlesnakes not far from my body and I did a flat belly crawl through mud out of there like you would not believe. Done a lot of work in the first hour. Time to stay nutritionalized and hydrated. Well, we're outside of Bend now. I made it into Bend. Got a little something to eat. Headed towards Christmas Valley. And the scenery has changed, obviously. I'm fortunate to have a cool spell going on here right now. Now we're up on Pine Mountain up by the University of Oregon's Pine Mountain Observatory. So, it's only about 3 30 in the afternoon. Big switch back here. Road is definitely unimproved. Look at the view out there. It's tired. When you're tired, stop. You're getting some dinner started here. Good old ramen noodles. Sometimes that's what's for supper. Fresh carrots and broccoli in there. My daughter packed up for me. And yes, I've carried them for a day and a half. I'm hungry. Did just about 100 miles today. Things happen so fast and the day just runs together. Sometimes it's hard to even remember back to all you did this morning. That almost seems like it was yesterday or something. But adventure riding has a lot of adventure in it. Time comes at you in a warp. Anyway, I'm glad to be stopped. I'm in the dry country here now. Pines and sagebrush and no mosquitoes. That's a plus. Shaving with as tiny amount of water as possible. Dries the bone around here. There is no extra water except what I'm carrying with me. So I use it sparingly. I don't mind roughing it but I like to be somewhat clean and smell decent too. After all, I got to ride with myself. Got to stay hydrated. Keep the moisturizer on your skin. Sunscreen. And tonight, ibuprofen. Doctors told me that it's better to take anti-inflammatory before you're all inflamed. So joints and ankles and whatnot protest a little more than they used to. Took a little different routing out of Bend. Outroute 20 towards Burns and then off-road up and over Pine Mountain and probably about 40 miles north of Christmas Valley. Situation report. Morning. Cold. 5 a.m. Tried to start the bike. Battery was low. Cranked. Would not start. Got lower. Battery's a little weak anyway. Got my jumper pack out. It was not real strong either. Needed some charge on it and even with it hooked up, it did not want to start. Shut everything down. Disconnected the headlight. Let the batteries set in the sun for a while. Thought about all my options. Some of them not good. Hooked it up one more time after setting in the sun and voila. It started. So got to think about what I'm going to do from here on rather than head out into the outback further and think about my options. Right now I'm charging up the battery pack. I'm gonna have everything fully charged up with it set here before I move anywhere else. So we'll let you know. I think I'll fix some breakfast and thank my lucky stars and the guy up above. I just can't tell you how good it felt when that engine started this morning. I'm going to turn around, take trails in another direction to where I can get a battery replacement, get this bike back together and all that's for another upcoming episode. If you've stayed till now, you are awesome. More adventures ahead. I look forward to seeing you out there.