I turned 54 this past weekend. I am lucky enough to have reasonable health and an active lifestyle. My friend Shane and his dad Ron took me on an overnight motorcycle camping trip up to Char Falls Idaho. It was a rugged ride that tested my abilities on the bike. I have been working really hard to get more confident in thrashing around my KLR 650 as I climb up steep rocky roads and cross through mud, sand, and deep gravel. It is an interesting way to learn about the Taos philosophy of Wu Wei.
The concept of Wu Wei is that of effortless action. How that applies to motorcycle riding on rugged terrain is that to be successful I have to let the bike do the work and not try to hold on too tight. My goal is to become weightless and to trust the machine underneath me to do the work. The beginning of each ride is always the toughest. I fight with the handlebars and struggle to keep from crashing on the uneven ground. After muscling the 450+ pound bike for an hour I am too tired to fight it and I enter into Wu Wei. It is an incredible feeling. I am completely alert and focused on everything around me and yet I feel like I am floating on the bike. This last trip I started learning how to climb around the bike to counter balance it as the bike leaned into the corners. It is almost like being a gymnast performing a routine on a pommel horse.
A week ago I was extremely slow and my friends were extremely patient. This weekend I was able to keep pace for the most part. They gave me a great gift of this adventure. We rode from Fernan Lake to Gold Creek lodge for lunch and then up Johnson Creek road to Clark Fork Idaho where we stopped for gas and a snack and then continued up Lightning Creek road to Char Falls. The route had numerous beautiful views of the north end of Lake Pend Oreille.
By that time I had gotten very tired and fell behind Shane who was in the lead but was in front of Ron. My GPS said I had reach the Falls but I didn’t see them and so I continued on. I kept going another 10 minutes and started to see snow on the ground. I stopped at a wide spot in the road hoping to hear my friends but it was just cool and silent. After about 10 minutes of not seeing anyone I decided that I must of missed the turn to the Falls. I turned around and within a short distance I could see Shane coming up looking for me.
Shane guided me back to the trail that led to the Falls. It was a gnarly stretch of rock, mud, and overgrowing brushes. Where I had felt growing confidence on rough logging roads, this started a new round of inner doubt that I had to push through. There would be no where to turn around so I would have to make it through to the other side. I made it and felt great!
To my surprise the Falls were actually below us as we pulled up to a flat spot along a ledge overlooking the river and falls. We had planned to camp for the night and the sun was setting. Unfortunately the ground was wet from the recent snow melt and we didn’t have any firewood to keep warm with. We decided to head back and down to a lower elevation where it was noticeably warmer. I had to make a hard maneuver to to turn my bike around and I had to retrace the challenges back out to the road. I did both with more confidence and excitement.
We headed back down and scouted several spots before finding one. Again, it required a trip down a small patch of single track with a steep little drop off before betting to the flat camping area. Shane was kind enough to not only go first but he got off his bike and removed a couple of dangerous rocks from my path. Another gift. It was 8pm by the time we got our camp set up and started a fire.
The night passed quickly as I sipped aged bourbon from my jet boil mug and smoked a swisher sweet cigar Shane had brought to commemorate the day’s ride. By 10:30 I was absolutely exhausted and went to bed for the most satisfactory sleep I had in months. Whereas I usually wake up by 5am, I slept in until 8:30! I had missed any chance for sunrise photos on the river so I didn’t even bother pulling out the camera.
This trip was a shake-down trip to see if I could use a motorcycle to get into territory where I want to make photographs. It was the first time I had packed one of my professional camera systems and a tripod. I ended up not using the tripod because I was too tired at the end of the day and slept in too late at the start of the next. It’s okay though. I am learning that I can do this work and I look forward to many more adventures of the summer.
I returned home to my wonderful wife and a bbq celebration with family and friends. I have so much to be grateful for. I think my favorite moment from the night was spending time with my grandson as he oohed and awed about motorcycles!
Cheers,
Ira