Johnson Valley Questions

[cobra46]

My sons and I are meeting my dad for several days of riding from 3/27-4/1.  This trip we picked the Johnson Valley area.  My dad used to ride bikes but has switched to SxS's as they are easier on his body.  This limits our choices to two track destinations.

Rider Planet shows camping spots near 34.560820, -116.777001.

From Google Maps there appears to be camping and a pit toilet here 34.439287, -116.690170.

Google Maps also shows lot of people camping here 34.407579, -116.520117.

Any pointers for a first time visitor to this area?  Camping near a pit toilet is nice so we don't have to fill our black tank.  We will be pulling a 27' fifth wheel with a 4wd.

Any riding spots that are not to be missed?

Thanks for your input.

[Jeff aka Bolt]

Cougar Buttes is easy access off Camp Rock Rd... Pit toilets... Cool scenery... Lots of two track and jeep crawls... Plenty of whoops... Closest to town, food, gas, firewood, barber, fire dept, emts, etc.

Perfect weather right now. ?

[notoriousE-R-I-C]

Every time I've been there, whoever doesn't have a spark arrestor gets a ticket. Its great weather now so its popping off. Red sticker and spark arrestor.
Its a park.
They love making money.
But plenty of fun. Whatever displacement. But its very open. 450f is better than a 250f there for sure. Lots of top end.

[Jeff aka Bolt]

6 hours ago, notoriousE-R-I-C said:

Every time I've been there, whoever doesn't have a spark arrestor gets a ticket. Its great weather now so its popping off. Red sticker and spark arrestor.
Its a park.
They love making money.
But plenty of fun. Whatever displacement. But its very open. 450f is better than a 250f there for sure. Lots of top end.

How is that even possible with one or two rangers to cover the largest OHV area in the country ?  You must know a lot of guys that dont have sparky's that like to sit in camp.  In 30 years I have been spoken to ONCE by a ranger...  and he didn't even look at my bikes.  And what idiot doesn't have a sparky...  still...  and how do you know so many ?  ?

Park ?   No fence...  no gate...  no kiosk...  a couple random pit toilets...  and some of the most diverse riding anywhere...  open desert,single track, sand dunes,  and amazing rock formations which make up the King of the Motos and and MORE....  a Track Bike ?  Really ?

Sorry buddy...  I am just not sure you have even been to Johnson Valley by reading your post ?

Edited March 18, 2018 by Jeff aka Bolt

[notoriousE-R-I-C]

Won't be one or two rangers St. Pattys weekend. OHVs are protected Federal Land. Tickets are a big way to pay for anything there, including there being a "there" to even talk about. And its most likely going to be some IE dude getting a ticket on his stolen 2t. And you Mr. Bolt, probably have legitimate bikes. As do I, so I don't personally have these issues. But I'm in the industry way too much to have not seen this. All you have to do is service somewhere and you'll do enough things to bikes, which are ticketable things, to see the frequency of such violations, without out even being in the desert.
You also probably look proper. When come on man, when its cold, There's a bunch of iffy dudes on iffy bikes. Tis the season.

[notoriousE-R-I-C]

And Johnson Valleys for softer riders.
So you don't get as many hardcore all about riding cats out there when the weather's right.
You get a bunch of high schoolers going to the desert to get wasted.
Riding ishy bikes.
The campground is actually a better place to be.

[cobra46]

10 hours ago, Jeff aka Bolt said:

Cougar Buttes is easy access off Camp Rock Rd... Pit toilets... Cool scenery... Lots of two track and jeep crawls... Plenty of whoops... Closest to town, food, gas, firewood, barber, fire dept, emts, etc.

Perfect weather right now. ?

Is this the only spot for pit toilets?  Is this where you would stay if you were going?

8 hours ago, notoriousE-R-I-C said:

Every time I've been there, whoever doesn't have a spark arrestor gets a ticket. Its great weather now so its popping off. Red sticker and spark arrestor.
Its a park.
They love making money.
But plenty of fun. Whatever displacement. But its very open. 450f is better than a 250f there for sure. Lots of top end.

Our bikes are:

Me 525

Son 1 450

Son 2 CR125

Son 2 blew his big end bearing a year ago trying to keep up with my dad at Smith Valley / Wilson Canyon.  He now understands the limits of a small bore 2T bike even though I told him about this issue in the past.  Guess he didn't believe me.

Son 1 my not get to ride since he just got mono so maybe son 2 can ride the 450.  He owned that bike on our last trip to Mina.  It's getting harder and harder to keep up with my boys every year.

1 hour ago, notoriousE-R-I-C said:

And Johnson Valleys for softer riders.
So you don't get as many hardcore all about riding cats out there when the weather's right.
You get a bunch of high schoolers going to the desert to get wasted.
Riding ishy bikes.
The campground is actually a better place to be.

With the King of the Moto's being held here, there has to be some challenging terrain right?

[cobra46]

Thanks for the responses so far.  Keep em coming guys.

 

Anyone else going to be out here for Spring Break at the same time?  It's always cool to meet guys you interact with here on TT.

[notoriousE-R-I-C]

Like actual toilets? Yes. I poop in a bucket and have water tanks so...I do like the campground but I'd rather stay by my lonesome. Technically a fire needs to be in a pit...but what a real pit? Just don't get excessive.

That 125 would be fun just its not enough to me. It is very open so it is a lot of top end riding. Even in the washes I'm flying.

When I say softer I just mean more general riding. Its very spread out. The Southside is where any elevation is at. Depends on what you find fun. But its all fun really. There's just not too many really cool things back to back. Its very plain to me. South and east is as challenging as it gets. And there's hairy stuff trust me. Just for me, more of my day is high rev high speeds. Nothing too technical.

And your average rider doesn't even see the KOM track because those routes are usually avoided by most.

Lots of fun. Just have your bikes as they should be on BLM land.

I just see way more people here that don't ride often

 

 

 

[Jeff aka Bolt]

Ok it's official...  I can see Cougar Buttes from my kitchen window and NOBEENNOWHERE-R-I-N doesn't have a clue what shes talking about.  I've been riding this area longer than she has been alive.  So take that with a grain of salt.  Just filter her out of the thread and you will have all the good info you need.  ?

Would take you a year to cover all the riding in Johnson Valley.  Enjoy your weekend with your pops.  

[cobra46]

56 minutes ago, notoriousE-R-I-C said:

Like actual toilets? Yes. I poop in a bucket and have water tanks so...I do like the campground but I'd rather stay by my lonesome. Technically a fire needs to be in a pit...but what a real pit? Just don't get excessive.

That 125 would be fun just its not enough to me. It is very open so it is a lot of top end riding. Even in the washes I'm flying.

When I say softer I just mean more general riding. Its very spread out. The Southside is where any elevation is at. Depends on what you find fun. But its all fun really. There's just not too many really cool things back to back. Its very plain to me. South and east is as challenging as it gets. And there's hairy stuff trust me. Just for me, more of my day is high rev high speeds. Nothing too technical.

And your average rider doesn't even see the KOM track because those routes are usually avoided by most.

Lots of fun. Just have your bikes as they should be on BLM land.

I just see way more people here that don't ride often

 

 

 

No, not real flush toilets.  Just a generic government pit toilet which is just a concrete hole in the ground with a toilet on top that gets sucked out by the honey wagon periodically.  We usually do the bury our shit 6" deep per government rules but the desert can be impossible to dig in.

All our bikes are registered and have sparky's.  The 525 are 450 are plated but, like most dual sports, are not technically street legal due to blinker spacing, license angle, non DOT tires etc.  This has never been an issue for us in Nor Cal.  The thing I'm most worried about is son 2 riding the plated 450 without an M endorsement.  It's a stupid law that a rider of a plated bike must have M endorsement even off road.  I was told this by a ranger at Foresthill but have never verified this claim.  He did say he would never ticket someone for it unless they hit the pavement.

I may go hunt for KOM and KOH GPS tracks.  These routes may be fun to follow.

Edited March 18, 2018 by cobra46

[notoriousE-R-I-C]

Very mature Jeff. This weekend is one of the biggest drinking holidays of the year. He coulda been a 16 year old.
You need to get out the IE Jeff. All I suggested was have your bike right. Which if you are a respectable American citizen, you will.
Why are you taking such offense if you're not IE trash?
Have your bikes right Cobra. In ten years you'll be taking your kids someplace better.

[notoriousE-R-I-C]

Flat and boring. Takes as long as it took to drive there to find anything worth a weekend of riding without drinking the whole time!

[RedRattler]

Your first set of coordinates is cougar buttes, which has two pit toilets and is close to town as stated above. The second coordinates are at soggy dry lake off Bessemer Mine Rd, farther east by about 20 minutes from Camp Rock Road. Bessemer Mine road heading north is bedrock and very bumpy but reasonably flag. The third location is even farther east and much more remote. Lots of sand. You can ride from Cougar Buttes to the other two locations. Except on a race weekend I've never seen a ranger out there.

[E. Norma Stick]

14 minutes ago, RedRattler said:

Your first set of coordinates is cougar buttes, which has two pit toilets and is close to town as stated above. The second coordinates are at soggy dry lake off Bessemer Mine Rd, farther east by about 20 minutes from Camp Rock Road. Bessemer Mine road heading north is bedrock and very bumpy but reasonably flag. The third location is even farther east and much more remote. Lots of sand. You can ride from Cougar Buttes to the other two locations. Except on a race weekend I've never seen a ranger out there.

this exactly

[notoriousE-R-I-C]

We ALL think we don't see Rangers. We ALL think we won't get caught not following a tiny rule.
But talk to anyone SEASONED in this game. Any garage has seen hundreds more bikes that came in to get this or that done cause they got busted for it. Its more than likely a fix it ticket.
But on St. Patty's weekend...
Ill put money on that tomorrow there's at least 3 bikes in the shop for something like we speak of, and the owner is one of you IE boys.
Get out of your garage.
Enter the real world.

[E. Norma Stick]

you suck at trolling

[Gavin Newsom]

11 hours ago, notoriousE-R-I-C said:

Every time I've been there, whoever doesn't have a spark arrestor gets a ticket. Its great weather now so its popping off. Red sticker and spark arrestor.
Its a park.
They love making money.
But plenty of fun. Whatever displacement. But its very open. 450f is better than a 250f there for sure. Lots of top end.

 Wow really. Is this a new thing? Ive been going to JV for 30 years and never once encountered BLM. I take it back I flagged one down once when I was out of gas and he barely wanted to stop.

I went many of those years with unregistered/expired sticker bikes. Only when i started racing and it was required did I keep them current.

[notoriousE-R-I-C]

Ok. What y'all oldie but goodies are failing to recognize is that this weekend is much more likely for what I said because it is a very popular drinking holiday. Which makes it that much more likely the BLM will make a few extra dollars due to such events. Next weekend, completely different story. Dude didn't ask his question last weekend. Nor did he ask it next weekend.

If you don't get your bikes right, then you're part of the problem.

All I said was follow the rules. Cause out there, its mostly trailer trash that doesn't.

 

 

[E. Norma Stick]

maybe go read the first sentence again ?