Cycle News

S ome people look at the wide-open desert and see a wasteland – nothing but treacherous and unforgiving ter- rain for as far as the eye can see. But I look out at the same horizon and can't help but see an infinite playground full of adventures waiting to happen and secrets waiting to be revealed. Before heading out in any direc- tion, we pick any one of our many destinations to hit up on our ride. There are many landmark destina- tions in the desert you can find on a map, like the Burrow Schmidt mine. Dug nearly 100 years ago by one man on a 38-year solo mission, the Burrow Schmidt Tun- nel goes from one side of Cop- per Mountain clear through to the other. The non-claustrophobic are welcome to walk all the way through the 2000-foot tunnel to the other side. The Husky Monument is an- other well-marked desert land- mark (though it didn't start out that way). Robber's Roost and the ghost town of Randsburg are also on our list of regulars; if you're familiar with Mojave, you probably know where all those are. But there are countless oth- er desert destinations kept in our private, mental logbook – some we've built, and others we've dis- covered. I'm sure almost every group of riders has their own set, as well. The funny part is when you stumble across someone else's. You never know what bi- zarre contraptions you'll come across; some of them are down- right silly. I'll never forget the day my brother and I came across what we now call "The Bronco." It's a huge spring anchored in the ground with a barrel welded on top. There was a piece of carpet duct taped to the barrel and rope along the top end. After inspect- ing it and poking at it a bit, we decided she was seaworthy, and I hopped on to take the rudimen- tary mechanical bull for a whirl. It's still one of our favorite places in the desert to show our friends and we always get a good laugh, taking turns seeing who can touch their back to the ground. Everyone seems to have their own stories of desert discover- ies, which, of course, quickly turn into rumors and folklore. I've heard stories of people hav- ing warning shots fired over their heads because they were near secret military testing grounds, and tales of eerie cult-com- pounds with midnight meetings. You may have heard the one about the motocross track built in the open desert. It's rumored to be an unmarked track, not built on private property, but hidden in the open expanses of the desert. It's said to be built by a pro, be- cause it's a full-on pro-level track, obviously built by someone who knew what he was doing. Rumors say that there is noth- ing there but a tractor, and when this mysterious pro and his bud- dies show up, he preps his track before they ride. "Yeaaaah, right!" was always our response to anyone trying to convince us there was any truth to the legend. It was a good campfire story, and not totally implausible, but highly unlikely. Sure, you could always find left- over berms and doubles that were a mini-track once upon a time, built with little more than shovels. But a fully prepped and maintained pro-level motocross track? I'd sooner expect to find a unicorn in the desert. But our cynicism turned to cu- riosity when a friend of my uncle's began talking about a track he re- cently came across while cruising through the desert. His first-hand account was a very accurate de- scription of what we had heard, and we began to wonder if the mysterious track was more than a myth. He gave us details of the loca- tion, and on our next trip to the area we decided there was no harm in trying to find it. Three of us sneaked off early one Saturday morning on our treasure hunt. We arrived at the described location, which, as best as anyone's directions could have been, still left us a few square miles to search. We climbed up to the highest point for a look around, but found noth- ing. We tried another hill about a mile away, but still, no luck. All we BY JEAN TURNER CN III CROSS-RUTTED HIDDEN TREASURE P104

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