Dusy Ershim Trail Ride Report and Photos

The Dusy Ershim Trail, Part I

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Several years ago I was shopping for a forest map and happened to see one for the Sierra NF. I figured I'd get it, even though I didn't need it, since it was one of the very few NF maps I didn't already have. I took the map home and while perusing it, something jumped out at me. It looked to be a 30-mile OHV trail wedged in between the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness and the John Muir Wilderness. I could only imagine what it looked like, and I marveled that it was there at all, what with all the wilderness in the area. I did a bit of research and found this :

http://www.californiajeeper.com/dusy_ershim/review.htm

I'd thought about this trail for a few years, but it always took a back seat to other rides as it was "only" a Jeep trail, not single-track which is what we prefer to ride. Well, I finally got the opportunity to ride it a few weeks ago.

We had no idea how long it would take us. Cevquit tried it a few weeks prior and he made all of 17 miles in 7 hours! This kinda freaked me out, because he is a very good rider. I mean, if he couldn't make it, what in hell made me think I could do it?? But I took comfort in the fact that he tried it on an LC4 and was trying to ride up Thompson Hill! He's a madman! We knew it took 2-3 days in a Jeep, but figured we'd finish it before nightfall. I mean, it's a Jeep trail...how tough can it be...right? The thing about the Dusy Ershim is there are no bail-outs, and no alternative routes should you get hurt or get tired of the endless rocks. You can either turn around and go out the way you came, or you can suck it up and ride it to the end. And you can forget about being towed out, too. If your bike breaks, you either walk out to get parts (ask Cevquit's friend) or you try to wedge it into the back of some friendly guy's Jeep and hope it doesn't get even more damaged bouncing around back there. It's not the gnarliest trail I've ever ridden, that's for sure, but it almost ranks right up there with 5 Miles of Hell in Utah when it comes to getting a disabled vehicle out should you break down in the middle of it.

The night before our ride, Eric and I rode the pavement to the southern end of the trail where we would finish our ride. We left his WR426 locked to a tree, sans rear wheel axle, and rode my KTM450 2-up back to our campsite. This way, after the ride, he could hop on the 426 and ride back to camp to get the truck and come get us.



We got up at 6am and got to the trailhead at White Bark V ista up on Kaiser Pass about 7:15am...



The cast of characters: Eric, me, and our two very good friends from WA, Scott and his dad Tim



Key time was 8am sharp...




The trail starts out at about 9600', climbs to slightly over 10000' then stays between 9000' and 10000' for most of the trail before it drops (and I do mean drops) to 8400'.



After what seemed like only 100 yards past the official gate to the trail, we came upon this...







I didn't fall (that didn't actually happen until 3.45 miles into the trail ) but I bobbled and had to go up it starting from a dead stop in the middle. My trials tire made short work of those rocks, though. While gasping for oxygen when I got to the top, I thought to myself "crap...it's...going to be...a...long day..."


The trail turned out to be everything I had hoped it would be. There were stretches of really easy 2-track that were incredibly scenic...





There were rocky sections that stretched on for what felt like forever...






More to come
(with the amount of photos one can include on a BARF post, this might be more than 3 parts...either that or a mere shell of the original report...)


Woodschick

continued...

There were rocky sections that went uphill and downhill...







And there were also some rocky sections...

there were lakes and wildflowers and creek crossings...










And then there were a few rocky sections...

Continued...

This is Summit Lake.



The lake is entirely within the wilderness boundary, but a short 100-yard hike brought us to the shore and a perfect place for a lunch stop...





Lunchtime's over. Now the fun begins...

We'd heard horror stories about Thompson Hill, a very steep rocky section that gains quite a few feet in elevation in a very short period of time, all over rocks and boulders. This is the main reason we were doing the trail from north to south; we figured it would be easier to go down it rather than up. I'm sure this turned out to be true, but "easy" is not the first word that comes to mind when I think of my trip down Thompson Hill. I am at the top of the actual trail, looking down at Tim, whose white helmet is barely visible. Note Courtright Reservoir and the granite domes in the background...




I'll say right now that I dropped the ball when it came to getting photographic evidence of the nastiness of this hill. The following 2 photos were after we got through the gnarly stuff. If my friends got anything more representative, I'll post them up later.

Scott finding a ribbon of dirt among the smaller rocks on the edge...




Looking back at what I had just come down. If you look closely, you will see 2red taillights in between the 2 trees in the middle of the photo. They belong to a built FJ Land Cruiser that had been stuck there for 2 days. Their buddies went out to get parts to fix the FJ, but on the way back in they broke down, too, and had to use the parts to get themselves out. Note the orange trail marker on the end of the cut tree. The trail runs to the left of the orange marker...



There were stretches of really easy stuff interspersed with...you guessed it: more rocks. I went over the bars near this easy area ( of course...) and landed chest-first on my right arm. No damage done except for cut fingers (hadn't taken off my rings) and I knocked the wind out of myself. Now, that is always an unsettling experience, but doing it at 10,000' gave it a whole new look and feel. I highly recommend avoiding it...





More to come...

After Thompson Hill, the trail levels out and follows Dusy Creek. I thought we were home-free and that the rocks would be a thing of the past. Not so. This shows Scott looking for an easier way to get around the rocks. The little dirt hill looks benign, doesn't it? It wasn't, for some bizarre reason. I wondered if it wouldn't be easier to just suck it up and go through the rocks. I had lots of practice at this point...






The trail climbed a bit more after going through these meadows...







We dropped down to the northern end of Courtright Reservoir...



We thought the end was near, as we knew the trail ended at the reservoir...not so!

We followed Dusy Creek for awhile and eventually popped out onto a large granite dome...playtime!!







This was some fun stuff! Not quite as sticky as Utah's slickrock, but uber-traction nonetheless. It felt so smooth and sweet after all the rocks we'd been pounding through for the last 28 miles. We rode around in circles for a bit, looking for the trail...




We finally caught a glimpse of a tiny USFS sign way down below at the bottom of the dome. Could that be the trail??




Yep, that was it. The tiny blue speck at the bottom is me...




Me coming back up...




We were atop Chicken Rock, and it was steep! But traction was delicious and plentiful...





The end is near...

We played around a bit...





and finally all met up at the bottom...




Then we rode through this...




We were home free! This was the official gate at the southern end of the trail...






We went past another dome or two...





With a great sense of joy, tinged with a bit of sadness that it was over, we passed through the 2nd gate at exactly 3:05pm with this on the clock...





Not very often has it taken me 7 hours to go 32 miles! But we stopped a lot to enjoy the scenery, we took a lot of photos, we had that nice leisurely lunch at Summit Lake, and we played around on the granite slab. This trail could be done a lot faster, but at the expense of missing all that makes this trail the gem that it is. I'd like to bring my bike-camping gear next time and spend a bit more time enjoying the lakes and killer campsites along the trail. I've ridden all over the western states and I'd have to say that this trail is one of the most scenic trails I've ever ridden.


It's almost over...honest!

The scenery didn't end with the trail, either...

















I'd like to take a moment to recognize the Fresno 4WD Club, and thank them for their efforts in keeping this trail pristine. It's their baby, they mapped it out in the 50's, they clear it, open it and maintain it, and all at their own expense. I have no doubt they were very instrumental in keeping the trail accessible to OHV when the designations for the John Muir and Dinkey Lakes Wildernesses were handed down. I'm thinking of sending them a thank-you note and a check.


There was a lot of anticipation, trepidation and expectation leading up to this adventure, and I was not disappointed in the least. It was as beautiful as I had hoped, but not as gnarly as I had feared. It was an excellent ride, and I can't wait to do it again.

Thanks for allowing me to share.


WoodsChick

Awesome report and stunning pictures. Thanks for taking the time to share!

AngryShawn said:

Awesome report and stunning pictures. Thanks for taking the time to share!

Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for taking the time to wade through it. Due to the freakishly large size of the photos (sorry!) it makes it kind of a pain to read the actual report.

Glad you enjoyed it.



WoodsChick

Awesome, thanks for sharing

Ya nice ride for sure,did you have to re-jet your bikes to ride at that alt?Or is that the normal for you?

I have say,That ant no Utah ride

Stunning. Thank you. Helps people understand one of the reasonds we ride dirtbikes...

That looks like fun... for about 1/4 mile, then it looks like a lot of work.

I'll bet the Marzocchi Magnums were nice over the rocks. I just changed yet another fork seal on mine.

Wow, what a great ride! Thanks for throwing up the photos, the scenery is beautiful!

What was the temp like at 8am?

Wes said:

Awesome, thanks for sharing

Click to expand...

Thanks. The pleasure was all mine...at least it was once I got over losing the whole report due to posting too many images and trying to go back and fix it...Arrrghhhh!!


WoodsChick

barefootbob said:

Ya nice ride for sure,did you have to re-jet your bikes to ride at that alt?Or is that the normal for you?

I have say,That ant no Utah ride

Click to expand...

Thanks, BFB. Yeah, we had to re-jet, especially since we were heading to the eastern Sierra afterwards (after a romp at Kennedy Meadows) to ride the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.
We rode the highest road in CA there and topped out at about 12000'. Besides, nice crisp jetting is imperative when bashing through that kind of rock all day.

And, no, that altitude is definitely not the norm for me. I'm a sea-level gal. We got there a few days early, camped at 8300' and did a bit of riding in order to get acclimated. It still damn near kicked my butt.

Yeah, the rocks are different in the Sierra than they are in So UT.
The granite is a bit more slidey, for sure, than the slickrock. Still, it's all good. Can't wait to get back to UT in April or May. Going to Utah is kinda like going to church for me. It's damn near spiritual there.



WoodsChick

Butch said:

Stunning. Thank you. Helps people understand one of the reasonds we ride dirtbikes...

Click to expand...

Thanks, Butch; You're absolutely right. It used to be all about making it through the most gnarly trail I could find. and I'd never be caught dead on a "jeep trail." But one of the reasons I ride dirtbikes now is to get out into the forest or desert and enjoy the best nature has to offer. This trail was the cream of the crop as far as scenic value and solitude go. I'm going to try to ride it again before the snow flies.



WoodsChick

2strokeYardSale said:

That looks like fun... for about 1/4 mile, then it looks like a lot of work.

I'll bet the Marzocchi Magnums were nice over the rocks. I just changed yet another fork seal on mine.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I was all happy about the views and stuff and then 100 yards into it I get blindsided by the reality of the trail (rocks, rocks, rocks...technical crap...ledge...rocks...pay attention...ooh! look at that pretty scener...oof...that hurt...rocks...rockpile...little roly rocks...lather, rinse, repeat) and I'm busting my butt and seeing stars due to the altitude. And I'm thinkin' to myself that maybe I got in over my head. Naaah...
It was a lot of work, but very well worth it.

And yeah, the Marzocchi's work pretty well now after going with RaceTech stuff to tweak them. I'm just glad I didn't break another frame or shear off my borrowed steering stem...


WoodsChick

Awesome write-up and spectacular pics! This thread makes me want to get a dirtbike so bad.

Those lakes look like they would have some killer fishing too. It would definitely be fun to stop and camp for a night along that trail.