Anyone do any riding and exploring out in these areas? I know of and have GPS tracks for Rockman trail to Catavina but I recently took ownership of a
house in Puertecitos and I hope to find some great places to ride.
David K - 10-26-2022 at 06:29 AM
I hope you have fun exploring and will report back on your rides with maps!
I have driven up and down Arroyo Matomí many times since the first in 1978. Sometimes the narrows (~25 miles friom Hwy. 5) have a sandy bottom and
sometimes big rocks are exposed and restricts travel to motorcycles and well-elevated 4x4s!
A Nomad who is no longer with us ('bajalou') and others, have tried to punch through from Arroyo El Canelo (off Matomí, near Hwy. 5) to the mine road
coming north from Hwy. 1 (at El Aguila).. They were in buggies. Big rocks, not visible on Google Earth, blocked their way.
Here is the north end of the mine road at the Arroyo Canelo system: 30° 15' 17.9" N 114° 50' 18.6" WPaulW - 10-26-2022 at 06:39 AM
El Canelo
Tough. Unsuccessful attempt with partners that could not deal with the deep sand. Time to try again.Enrique2012 - 10-26-2022 at 09:36 AM
With regard to your red track, I've completed that ride twice (WR-450) and it's pretty much exactly as David described - sand and in many places large
rocks. This is particularly true of the lower section of red track. The upper section is faster and easier to ride. David K - 10-26-2022 at 10:28 AM
The map with the mine road penciled in and north and south routes of recon: bajaric - 10-26-2022 at 11:51 AM
Cool thread. Speaking of mines, I believe the Bill Nichols trail mentioned above starts at Hwy 5 at Arroyo Los Heme. Just north of the Arroyo Los
Heme bridge a large mining scar can be seen on a ridge just west of the highway. If you have ever wondered why they would mine material off the side
of a ridge at that particular location, the material mined was a "zeolite", a mineral with very small pores used in various filtration processes.
The mine is currently abandoned and you can drive a short distance west from the bridge to the other side of the ridge to examine a layer of the
material they were mining. It is a yellow volcanic rock full of air bubbles like pumice, only harder and denser than pumice. The layers are tilted
at a steep angle, heavily faulted, and capped by a horizontal basalt flow. Small blue crystals are dispersed throughout the material.
[Edited on 10-26-2022 by bajaric]9one8 Racing - 10-26-2022 at 12:03 PM
Thanks everyone! I'm going down in a week and a half w/ my ktm 500 so I was hoping to at least try and tackle my red line. Maybe stop and watch
some prerunning through Matomi. I'm really looking forward to getting out and exploring the area. I've really only passed through while racing so
it'll be nice to take some time to enjoy it.Marty Mateo - 10-26-2022 at 12:50 PM
Please check back in and tell us about your exploration. I’ve ridden east out of Cataviña to Misión Santa Maria and it would be good to hear what
routes are there are for dirt bikes to the east coast . 9one8 Racing - 10-26-2022 at 01:52 PM
I'll make it my mission to find a route to El Canelo then. Having a decent trail going to the west side from my house in Puertecitos would be pretty
cool (other than the one the legendary Bill Nichols trail). Can't promise it'll be accessible by anything other than a dirt bike though. Marty Mateo - 10-26-2022 at 04:52 PM
Can't promise it'll be accessible by anything other than a dirt bike though
Sounds perfect WestyWanderer - 10-26-2022 at 08:51 PM
Hey 9one8, where is your house in town? We’re there half a dozen times a year, our family has a house in Puertecitos as well as La Costilla just
down the road.
Of course I just sold my bike a few months ago, been looking for a riding partner for years. 9one8 Racing - 10-27-2022 at 07:47 AM
This is us at the thumb tack. I've passed by Puertecitos many times but never spent any time there. Really looking forward to it.
Sounds like it's time to get another bike Westy!
WestyWanderer - 10-27-2022 at 08:09 PM
Tell me about it, one of these days…
Right on, we’ll have to cruise by when we’re down in November and December.
We’re across the bay from you, on the road to the hot springs. bajatrailrider - 10-29-2022 at 08:40 AM
I did trail long time ago Highway 1 to Puertecitos . One of you knows name of that trail? Super deep sand left and right turns rocky. Two up gal on
bike with me. Cant remember how many times I fell down HAHA. Never again two up on that one.David K - 10-29-2022 at 09:06 AM
I did trail long time ago Highway 1 to Puertecitos . One of you knows name of that trail? Super deep sand left and right turns rocky. Two up gal on
bike with me. Cant remember how many times I fell down HAHA. Never again two up on that one.
The Bill Nichols Trail or Rockman Trail are two names. Goes from a few miles south of Puertecitos, up the ridge, and out to Hwy. 1 around San Agustin.
The route is just north of El Mármol area. There are maps posted of the route (TMW did one once). I will search for you, Larry, and edit it in!
EDIT: I just bumped up an older thread on the Rockman (Bill Nichols) Trail. Here is an old GPS track on it:
[Edited on 10-29-2022 by David K]advrider - 10-29-2022 at 11:24 AM
We did it from Catavina a few years back, called the rockman. Very rocky with river rock under the sand on the Hwy 5 side. bajatrailrider - 10-30-2022 at 06:39 PM
I the trail I did was not the rockman trail. That one was tuff one up.bajatrailrider - 10-30-2022 at 06:55 PM
Just to ask again maybe rockman trail but we bailed out early. As came up to two riders broke down . As it was we had few broken bikes too. When we
started second time from highway one. A different route had gal on back. We traveled on dirt road east it ended at rancho on left side of road . Lucky
there was a guy at rancho .He did in fact say past the rancho is the trail to Puertecitos. At the time I was on tricked out XR400/440. Mike was on a
yz framed TT600/680 made it just before dark. That bike loaded down heavy big tank. 120 pound gal on back made for good crashing HAAA9one8 Racing - 2-6-2023 at 12:27 PM
Finally got some riding in outside of Puertecitos. Hit Matomi wash for a ways then turned back to stop at Cowpatty (RIP). Went down again a week or
so ago and rode the Bill Nichols Rockman trail over to Catavina. One of the bikes that was with us toasted his clutch on the trail and couldn't
continue past Catavina. Rode back to Puertecitos (pounded a lot of pavement) but took Fred's tractor trail to shave some miles off. Got the truck
and trailer and drove to catavina to load up all our bikes and headed south to Bay of LA. The next day we rode the window rock trail out of BofLA
until it popped out on highway 1 south of Chapala. We hit rain and low clouds about half way through the ride and we were soaking wet. Loaded up the
bikes and headed north back to Puertecitos for the night. Had a great time riding some amazing single track.David K - 2-6-2023 at 01:25 PM
Fantastic! I hope we will get a more detailed report of the differnt legs of your rides (and photos?). Thank you 9-1-8 RacingMarty Mateo - 2-6-2023 at 02:39 PM
Awesome, thanks for checking back in 👍🏼advrider - 2-6-2023 at 08:29 PM
Those are all awesome trails. Rockman is probably less fun the way you did it, ala smoked clutch. There are a few good climbs going that direction.
One of my favorite trails is from El Rosario to Cavatina, I've heard it called the BN cactus trail but don't know for sure. Lots of fun.
I have tracks for some other stuff in that area if you are looking? I'll be down for about fifteen days in March, but we will be on the big
bikes, so more two track then single..
