Maah Daah Hey 2019

 I took my first trip to the Maah Daah Hey Trail back in the spring of 99'. I didn't know until last summer that was about the time it officially opened,as I glanced through memorabilia displayed at the bike shop in Medora. At that time I was naive enough to think it had been there forever.  My wife's  friend Troy told us about it and the three of us were off to ride it over memorial weekend. The three of us made another trip the following year, and on the 3rd or 4th  trip my friend Chuck and I would ride the whole thing in a day, virtually unsupported, before the MDH 100 was a thing. It's been a solid 15 years since I had been there,so going back with my BFF Vandy to bike-pack from the north end to Medora was going to be an awesome homecoming of sorts.

break time

petrified wood

typical

 The two of us set out for our three day ride on the longest day of the year, June 21st. Daylight would be on our side for our 40ish miles per day with heavy bikes on beautiful and challenging single track. For the most part the weather was good, with the exception of some mid-day bursts of rain to make things interesting. Day one was from the CCC camp at the northern end of the trail to Magpie Campground. Having to go around the closed part of Theodore Roosevelt National Park wilderness on gravel roads was a real bore, but necessary for those on bikes. Once back on the trail it was all good. A very short burst of rain came in the early afternoon and with it, wheel clogging mud. We pushed on, cleaned wheels with sticks several times and were back riding about an hour.  With the long days we arrived at camp well before dark and had time to relax, meet some other riders doing the same route and have a nice camp fire before going to sleep.

mud...this shit sticks to everything

first night

from the helm 

   Day two was much the same as day one, an incredible ride through varying degrees of topography. One minute it's rolling prairie with nary a tree in site,the next is rugged descents down crumbing cliff-like clay typical of the badlands. On comes the steep climbs with thick jungle-like vegetation and trees blocking all views accept the one just before you leading to the next open vista. This goes on for hours and never really gets old. Day two was tough, and ended with a pretty good rain storm, thankfully the last few miles into camp were on trails covered in red scoria, keeping the wheels free of mud. Rolling into Wannagan I headed straight for the rest room, the only shelter anywhere in site, to wait out the rain. It didn't last long and we were able to set up tents and eat dinner sans rain, before enjoying a nice, but chilly sunset.

just finishing Devils Pass

this part is super awesome....crossing Little Missouri river.....I going to paddle this some time  

lots of gates like this to pass through

 Day three would be finishing up in Medora. Again we would have to avoid the National Park and it's wilderness restrictions, accept this time we could continue on single track of the Buffalo Gap trail. The Maah Daah Hey actual was incredible, but for some reason the Buffalo Gap really grabbed me in a couple sections. Wide open prairie with not a sign of human disturbance accept the one ribbon of dirt you are following, a partially clouded blue sky as big as can be, with a light breeze rustling the grass is the kind of place you consciously etch into your mind to enjoy at all later dates as a bench mark for your own personal nirvana. Yeah it was that good.

Second and last crossing of Little Mo

   As I rolled the last miles toward the finish I was already reflecting back at how awesome the ride was. This didn't last long,  just as I took my selfie by the final trail marker, a massive rain cloud was about to pummel me. I rode the last few paved miles to town in sideways rain coming down in sheets. Once in town, I changed clothes, ate a massive buffalo burger with my BFF and headed home.

There are like 50 more miles of trail to do after this point but our shuttle had us end in Medora

           

D Rider .........................................................out

Chequamegon Dead Horse

 The Dead Horse is a trail in northern Wisconsin, taking it's name from an unfortunate event that occurred  in 1900 when a team of horses met their demise. The Chequemegon Dead Horse is a bikepacking event that took place last weekend in the same area, in which no horses lost their lives.

Found a private junkyard along the route....that's a Bidgestone MB-1 in red. 

found this boat too

 The ride is set 116 years later on gravel roads, and a portion of the Dead Horse trail. The route and event was conceived by Mr Ross and made public via facebook, with the idea of getting a bunch of like minded folks together for some camping and riding. Unfortunately the turn-out was low, with only 9 riders showing up at the OO parking lot just east of Seeley WI. The 8am start time was brisk, under 40 F, but it wasn't raining, and we had all day to get to our campsite and just enjoy the ride.

the group left to right.  O'Neil, Superwoman, TJ Hooker, and Mr Ross

water's up 

The Dead Horse proper

  ArcFlash and I rode off the front, not because we were fast, but because we just pedaled a little harder than the rest. About 20ish miles in, an arrow pointing the wrong way on the que card had us off track and added an extra 7-8 miles. Turning back and following tracks, we rejoined the group that had now dwindled to four. We decided to hang with them, and just go with the flow. Around noon we found ourselves in Clam Lake dinning at one of the two establishments in town. There we met the self proclaimed "best pizza maker, in his apartment, in all of Chicago"....35 years ago. He was a friendly gentleman that gave us the low-down on just about everything that was going on in Clam Lake, as well as hinting very heavily that one of us should buy the restaurant so he and his wife could retire to their lake cabin nearby. No one had the money for more than the half pound burger we all consumed, so we were on our way.

Water's up here as well

Almost home for the night

  The rest of the day we just knocked off the miles, arriving at our camp around 5:30 pm. The site was awesome, a secret place in the woods that Mr Ross has been frequenting since he was a kid. Big thanks to him for letting us in on this amazing spot.....your secret is safe with me. Night time was typical, but still my favorite pass-time....sitting around a fire, cooking food and sharing stories. No one made it past 10pm before calling it a day. Sunday morning everyone slept in a bit, leisurely made breakfast, and then rolled out together. Approximately 12 miles into the return trip it was time for second breakfast at Wendy and Joe's Steakhouse. From there the group elected to shorten the return trip just a bit (less than 5 miles)....one of the benefits of just riding your bike for the fun of it. Around 3pm we arrived back in the OO parking lot and went our separate ways.

I dislike photos of food,,,,but here it is anyway

     If you're looking for a little adventure outside of the CAMBA trail system, this is it. Show up next year and give it a go, or plan your own adventure in the Chequamegon National Forest. The possibilities are endless, with options for combining, gravel roads, single track, two track and if you have a packraft...the rivers.

D Rider.................out

The week before........

The week before school started for my three boys, I took them up to the North Shore for a final hurrah. Once school starts we still manage to have lots of fun but the freedom enjoyed all summer comes to an end and things begin to get hectic.

On top of Palisade Head, Shovel Point in the far background

There were a boat-load of blue berries up there. It was confirmed later that they were in fact blueberries, since none of us became ill or died :-)

I think this dude is going to be ninja

  Lynn (mom, wife) was not able to attend which is partly why the trip happened for the four of us. She is a teacher and went back to work for the year. There was no day care available Monday or Friday and the price of "day camp" Tuesday -Thursday meant it would be a near wash for me to work those days. I'm not going to work if I'm only going to make a few bucks for the day, so we headed north.

Pellet Island at the end of the breakwater 

Almost there    The rock closer to the island is covered in this brilliant orange lichen 

Getting on the actual island requires this traverse up some slippery logs made easier by a hand line others have permanently placed

 We got out of town on Monday around 2pm. If you noticed the post about "scout camp", we left the day after Super Y and I got home. I was tired. Our first stop was Gooseberry Falls State Park, to our dismay the campground was full... on a Monday night  WTF? Further north we scored a spot at Tettegouche due to a cancellation.. yaaaaa !  After setting up camp and before it got dark we all went for a swim in the Baptism River. Due to rain that night we were not able to cook dinner and settled for appetizers at a little restaurant in Beaver Bay.

Looking back at the safe harbor

Thumbs down on the welfare cheese sandwich. AKA Government cheese sandwich  Ingredients: white bread, government cheese, and spreadable butter. This became something of a joke after last years trip with T-Roy and J-Boo.

The start of the Split Rock

 The next morning was nice and sunny. While my friends and family at home in the twin cities were battling a notoriously hot and humid Minnesota day around 105 deg, we were cool and comfortable along the shore of the big lake. The first adventure for the day was a hike at Palisade Head which is a large cliff overlooking Lake Superior. G Man is the only one to have been there before but it was brief. I had not done too much exploring around there so it was something new for all of us. With nothing but time to burn, we stopped at the marina/safe harbor in Silver Bay. The boys weren't to keen on my idea about going to an island when I ran it by them, (they wanted to swim). As soon as we stepped on the breakwater compiled of massive stones with Pellet Island peaking through the fog at the other end, they were all for it. It's been several years since I was out there, and it was great that they are now old enough to do it themselves.                                                                

Starting to get good

Water-slide !

This one hurt my ass and back, I don't know how they kept doing it

This looks much more fierce than it actually is. He also doesn't look like your typical seven year old, small  :-)

After our hour and a half of rock hopping we were finally getting to the swimming portion of the day that was promised. As one of my predetermined goals for the week, we were going to check out Split Rock River. Rivers like this are also my version of canyoneering in Minnesota. I've done this river countless times in the the winter on skis,snowshoes, and fat bike to the point that I'm not really interested in it unless it's a first time for someone in our group. In the summer I've not been up it so it was real treat. The water was relatively/safely low so I was not nervous about the boys getting swept away...too far :). Several spots had sort-of natural water slides. Theses were much better suited to kids with rubbery joints and not for old guys like me. I tried several of the sides they kept hitting and was amazed that they could slide over the rough rocks with ease and with smiles on their faces....youth !

Super Y was upset he forgot his bike helmet, he said his climbing helmet made him look like a dork on the bike. I told him he looked like bad -ass, how many kids do you know that even have a climbing helmet and use it...he felt better

Krampus tows Burley 

We 're here 

The final step on day two was the bike tour portion. This was also one of my predetermined goals and I had a reservation for the campsite this time. duh  Although we had to do some backtracking from the Split Rock River, we started at Gooseberry Falls SP. The plan was to ride roughly 8 miles of the Gitchi Gami Trail to Split Rock Lighthouse State Park and stay the night. I loaded the Burley trailer with all of our gear and had the boys carry some water and snacks in their "adventure backpacks". The ride went well even though we were all tired. In less than two hours from our start point, the ride was complete, camp was set, dinner was nearly eaten, and our eyes were fixed on a package of  birthday cake Oreo's.  
            ..............Stay tuned for days 3-5

That is what you get when you take the inside of 5-6 Oreo's and put them between two cookie portions, mmmmm