could see were miles of regular ol' desert.
We decided to head a little further north. But
as we headed down the hill back toward the
road, all three of us seemed to notice something
out of place: unusual looking mounds of dirt in
the distance. Before I had time to fully process
what I was seeing, one of my buddies bolted off
the trail through the bushes as though the gate
had just dropped, followed in a split second my
brother and myself. The three of us raced toward
the mounds of dirt, pumping our fists in the air
and hooting with excitement.
We found it.
The elusive track wasn't what I was expected.
I thought it would be a weathered, hard-packed,
natural-terrain track – something like Hannah's
Hills, but it was just the opposite. It was built on
flat ground, and the dirt was fresh – very fresh. It
was like a track just after it had been tilled with the
tractor treads still on the jump faces. It was hardly
run in, making it very difficult to ride. But whoever
built it obviously had some experience. It was
aggressive, with some steep doubles and tricky
rhythms. We didn't ride it much, but mostly looked
at it and wondered who built it and with what.
There was no tractor there like the rumors
said. Our best guess is that someone who per-
haps owned a construction company, had a
couple Bobcats and some spare time built it.
Maybe his kids are up-and-coming motocross-
ers, and he wanted them to have their own test
track. Maybe this wasn't even the track, just a
track that we came across. This track was real
enough; who's to say there isn't another one out
there actually built and maintained by a pro?
The thrill of the discovery was more fun than
actually riding the track, and we haven't been
back since. But it is fun to add to our list of des-
ert discoveries, and to know that there is truth
behind the folklore.
So where exactly is this mythical track? It's
north of the Cajon Pass, before you hit Death
Valley right between Interstate 5 and Nevada.
You can't miss it. CN
VOL. 51 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 25, 2014 P105
LOOKING BACK
40 Years Ago
March 5, 1974
High school motocross made front-
page news 40 years ago when seven
high school teams from the So Cal area
went to battle at Orange County Interna-
tional Raceway… Giacomo Augostini
was our pick to star at Daytona in our
Daytona preview… Dave Wood won the
Mowry Mountain 100 Enduro in Arizona…
We tested the rippin'-fast Kawasaki 500
Mach III H-1E street machine, saying "…it will be the bike for
most people.
30 Years Ago
March 7, 1984
A photo of the 560 Sonic was pictured
in action on the cover 30 years ago to
accompany our test of the big Can-Am
motocrosser... Johnny O'Mara won the
Atlanta Supercross on a chilly night at the
roofless Atlanta Fulton County Stadium…
Kevin Hines led a Husqvarna sweep at
the Quicksilver National Enduro in Cali-
fornia. Mike Melton took second and Dave Bertram third.
20 Years Ago
March 2, 1994
We featured a little bit of everything from
Daytona on the cover for our annual
Daytona Bike Week preview issue...
We tagged along with Mike Kiedrowski
when the National Motocross Champion
took a flight in a USAF Thunderbirds F-16
fighter jet… Steve Hatch won the open-
ing round of the National Enduro Series
in Arizona.
10 Years Ago
March 3, 2004
The Yamaha R1 was pictured on the cov-
er 10 years ago. We traveled to the East-
ern Creek Circuit in Australia to ride the
all-new machine… Kevin Windham won
the Minneapolis Supercross over Chad
Reed. James Stewart tied Jeremy Mc-
Grath's all-time win record in the 125cc
class with his 13
th
victory… Pat Garrahan
won a muddy National Hare Scrambles at
Hollister… Ty Davis won the Quicksilver
National Enduro.
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