where did you TAKE your Tenere today?

14kmtnman

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 18, 2014
Messages
476
Location
Yakima, WA
Since I didn't have any takers, with rideable bikes any ways, I decided to do the St Elmo loop by myself since I was already mentally committed. The loop can be entered from 3 or 4 different locations, St Elmo, TinCup, Pitkin or even from Monarch Pass via the Tomichi pass route (I think). I had watched several videos of bikes and jeeps going over both Hancock Pass and Tin Cup Pass to see if it was doable on the Tenere. Both passes are marked by 4x4 advised signs. It looked like going counter clockwise from St Elmo would be the best way to go. It appeared that I would be going down most the bad rocky sections as opposed to going up them. I don't have any pictures of the first 5 or so miles after leaving St Elmo heading towards Tin Cup because most of the road was in the deep shade. The lower part wasn't too bad, typical 4x4 road, it was really rocky and steep in some sections. I had to pay attention and pick a good line and hoped that it would work while keeping the momentum going forward. I'm glad I have a real good skidplate because of some of the hits I had taken.

This is the boom town of St Elmo. during the summer time it is usually packed to gills with off roaders of all types.
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This is the rest stop where I started peeling layers off. You can see the summit in the saddle. This is where I found that I had to really work to get the kickstand down because of the collapsing flex point on the skidplate.

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Within 100=200 yards of the top, I got bounced off a rock which threw my line way off and down I went. The crash bars did their thing and saved any damage to the bike. Thankfully this was the only fall for the day. If I couldn't get it picked up, I knew there were some 4x4s coming up the same way I did. I had to move some of the rocks and it kind of came right up in one try. This is almost 12000 ft. Big blue sky and vistas, but not much air.
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I reached the top and there was a sidexside already there who came up from the Tin cup side. What a relief to make it. You can see the saddle bag is a bit dusty from the fall but not damaged.
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Looking southish from the top back towards St Elmo.
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Looking northish towards Tin Cup and Taylor Park. The trail drops pretty quickly from here. It is 7 miles from here to Tin Cup. One video I watched was of 3 BMW riders that took 3 hrs to come up those 7 miles. This ought to be interesting...
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holligl

Find the road less traveled...
Joined
Nov 13, 2015
Messages
2,212
Location
IL/AZ
Since I didn't have any takers, with rideable bikes any ways, I decided to do the St Elmo loop by myself since I was already mentally committed. The loop can be entered from 3 or 4 different locations, St Elmo, TinCup, Pitkin or even from Monarch Pass via the Tomichi pass route (I think). I had watched several videos of bikes and jeeps going over both Hancock Pass and Tin Cup Pass to see if it was doable on the Tenere. Both passes are marked by 4x4 advised signs. It looked like going counter clockwise from St Elmo would be the best way to go. It appeared that I would be going down most the bad rocky sections as opposed to going up them. I don't have any pictures of the first 5 or so miles after leaving St Elmo heading towards Tin Cup because most of the road was in the deep shade. The lower part wasn't too bad, typical 4x4 road, it was really rocky and steep in some sections. I had to pay attention and pick a good line and hoped that it would work while keeping the momentum going forward. I'm glad I have a real good skidplate because of some of the hits I had taken.

This is the boom town of St Elmo. during the summer time it is usually packed to gills with off roaders of all types.
View attachment 84969View attachment 84970

This is the rest stop where I started peeling layers off. You can see the summit in the saddle. This is where I found that I had to really work to get the kickstand down because of the collapsing flex point on the skidplate.

View attachment 84971View attachment 84972

Within 100=200 yards of the top, I got bounced off a rock which threw my line way off and down I went. The crash bars did their thing and saved any damage to the bike. Thankfully this was the only fall for the day. If I couldn't get it picked up, I knew there were some 4x4s coming up the same way I did. I had to move some of the rocks and it kind of came right up in one try. This is almost 12000 ft. Big blue sky and vistas, but not much air.
View attachment 84973View attachment 84974

I reached the top and there was a sidexside already there who came up from the Tin cup side. What a relief to make it. You can see the saddle bag is a bit dusty from the fall but not damaged.
View attachment 84975

Looking southish from the top back towards St Elmo.
View attachment 84976

Looking northish towards Tin Cup and Taylor Park. The trail drops pretty quickly from here. It is 7 miles from here to Tin Cup. One video I watched was of 3 BMW riders that took 3 hrs to come up those 7 miles. This ought to be interesting...
View attachment 84977
Pictures never capture the rough stuff well...

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14kmtnman

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 18, 2014
Messages
476
Location
Yakima, WA
I started down and about 1/4 mile there was another biker on a real dirt bike. He was amazed I was there on the Tenere. Going down the steeper sections wasn't too bad, lots of line choices. I was too busy concentrating to take any pictures.

This is Mirror Lake which is 3 miles out of Tin Cup.IMG_1969 resize.jpgIMG_1970 resize.jpg

This is looking back up the way I came down. There were steep technical sections, but I would not be against going up that way. I didn't see why it took the BMW guys so long to go up that 4 mile section. The last 3 miles into Tin Cup were uneventful.
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This is looking down main street in Tin Cup. Frenchies is down on the right. This is a very active hub of activity during the summer time for any off roader. This is the emptiest I have ever seen it.
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This is looking back the way I came into town.
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This is looking south towards where I am headed for the next leg of the trip to Cumberland Pass, and then the Alpine Tunnel-Hancock-Tomichi turn off.IMG_1975 resize.jpg
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Almost at the top of Cumberland Pass looking back towards Tin Cup and Taylor Park. I think Aspen is on the other side of the mountains in the far distance. There are lots of little side roads in this area to explore.
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The top where I had lunch.
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As I started up the road to the Alpine Tunnel and the Hancock-Tomichi passes, I noticed the road was covered in talcum powder type dust 2-4 inches deep. I'm thinking, I sure hope this is not a sign of things to come. The road going up is an old rail line so not very steep but much rougher than when 3 of us did the COBDR years ago. This is the remaining water station for the trains. The Alpine tunnel story is good reading for history buffs.
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Last edited:

14kmtnman

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 18, 2014
Messages
476
Location
Yakima, WA
At the intersection of the Alpine Tunnel and the Hancock and Tomichi pass, the 3 way is covered with baseball sized round rocks in all directions. Sorry, no pictures. I double checked my GPS and headed up this little narrow trail towards Hancock Pass. I now see where all of the round rocks came from, down this trail from the run off. I go up a little ways, stop and start walking up the trail to see how bad it gets. As I'm walking a couple of riders on small dirt bikes coming down tell me the trail is full of loose dusty rocks and that the trail to Hancock gets much steeper from the Tomichi intersection. The rocks are all covered in that talcum powder dust, and the road is inches deep in it too. I decide to call it quits, turn around and head back over Cumberland Pass again to Tin Cup, Taylor Park and go over Cottonwood Pass before dropping in Buena Vista and on to home.

This is just a trial, no rail line in this direction. The pictures don't do justice to the steepness.
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This is looking back down towards Pitkin. All of the gray trees are beetle kill. So it is another tinder box for a possible fire.
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Looking back towards Tin Cup and Taylor Park from the top of Cottonwood Pass. I think Aspen is on the other side of the mountains on the right.
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Darkstar77

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2021
Messages
25
Location
Ontario
Man, I need to invest in some better tires next year. Most of the trails around me are either really rocky, or really sandy. I buried the rear wheel to the axle trying to get up a sandy trail on a fairly steep incline yesterday. I got a good laugh, and then had the fun of turning around 2/3 of the way up that sandy hill, on a narrow 2 track trail. I managed to not dump it, but wow, I forgot how hard sand was to ride in. I need to get away into some mountains.
 

SkunkWorks

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2018
Messages
1,733
Location
Colorado
At the intersection of the Alpine Tunnel and the Hancock and Tomichi pass, the 3 way is covered with baseball sized round rocks in all directions. Sorry, no pictures. I double checked my GPS and headed up this little narrow trail towards Hancock Pass. I now see where all of the round rocks came from, down this trail from the run off. I go up a little ways, stop and start walking up the trail to see how bad it gets. As I'm walking a couple of riders on small dirt bikes coming down tell me the trail is full of loose dusty rocks and that the trail to Hancock gets much steeper from the Tomichi intersection. The rocks are all covered in that talcum powder dust, and the road is inches deep in it too. I decide to call it quits, turn around and head back over Cumberland Pass again to Tin Cup, Taylor Park and go over Cottonwood Pass before dropping in Buena Vista and on to home.

This is just a trial, no rail line in this direction. The pictures don't do justice to the steepness.
View attachment 84994View attachment 84995

This is looking back down towards Pitkin. All of the gray trees are beetle kill. So it is another tinder box for a possible fire.
View attachment 84996

Looking back towards Tin Cup and Taylor Park from the top of Cottonwood Pass. I think Aspen is on the other side of the mountains on the right.
View attachment 84997
View attachment 84999

I know those trails are really steep!
And yeah, pictures just don't seem to show how rugged the landscape is in person.
Looks like you had a nice day of riding................I'm sure you had to work at it a bit to get where you went.
 

Travex

Lost is my destination.
Joined
May 7, 2012
Messages
832
Location
Western New York State
Parked here and hoofed a couple miles into PA in the Allegheny Nat'l Forest to an area of beaver ponds and made nature recordings for ambient sounds at home. When music isn't playing, they are. My daughters play them in their homes as well and "require" new 4-season ambience every year so that's an easy stocking stuffer. Now if I could keep bears from fussing with my travois/hammock snoozing spot I'd be tickled. IMG_4208.jpg
 

pilleway

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 18, 2019
Messages
747
Location
Mexico
Today I had the great opportunity to go and have a Wild Pig tacos at Avandaro! great place to go!
This is the route I went with my son and my partner Everardo.
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This is the restaurant where they sell the best Wild Pig tacos I know.
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This is where they cook the Wild Pig
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Was a easy driving and enjoyable ride!
All have a great and safe weekend.
 
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