Birthday at Quaking Aspen

[Dusty]

Its seems that Dean knows how to celebrate his birthday, he starts with Taco Tuesday and Mud Pie, continues rides with friends through the week and ends up at Quaking Aspen in the Sequoia's for a weekend of camping and riding. Not too shabby. Go Here are a few pics from the Nelson ride trail. We had a broken chain and a few crashes, (Willie cracked the helmet) and some really cool exhibitions We gathered trail side for lunch and again for smores.

[Pain Freak]

Sorry folks I'm almost as old as and as age dictates I have a tendency to forget things.....like my camera.

Still had a lot of fun and was great having the smores. Bruce and Shannon went over the top and made sure all us camp tramps got fed.

There sure was a lot of airtime this weekend. Mondo,Joel,Jason, Scott & Jeff were all entertaining the hell out of us. Quaking Aspen is a really great place to ride. I can't wait to go back and do all the other stuff keeps talking about.

[dstepper]

Never really intended it to be a birthday ride it just seemed to turn out that way. The trip was Kelly's idea months ago and it just kind of happened near my Birthday. Thanks to all that cooked and Shannon for the brownies...I ate better camping this time than I eat at home.

Had to throw in a picture of Reagan and her dad. She is so funny, after you take her picture it is "can I see". She wants to look at your camera to see the picture you took of her.

Dean

[CPATCRASH]

Damn! Sorry I missed this one. Was rhe smoke bad? I was in Sonoma and you could smell it big time.

[JoeTruth]

Quaking Aspens look pretty and the trails seem very nice too. Looks like you all had a fun weekend. Hopefully, Kelly didn't keep everyone up and do her naked which dances around the fire with her Mando. Great job everyone!

That Reagan looks like a doll. what a cutie-pie! Being a dad and not the most coordinated rider in the world, I don't know if I'd have the confidence to ride with my daughter on my back. What a ride and view for her though!

[OMR]

The Quaking Aspen area is one of my favorite areas ... great trails and a fun place to camp. Looks like you guys and girls did STR proud. The Camp Nelson trail is a classic. I would have much better loved to have been riding up there rather than falling at SCST... which goes without saying!!!!

[Letyrides]

Nice pics. Looks like a damn good ride missed.

[SheDevil]

What a great trip....as usual. It was a lot different than the trip we had last October...the campground was maxed out with vacationers (which was suprising) and the trail is no longer one of the lesser knowns. Shannon and I noticed right away how much more use was apparent. Every section had a small jump or something made for a trick....it was notably used and more rutty/rocky yet still just as beautiful once you catch your breath and look around.

What started as a "hey you wanna go up to QA for the weekend?" idea....manifested into a large group of bikers. It was a ton of fun....and so much so that the hijack and vandalism of Steppies bike never took place.....we had planned to turn his Homer-Cycle into "another" brand via stickers and streamers but none of us could get up to get it done. In spirit tho Dean....we were wild women on a mission.....in reality, bed felt too darn good I think.

I can say that a week up there would be easier than 3 days as it's a trek to get up the mountain and then for some the altitude is an issue.... overall....great trip...great people...great food....and I'll post a couple pics when I can

[dstepper]

Originally Posted by JoeTruth

Being a dad and not the most coordinated rider in the world, I don't know if I'd have the confidence to ride with my daughter on my back.

That is the around the campground, Jeff does not take her out on the trail. Although she seems to be fearless and would want to go.

Dean

[mouse jockey]

Awesome! We were just up there two weeks ago. Were you able to ride BC or Freeman?

Hey Jeff! Was the "fire jump" still up?

Is that Joel shuttling everyone?

[dstepper]

Originally Posted by mouse jockey

Awesome! We were just up there two weeks ago. Were you able to ride BC or Freeman?

Hey Jeff! Was the "fire jump" still up?

Is that Joel shuttling everyone?

I did 5 rides but BC was not one of them, no one rode BC. Jeff, Scott, Mat and I did some exploring the upper sections of Summit Trail near Jordan Peak. We all were stoked that we were finally able to put sections that Scott and I had rode and lost the trail with the sections that Jeff new. We figured out a nice new loop from QA Camp; 14 extra miles and 2000 ft climb...can be added to the Camp Nelson Trail to get in a decent days ride.

Yep that was Joel, it only took us 3 hours in the AM to figure out how to setup a shuttle for 17 people. Scott (Stjunkie) and Mat (Burner) decided to just climb the trail back up.

If you want a Topo Map or my tracklog PM me with your e-mail address.

Dean

[CC]

Nice pix and RR everyone!

I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate a birthday. You're becoming a regular up there Dean and it looks absolutely beautiful. Looking forward to exploring it before too long.

Good to see that Shannon and Kelly have recovered well from their injuries.

~CC

[Shannon]

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend. Quaking Aspen has become one of my favorite places to camp and ride.

Like Kelly said, we had perfected a birthday plan to sabotage Dean's bike after he went to bed with some streamers and a few stickers but after a day of riding and feeding the troops there was NO way either of us was getting up. Besides, Dean was always one of the last people to bed! Damn him.

One of the highlights for me this weekend was to have our friends Brittany and Chad from our neck of the woods join us. Brittany rides semi-regularly on the road and Chad (according to Brittany) doesn't ride that much. But they were game for coming up and joining the STR crew. They looked pretty dubious however when it came time to suit up and ride and everyone gathered around with their f/s bikes, full-faced helmets and padding. Brittany and Chad kicked butt with their older hardtail bikes. I was so impressed and excited for them for how well they handled the trail and our entire bunch of weirdos, uh I mean friends.

Some other highlights; Celebrating Dean's birthday. Waking up to find Gabe asleep in his camp chair, covered up with his 'blankie'. Jason freaking out because he couldn't get out of his sleeping bag to go to the bathroom. Joel's dogs, Ginger and Gabby. And the snore-a-thon between Scott, Dean and Bruce. There's many more, but then this RR would turn into a novel.

Thanks everyone for a great time!