Locked up in the cells

I am still recovering from another trip to the Cells over the weekend with those weirdos from Tamworth, both the riding and the festivities took their toll on me. It was worth every sore spot and dizzy spell though!!
My travel partner was Green Meanie ( a regular ride partner of mine), GM and myself left Wauchope in the wee hours of the morning headed for SpotX (our camp spot).
Any drive up the Walcha mountain at sunrise is worth the effort, the scenery is just spectacular as you look out over Mt Seaview as the sun rises.

No sooner did we arrive at Spot X we said our gdays and quickly kitted up and headed out with the boys on a reccy run trying to link up the trails we did on my birthday ride to our camp spot.

The first rest break, before we headed into the unknown. The leaches and humidity were extreme.

We found the vital trail that links it all together in no time and were on our way towards the Doyles river section of the Forest. The trail we found winds its way down into a Valley and through a nice little creek crossing that marks the beginning of Fark fark fark fark fark fark Hill. GM got a little cross rutted on the hill that was riddled with rutts. Once we got his bike straightened up again he,took of up the hill full of determination, only to flip his bike in spectacular Travis Prastana style, the bike landed upside down on its seat and handle bars and it was still running!! The barrage of expletives that erupted from his mouth would make a wharfie blush!! Hence the new name of the hill.We got him settled down and he eventually got to the top of a steep little pinch that gave a few of the other riders some strife too. At the top we rested before we headed off towards Elands through some sweet stuff that Moose and I found a month or two back.
The boys loved what I showed them and Boony and myself had a red hot run up a trail that had us high fiving at the top. (we did this trail on my birthday ride but in the opposite direction) AS we were only 11km from Ellenborough Falls the boys decided they should go have a look at them as they are spectacular to say the least, from there we headed up to Elands store where Boony hovered around the store owner like a blow fly, in the hope that one of her breasts would drop out of her top.

The boys at the shop.

Once we left the store we went in search of a single trail that we had seen numerous times but hadn’t had the chance to ride. What a find that was!! It lead onto an awesome section of trails that link up easily, we found ourselves down in the rainforest having a ball.

Here’s Billy’s effort at a snotty creek crossing and Aaron being a clown, with what appears to be his dick out. (it is actually a mushroom he claims)

Boony had a go and made it OK

Snowy tractored through the slop easily.

And so did Pete.

Time was starting to get away from us so we started to make our way back to camp when GM’s bike came to a stop, completely out of fuel. Bugger.the only two stroke in the group and no spare oil to mix up a bit to get him back the last 17km’s. I decided I would head back to camp and get him some more fuel and Aaron came along for the ride. Talk about a very fast 17km run back to camp!! Aaron and I hammered along pretty fast as this hold up was eating into beer time. The boys that waited back with GM said they could hear us going our hardest up through the valley the whole time we were gone and knew when we were on our way back. We eventually got the entire group back to camp at about 4.30 pm and from there things got ugly a s some serious bench racing and beverage consumption ensued.

Day 2 to follow.

The bench racing went way into the night, probably about 3 more beers than it should have.It was a great night sitting around the fire, learning the ins and outs of ultra sounds (had to be there).
Anyhow, a reasonably early start saw us fed and and ready to have a cruisy 20 or 30km ride to finish off with.
We headed off and hit some very greasy singles to start with, a few logs and banks got us nicely warmed up and at the top of the Quarry.

From the top of the quarry looking down the view was great.

Much better than the view from the bottom looking up.

Aaron is always up for a challenge

A quick run from the quarry found us at the top of another one of Snowy’s Valleys of Doom. We entered the trail through a small opening in the bush and were soon confronted by a fantastic trail that wound its way down towards the Valley floor. At this stage Aaron had taken the lead and was approaching it with caution as it appeared that we may come to the point of no return soon. We had gone 2km down the hill before it started to get a bit more challenging and greasy.

The clay was very sticky and filled your knobs up and made them into slicks that offered no grip at all

WE had passed the point of no return. Only to get to the bottom of a very slick down hill to look up at a very slick uphill, with a log across it!! WE had no option but to press on as we were not going to get back up the way we had come.
The log and the greasy rutt above it caused us a few problem but we eventually got everyone up and over the log and rutt. To our relief the uphill grade wasn’t anywhere near as steep as the previous down hill and we soon made it to ground that actually offered a degree of traction and we soon popped out on a main trail. Thank God for that as we were rooted.
Boony and I needed a spell after that. Note the blood soaking through my jersey from the numerous leeches that had hitched a ride.

WE eventually worked out what main trail we were actually on and headed down the hill to the ore stamper. No trip to the Cells is complete without a stop at this spot to admire the beauty of it.
The pig parked at the stamper.

A run up Jeep trail is always fun as the contour mounds were obviously made by someone that rides a dirtbike!
WE had another rest at the top of the trail.
Left to right
Billy , Snowy, Boony, Aaron and micknmeld

By this stage we had about enough and headed back to camp where Aaron nearly broke tinys record for the crash closest to the finish point of the ride. Tiny still holds the record with 3 meters but Aaron is now running a close second at 25 meters.

A couple of cold beers made a great finish to a hard mornings ride before we packed up and headed to Ginger’s Creek for a feed and post ride debrief.

A great weekend was had by me and my side kick GM and I can’t wait to get back up there again.Even though I am covered in itchy welts from leach bites,it was worth every minute! Thanks fellas.

What a day :ohmy: :ohmy:

Thanks Boony, Snowy and Tarzan for an epic day.

The 2 klm detour we took was probably the hardest 2 klm I’ve ever ridden. At one stage I thought we might have to have a sleepover on the forest floor. Traction was zero, bikes were boiling, there was almost impassable obstacles every 100 metres or so and fatigue was really starting to kick in.

I wish we had some more photos of this trail.

The rest of the riding was awsome as well. Next time I’m camping :angry:

Stex had to make it home in time to go out for dinner.

He didn’t make it :woohoo: :woohoo:

Thanks again for an epic day. It’s certainly going to remain in my memory for a long time.

( Don’t trust Snowy….Don’t trust Snowy….Don’t trust snowy…..Don’t Trust snowy) :laugh: :laugh:

Kram

Couple of old looking bastards there, looks like the ride took a toll
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I was having head spins when that photo was taken!! :blink:

That was hard work, in that gully. :ohmy:

Also might have something to do with the Winnie Red that is in my left hand.(out of shot) :blush:

Look forward to riding with you again Pete, you are one bloke that I know that would love a run up in the Cells and a bloke I would gladly ride up there with. It is a team effort that is required and you have always shown yourself as a team player.

Next time Kram’s Kastle will be locked and loaded

Can’t wait to explore more of this area it was awsome.

I need to learn how to load photos onto the site. Snowy’s Right Turn of Torture deserved more documentation.

Kram