These are a couple of pics of my new toy, picked it up yesterday and living messing so far. 

 

Greetings from the far north of California. It's kayaking season here so I've been spending more time in my boat than on the bike, and although not a classic enduro ride last week, we had a nice few days riding and paddling. Friend was on his new to him WR250R and I took my '13 Xt250.  Almost took the CT2. Made the choice not because of the power, brakes, suspension or anything else, but fuel injection is glorious when a ride covers elevation from 2,000' to 6,500' and the new XT can be thoughtless and worry free.

First, we went to the "Blue Ridge Lookout" and paddled in the afternoon. What an abandoned lookout and caretakers cabin, views into the Marble Mountain Wilderness and Trinity Alps Wilderness.

Looking at the Trinity Alps on the approach.
 

Caretakers cabin view, can you imagine waking up to this for years?
 

It's the tallest lookout I've seen, rising about 100' off the mountain. 
 

 
We could see both forks of the majestic Salmon River, as well as see two other lookouts via telephoto lens; both the Eddy Gulch Lookout (one of the last currently manned in person due to lack of cellphone service); and the English Peak lookout, located in the wilderness. (not pictured here, I camped in this one due to a November snowstorm while backpacking many years ago).

The old tower had some steps removed, perhaps to keep it "closed" to the public. We climbed up a ways and hit out comfort level to great views of the old caretakers cabin.
 

English Peak lookout just hardly showing from ~10-20 miles.
 

The view from Eddy Gulch Lookout, one of the few manned lookouts in the state. It looked like USFS had been up the day before doing prep work for the summer, but no one was there when we arrived. A few days before neither lookout would have been accessible due to snow, we had some lucky timing.
 

The Godfrey Ranch according to maps. This is a private inholding in the National Forest, surrounded by wilderness once you get ~5 miles away. What a utopia one must think, of course it's probably all family owned so maybe not the utopia we might think. 
 

Because a good dirt road would be too boring, this old growth pine took a good bit of handsaw work to clear enough limbs to duck under, letting us complete a loop and not backtrack an hour.
 

Liking it the more I ride it, she needed a morning on the trails.
 
 

Took my CT1C for its first decent ride of just over 40 miles of backroads and I was smiling the entire time. I am so glad I decided to leave this bike in its original condition instead of sandblasting and painting like I’ve done with most of my bikes.  
  

I agree with that . Looks nice. Unfortunately most of mine looked like they came from the bottom of the Ocean apart from my RT1 360.

Such a beautiful day I thought I'd take the Red Devil to work instead of the van.
All roads but stopped on my way back for an outdoor lunch by the lake. 
 

My wife was making potato salad and she asked if I wanted her to add pickles……

I replied “I don’t want no pickles. I just want to ride my motorsickles”

Happy Fathers Day!

 
 
 
 

" Coming into Los Angeles ,
bringin in a couple o kees ,
don't touch my bags if ya please mister customs man "
Arlo Guthrie

Wow, what a lineup ! Thanks for sharing that.

Ride