Kansas Gypsum Hills, Medicine Lodge, Oct 3rd, 4th

[katbeanz]

Myself and some guys on ADV are going to meet up to ride backroads and camp at Medicine Lodge Kansas in a few days. I'm sure more would be welcome, I expect this ride to be scenic but not really challenging. I'm looking forward to riding with 2whelman and lowflyer again. I'd guess this ride would be vstrom or GS friendly also, details here.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=373140

[KC]

I'm planning on riding down Saturday morning and may have one more along as well. I've never spent time in the Gyp Hills and look forward to the scenery. Not planning on spending the night, just riding for the day and heading back to Wichita.

[katbeanz]

Cool, I was planning on meeting 2whelman down there thursday night, but he was in a work accident and won't be attending. Lowflyer isn't going until friday, I got to ride with him last weekend and had a great time.

[Hayden]

Kyle. Im still in on this. Just hit me with what time we need to leave here.

Kats, what time do we need to hook up with you and where on Sat morning?


Hayden

[katbeanz]

Kyle. Im still in on this. Just hit me with what time we need to leave here.
Kats, what time do we need to hook up with you and where on Sat morning?
Hayden

I think it's supposed to be in the low 40's at night, I doubt anyone will be riding super early but maybe 8:30ish would be good. There aren't any routes or tracks, just one day south and one day north of Medicine Lodge.

Camping at Barber County State Lake on the north end of Medicine Lodge, Kansas

N37 17.865 W98 35.164

I'll either get down there tonight or leave in the wee hours tomorrow morning, hauling in a dark blue chevy colorado. Dean

[Hayden]

Guess we will shoot for a 8-8:30 meet time at camp. Ill be on a 640 Adventure, Kyle on a Red Storm. If we miss you, could you leave a note in the window of your truck wether you went N or S of ML. Im sure we will run across each other if we head the right direction. Ill load up some Topos of the area and some trails/road tracks. Ive looked at the area before and have some questions about roads going through in certain places. I for one would like to go S of ML on sat but its not a must. I will be comming back on Sat night to go to the Cassody rally on Sun.




Trace.

[katbeanz]

Will do, it looks pretty interesting west of ML, no grid pattern, just a bunch of squiggly lines.

[Hayden]

Yep you and I are on the same page. That out west is what I mean. From Hartner over to Aetna. That all looks pretty fun. Several creeks out there so hopefully there will be some fun crossings. Even south down into Oklahoma looks like pretty wide open country. We should have fun for sure.

T

[KC]

Had a great ride, 385 miles total for me for the day. There were 8 riders on Saturday, everything from an XT225 to a 1200GSA! The Vstrom w/ stock tires proved to be a challenge for me in the loose silty sandy corners and the hilly section with inches deep blue rock dumped on them....totally uncalled for, IMO With a great deal of energy exerted, I managed to keep the bike upright throughout the entire ride, until we arrived back at camp. I learned a valuable lesson yesterday...in high wind conditions, always park your bike facing into the wind Maybe more importantly, if you DON"T face your bike into the wind and it is up on the centerstand, DO NOT leave your 52 liter Givi topcase unlatched A gust of wind flipped the case lid open and turned it into a sail, propelling the bike off of the centerstand and sent it crashing down on it's left side after skidding off of Hayden's front fender. After picking the bike up and surveying the damage, I lifted a finger to rub off some KTM orange paint from the side of the topcase. Hayden quickly exclaimed: "NO!, Don't rub it off!"....I'm expecting a visit from his insurance adjuster. All in all, good ride, great people.
I didn't take a camera along, but Hayden should have some pretty good shots. He's doing the Cassoday Run today, so maybe he can post a few in a couple days.

[katbeanz]

Nice to see you guys again and I'm glad you had fun. I got an early start and got home about 10 this am. I've been skulking around in lowflyer and Bake's smugmugs, they both have a great eye for pictures. Dean

[ajayhawkfan]

I just got in. I left at 8 and road to Cassody and met a friend. After than Gravel through the Flint Hills home.

Those Gyp Hills are beautiful. I want to go back.

[Hayden]

Hey all. I got to the bottom of the big fire that was out there. My dad sits on the Board of the National Buffalo Associtation and is friends with the people that run Ted Turners Ranch out there. Seems that some Road workers, working on a bridge out there started the fire with a cutting torch. It burned somewhere around 6-7 thousand acres the first day and then was under control. 3 days later the wind came up and it started again. Burned off another 10,000 acres before it was put out. Wind came up again a couple of days after that and burned off another 7-10,000 acres before being put out. In total 45 Square miles was burned. Almost 29,000 acres. 6,000 acres was Ted Turners. From what dad told me and looking at where we were at, I dont think we even got close to the ranch. He said the ranch starts 18 miles West of ML and goes clear down into Oklahoma.

Hayden