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Our group grew from three to four as Josh’s friend Scott jumped at the chance and sold his street bike for a DR650 to ride from Denver to the starting point in Sierra Vista, AZ. Not to be outdone for the long-distance award, Josh decided a transcontinental journey was his aim, riding his DR650 from Daytona Beach to Sierra Vista and eventually the Pacific Ocean.
After months of preparation we were blessed by industry support from companies like Twisted Throttle, Wolfman Luggage, Cochise Motorsports, and SENA, who provided S20 and SMH-10 headsets, along with Bluetooth Audio Packs for our GoPros, allowing us to record crystal-clear sound along the way.
We set out on October 11, 2014, beginning our route along the Arizona Backcountry Discovery Route (AZBDR) all the way to the U.S./Mexico border and across the San Rafael Valley of Southeast Arizona. After a day’s break for a repair, we went north through central Arizona, following the BDR. We had to put down in Payson with a bike that wouldn’t start, but after its repair and a “rough” night of camping at Motel 6, we headed north once more where we met our fifth rider, Henry, who brought along a BMW 800GS and some great riding skills and experience.
We made it through the red rocks of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon on our way to the east rim of the Grand Canyon. Racing the sunset we arrived at Tatahatso Point where the river makes a 180-degree turn, camping just 50 feet from a 2,000 foot drop straight down! After a breathtaking sunrise, we sprinted back to the blacktop and were on our way to exit Arizona via the Vermillion Cliffs along the AZBDR.
We camped near Zion National Park and the following day rode through some of the most remarkable views of the trip. But our adventure for that day had only begun—making it from Utah to Las Vegas without using I-15 is no easy task. The route found us on an old abandoned highway paralleling I-15 for miles of washouts, broken asphalt, and dirt galore. One chasm was 150 feet across and 50 feet deep.
It took an hour of picking up dropped bikes before we finally made it through, only to find ourselves in an expansive desert with night quickly approaching. In the spirit of Ben we went the long way and found ourselves on a rocky single-track that night, with an overheating bike and only dim headlights to show the way. Our SENAs made it possible to safely get out of that mess by keeping us in contact about the trail conditions ahead. Finally, after a couple more hours in the darkness we made it to the blacktop were on our way to Vegas.
After another half-day of wrenching on the bikes and the obligatory Vegas Strip drive-by, we set our sights on Death Valley and what turned out to be our most unexpected three days of the journey. Day One we explored Scotty’s Castle and Ubehebe Crater and quickly learned the hard way that Death Valley is so large that you cannot afford to run out of gas. Day Two took us from Panamint Springs to the old ghost town of Cerro Gordo (a must-see).
But our plan to head down the west side of Cerro Gordo “road” to the Saline Valley Hot Springs quickly unraveled because it took us four hours to slog through four miles of a washed-out river bed. Once again we retreated to Panamint Springs and prepared for a full-on assault of Saline Valley road from south to north the following day. We weren’t disappointed—Saline Valley is the essence of Death Valley in one road, with mountain passes, deep sand dunes and even marshy wetlands.
