The perfect off-road warm up loop around Chiang Mai

[KTMphil]

Hadn't been out on the KTM 300 2-stroke in a while. The carb was gummed up, got it all cleaned, now time to take it for a test. Deere, one of our Thai workers was dying to go trail riding, so off we would go.



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A perfect warm up day loop, is the trail from the north side of Huay Thong Tao Resevoir, an easy trail to get the feel of everything, then take the right turn and go up the steep bits to the Mae Rim lookout which is above



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[KTMphil]

After the easy ish trail from Huay Thong Tao, take the right turn and its a little bit steep up towards the Mae Rim lookout VP. Pine trees start at around 1,000 meters


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Just around the next bend the Mae Rim VP



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[KTMphil]

Down the other side towards R 1096 & some big ruts

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Rock Tower trail, that heads NW towards Mon Chan, water crossings were very low


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Then back north on the Mae Rim single track. the infamous, nasty rutted hill, lived up to its reputation & was the worst i'd ever seen it.


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So bad in fact, we needed to look for another way around.


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There is another trail around now thats been cut to the east



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[KTMphil]

Mae Rim single track, I think is one of the best local trails to brush up on your off-road skills. It's a tight trail , the bars sometimes just fit through the trees either side, some nasty little, rutted hills, its perfect for improving your riding skills



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[KTMphil]

Thomas, David & Mai, surprised and returned a day early from 2 weeks off-road exploring and mapping in the Omkoi area


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So, with a whole free day before Thomas's flight back to Germany, they were keen for a "tricky" (but not rock climbing) day ride near to Chiang Mai. So my thinking cap had to go on. Mae Rim Single track & Rock Tower should do the trick. David and Mai ride two-up on a Honda CRF 250 L, that should give them enough to deal with.


Praying to the off-road Gods before departure, to be kind & deliver us safely back


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Nong Deere, loving this and keen to go again


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The ol faithful KTM 300 EXC-E 2 smoker hopefully ready for action with its carb cleaned

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The back-way into Huay Thong Tao, which saves the 50 Bht




Photo: Mai Bailey

 

[KTMphil]

Then some Mae Rim single track. David (69 years old !!) 2-up with Mai on the back, highly commendable.


This is one of the few photo's that actually shows how steep this stuff is


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Thomas is pretty tall ... not easy for him


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Deere & myself on the Mae Rim Single Track


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Thomas showing how narrow it is


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The infamous rut hill on the Mae Rim Single track


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[KTMphil]

The nasty hill is now impassable with waist deep ruts, there is now another trail thats been cut around to the east


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A few more photo's from the Mae Rim Single Track - one of the best practicing areas near to Chiang Mai



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Photo's: Mai Bailey



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the last little bit


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David & Mai


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Mae Rim Single Track finished, Mau tells us this is asparagus that theyre farming here




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[KTMphil]

Big smiles so far


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Wat Amphawan



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Then off to the "Rock Tower". The name speaks for itself


There was a bit of silence when we got there, the entrance in the flesh is pretty intimidating


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.... More to come (of course)

 

[KTMphil]

3 of us taking photo's, we got some action shots on this particularly, nasty hill



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Rut left side is shoulder seep

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Deere gets up no problem



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Then Thomas


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Things dont go as planned


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From the top, mine is stuck in a nasty rut



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[KTMphil]

Down and try again


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Np probs this time


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Then David, he decided this was a one-up hill


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Good thing is its easy to park with 1 meter ruts


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Everyone rested time to try get back on in the huge ruts


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[KTMphil]

There are a few easy sections on Rock Tower

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Surprised to see a lot of burning off up there already


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Maybe the mirror will go back on


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[KTMphil]

Then 3/4's of the way up, the nasty rut section


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Pretty deep, you have to pick the correct side


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[MastaMax]

Cool that you guys are out there, and great effort to make it 2 up the rock tower hill.

There is actually a easier way around the ruts at the beginning. 50 meters before, there is a shortcut on the right that connects right at the end of the deep ruts.

It connects right where the person on the right is standing:

 

[KTMphil]

Glad we didnt know about the short cut at the time as we wouldnt have done the dreaded hill.


Further up and it doesnt always go as planned



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[KTMphil]

300 smoker behaved perfectly, didnt use any coolant

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Almost at the top now

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This is 900 meters and the pine trees are starting


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Top of the Rock Tower trail


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We made it - everyone thought it was the perfect day trail ride


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The top of the hill where the Karting takes place


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[KTMphil]

The cool thing about doing these trails, is that you end up at Mon Cham spot on lunchtime. At weekends its mobbed with Thai's, very famous in Thaland, during the week quite quiet.


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Not a cloud in the blue sky


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The restaurants on Mon Cham wont sell the locally grown strawberries, they want to protect the local community and let them do all the strawberry selling




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The local strawberries are delicous, if you want sweet get the small ones




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Thats it, this is a great offroad day ride