A Winter Wonderland Dual Sport Snow Adventure on My Honda CRF250L

road, and today we're on our way up to the mountains and we're gonna find us some snow. However, having checked the traffic cams, I'm reasonably certain it's going to be a disappointing amount of snow. That's right everyone, I am the dork in the road and I want to be your internet riding buddy and I'm better than your regular riding buddies because I'm available whenever you want, including in the winter, and I don't hesitate to subscribe and don't forget to turn on the notifications so you know when I post awesome new content just like this. So today we are headed up to the usual spot. It is a beautiful crisp December day and by the usual spot I mean the usual set of woods. The plan is to get back to that super high view spot. It probably needs a name if I'm going to keep going back there. Mount Dork, that's what we're going to call it from now on. We're going to go up to Mount Dork. Dork Mountain? Oh, Dork Mountain's better. We're gonna go to Dork Mountain. We're gonna go up to Dork Mountain. I can't even stay with a straight face. And I just want to see what the snow situation looks like up there. If you saw the video with Duck Van and I where we went driving up into the snow, that was a couple weeks ago and there was 10 inches or so when we finally turned around. But having checked the traffic cams recently it doesn't look like there's a lot on top. So I'm guessing there's going to be a lot less than there was when we went up there. But we're going to go up and look and see because I want to ride around in the snow. It's supposed to be cloudy but not rainy and 50-ish degrees so actually pretty pleasant especially for December. So I'm looking forward to that. Also got a new piece of gear to try out. You're looking at it right now. I picked up a GoPro Hero 7 White on a Black Friday deal to use as my B camera. So all the loading up shots you saw, that was all the Hero White. Any third person riding by shots. Anything that's not from my helmet POV will be on this camera. So I'm looking forward to testing it out. I had a GoPro Hero 4 Black which had a lot more modes and stuff but it doesn't have a screen on the back so it's really hard to set up the shots and it doesn't have any stabilization. So the White doesn't have as good of a stabilization as the 7 which you see in the window here. But it's better than nothing and so it's nice to have a little bit of that. But I just want to say thanks for coming along. I hope you enjoy the adventure and I will see you when we It's beautiful here. It's about 47-46 degrees according to the thermometer in my truck. We're gonna unload this bike and we're gonna ride up. So last time I was up here was with Duck Fan. There was no snow here but just a couple miles up the road there was. So I'm hoping there's still some left but I know it's nothing like it was when we were up here like I said inches upon inches. It's probably going to be relatively little on the road and maybe some off to the sides that we can play around in. So let's find out. So we're gonna unload this truck and uh yeah it is beautiful down here. And this fog such a cool like eerie fog. I couldn't even see the lake when I drove by. It was amazing but uh beautiful. I'm telling you let's uh let's unload and let's ride. It's chilly but not freezing. Definitely colder the last time I was up here. Today's mission is just to get up and see what the snow situation looks like. Remembering that I was up here a couple weeks ago and there was quite a bit. But my guess is that won't be the case today. I don't know if you get the camera caught it but a little bit of a sketchy moment unloading the bike. And many of you have warned me. I've expressed your concern about using that cooler as a step. And I all I know it's sketchy and it's not a good idea. Like I know that. It's just what I have. But uh I'm using a different cooler this time. A more square one. Because that's what I threw in the back of the truck today instead of the wider one I usually use. And it definitely tipped when I got close to the edge and I just hopped off. But if I had not been in a position where hopping off was an option that could have been bad. So the immediate lesson is use the wider one because it won't tip side to side as easy. But I think the longer term lesson is I need to figure out another solution at some point. Some of you have suggested another ramp. And that's not a bad idea. I just don't want to spend the money. Because I don't know. I paid like 70 for the ramp I have. And I definitely want a folding one. Aluminum preferably. I had a steel ramp before. I didn't like it. I mean I guess I could like get a two by six and put some kind of a hook on the end. That would totally work too. But that's also not foldable. So I don't know. I could hinge it or something. I don't know. So like I said today is pretty much just an exploration mission. And I want to see what the top looks like. And then I want to poke around. And when we're tired we'll go home. I would like to see some snow. Because all I do is talk about it. And I haven't been up in it yet. So thanks for coming along. I hope you enjoy the adventure. Thank you to all of you who commented when I was asking about stylistically. Like what's the balance between riding and the loading up and the talking and all that stuff. And pretty much everybody said we don't we like we like a little context. So not just the riding but you know loading up the talking. You know because I just worry because sometimes it takes six minutes to get to the riding in these videos. A couple videos is taking almost exactly six minutes actually. And if you look at my YouTube analytics there's a dip during that time. And then it picks back up when I start riding. So this is the spot where Duck Van and I stopped and did our little campfire hangout. But you can see this was all snow covered and it is not right now. So you gotta wonder. This year has been exceptionally dry. Like we have had very very dry weather for this time of year. So I imagine it's affecting it up here. So I don't know if this is typical. Because I feel like there's snow up here all winter. But it's not winter yet technically. Anyway this is such a cool spot. I wish it was a little farther off the road. But it's great for just hanging out. I just wouldn't want to camp there maybe. So I'm thinking it's possible the videos will slow down just a little for the next couple months. It's a little bit harder to get out and ride. December is definitely going to be busy. I don't know what January, February will look like. But I know we'll hit it again hard. Usually get a renewed surge of motivation in March or April. Here's our first taste of snow. Just a little smidge. I feel like I'd like to check out what's down all those and stuff. I'll get up to the spot where Duck Van and I turned around and I bet there's no snow at all right now. Look how foggy it is. This is like eerie and awesome. It was so foggy coming up. Like I drive past Foster Lake and you couldn't even see it. And it's not like like you're right next to it. Like the shore is 50 feet from the road and I could not see the water. It was very foggy eerie. It was fun. So we're going to deal with some fog today which is only a little spooky. There's some more snow. There's some on the side. We're getting closer. It's going to be too foggy to see. Like man I can't see 20 feet in front of me. Seriously I can't even see the road let alone like for a distance when I get to a scenic vista which is you know my whole jam. It's a good thing I have a headlight. Yeah it's fogging up my visor. So we were definitely in very deep snow by this point last time. Yeah because where we turned around is right around the corner. Yeah there's some snow. I can't believe it. Like seriously there was six inches of snow here. What if that tree we ran over is still on the road? Well now there's nothing. Like and it's been two weeks. So we just had that one big storm and then nothing. Dude I could hit a deer and I wouldn't see it until I was 10 feet away right now. This is spookiness. Spooky fogginess. It's gonna make for some cool pictures. I'm telling you. That lookout is right up here. There's a tree that fell. So this is the tree that wasn't here when we went up and then when we turned around and came back down there it was. So it fell while we were up here. You know and like we were up at this point for 15 minutes. So we were here in that window. Kind of neat. A little bit of snow. Nothing like it was. There's some. There's some snow. All right maybe we'll get into some ----. Let's break some trail. Oh it's slushy. Very slushy. Oh yeah. Slushy snow. Okay this is interesting. I should warn you I have almost zero snow riding experience on motorcycles I've driven but that one time where we got up near the snow and turned around. Was it last year or the year before? I think it was the year before. That's it. That's all the snow riding I've done. So this will be fun if we can find some. It'll be a learning day. I want to drop it. You know hopefully we get good footy. All right here's the spot. This was all deep snow bro. Deep. Right now. Nothing. Look at that. I know I say look at that a lot because it's it's fun. This is where we parked and turned around. Yeah I mean you can see the tracks. Somebody turned around. Oh what's this? What's this? What's this? It just kind of goes back here to a parking spot. Yeah a little icy puddle. Some some Four Spirits liquor bottles complete with dog tags. Oh and somebody's VA card. That's interesting. That's very interesting. He might need that. I have no idea how to get that back to him but I'm going to take it. Unless he comes back for it. It's got to be like an address you can mail it to right? Let's look at it. Well somebody was up here. This Four Spirits distillery is in Albany. So I really wish people would haul their garbage out. Oh it's bourbon whiskey though. I gotta go there and buy some. Um for questions. Crisis line. Emergency. Non-health care. So I could call this. If found drop in nearest US mailbox. Done. Okay so I'm gonna take it with me and I'll put it in the mailbox. Judah I'm coming for you buddy. I'm gonna help you out. Wow even the goggles are fogging up. What's the wintertime solution you guys? Help me out because I could not find something that does not just fog up all the time. Yeah if you're not following me on the gram you get to see these pictures long before I ever get this video posted. So it'll be a couple weeks before the video goes up but I'll start posting Instagram pictures of this trip when I get home. If you're really interested in getting the pictures before anyone else there's another development I haven't mentioned because I feel weird about it but people have asked so I figured I might as well have it available and if people choose to take part cool. If not that is 100% awesome too. So uh pictures. Immediate pictures of my trips is one of the perks that I've decided to offer to my Patreons. My Patreon patrons that's what they're called because I started a Patreon not like this is not like an official launch and I'm not real serious about it yet but some people had mentioned it and asked and I just thought I went in honestly I went in just to see what setup looked like and maybe get an idea of what other people's like what kind of stuff they did for their patrons and whatnot and uh and I had to create an account to do that and then yeah I started just putting stuff in and the next thing I knew there's that tree I had a Patreon. So there's three tiers any amount I think five dollars and then 20 if I remember right and I've what I've decided to do at least initially as perks for patrons is I'll post exclusive ride pictures whenever I get home every time and I'm also gonna every patron will get a shout out thank you in a video that may just be text on the screen or it may be verbal depending on how many there are the five dollar subscribe five dollar patrons gets a sticker in the mail from me and uh twenty dollars and up I think get a t-shirt and also those people I'm gonna start asking for input on what kind of videos to make monthly there's a grouse you see that look at this thing it's a grouse yeah they're all over up here man that's the closest I've gotten to one yet grouse in the woods usually they're just flying down the road ahead of me whatever so those are supposed to be pretty delicious people hunt them yeah there's some sun bro breaking through so again no obligation I'm only mentioning it so you're aware of it but the link is in the description if you want to check out my Patreon if you want to get exclusive access and I don't even post all the photos usually on Instagram I try to trickle them out over the course of a couple of a week or two after I get back one a day ish and it's goes in spurts but I always I'll always upload all the pictures when I get back so you get behind the scenes stuff too so it should be neat so anyway if you're interested and again no obligation like I said I feel weird asking you for money but any money I make always goes right back into the channel and it goes or it goes into gear for motorcycling so I don't use it to buy video games or anything or pay my bills it's only for motorcycling related expenses so for instance these pants these Storm 2 pants I bought them with YouTube money because they enable me to come out and make more videos in the in the snow so what I'd like to do this is maybe a long-term goal for Patreon but is use that money to buy a drone like a Mavic Mini so that for instance at a place like this I could fly it up and get a really good shot of all the area right and even have it follow me through this section that's the kind so those drone shots are so gorgeous and drones are so they're not cheap but they're reasonably priced now that man I just it would be really great to have one for up here like I'm all about those epic views and drone shot is epic views personified all right I'm gonna put a set up a camera and f around in the snow a little bit all right well came up here to ride so let's go ride let's go explore some more so I'm learning that's good I'm learning that snow it's slipperier than I expected it to be under my wheels so we're finding some though so that's good so breaking trail especially on snow that's been on the ground for a while will be tough good to know I'll be slow going so good let's check out our various spots up here and actually strike that I want to see if we can get to the top of Dork Mountain and check out the snow action there and then see what else we feel like exploring here's a good spot to stop and get a view you've seen it before but not with snow oh well it's just a cloud so we are like literally above the clouds so that's the thing yeah so that's the lookout over there where the radio tower is crazy right so crazy when this clears out a little we're gonna have a hell of a view today I think so that's the fog we were in now we're above it let's see how high above it we can get there's just not much snow snow yeah a little slushy underneath slush is a little slippery what's fun is this is the traction so you hit the snow and then slide through it and then you're on the gravel again and your wheel has way better traction and I still have not gotten accustomed to the looseness of of steering what is essentially a dirt bike and that whole technique I'm not very good at it yet I'm trying to force myself to do it more to get more comfortable but oh okay but at least for now um it's something that I'm still working on so you know I don't claim to do technique tutorials there are easier and better ways to do what I'm trying to do huh this will be interesting to see what the road up to the thing looks like well we found the snow that was one of my goals for this winter was to come up and ride in snow yeah okay this is much deeper all of a sudden nice let's take it a little slower yeah some of these side roads are going to be full-on powder not powder but full-on untouched like I'm in the rut but huh okay this is this is enlightening it's fun yeah turn it steering is a it's interesting right now don't fight it just let it do its thing those of you with snow riding experience I'd love to hear your thoughts these ruts are definitely helping man it got like I came around a corner and suddenly there's five six inches of snow is that crazy like there was nothing and now this is I mean this is inches this isn't a smattering this isn't a sprinkling there are inches of snow right here big pothole that's awesome this is the ---- you guys this is the ---- I mean it's the ---- isn't it's awesome but it's also the stuff that it's the reason why do we ride dual sport this is why why did I waste so many years of my life sitting on my ass at home when this was just miles away and I could have been out here experiencing just all the amazing adventure and fun and it's like it doesn't cost anything I mean you got to buy a motorcycle obviously but it's not like it cost admission to get into this into the woods this is a good amount of snow look at this dude I'd be interested in your tips but thank you for coming this is awesome duck fan this is what you're missing out on when you don't go riding in the woods with me duck fan's more of a trail riding fan he doesn't really like the the forest road exploration stuff as much as a former mountain biker like I just want to see the woods and there's no more fun way to do it that I know of than riding a dirt bike dual sport that was neutral duck fan's more about the thrill and the adrenaline piece and I'm that's fine for me but I'm I'm less about it less about it man this is what is a very simple road becomes far more complicated in the snow look at this you guys bros broskies brotatoes that's amazing viewers fans friends so cool so cool all right well this is one of my favorite spots for a third person shot so let's get one let me get you a decent panorama I'll probably do the music because my breathing is so gross and heavy bike's doing well so far the problem is clearly the rider that's mountain dork right there so I don't know what the road's gonna look like up to the top but we'll go look at it I gotta get a selfie shot or two don't let me forget leave a like to help me remember to take a selfie shot later that'll really help me remember it's it's a magic it's a time warp thing just trust me it's a wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff yeah man I don't even break through all the way down I'm like literally riding on top of snow so it could be challenging we'll see what happens when we get so it'd be nice to be up here right after it snowed I feel like that would be easier to push through this stuff is pretty solid we're not heavy enough to go through it this is the right amount though I mean I didn't want too much but I definitely wanted some so it's not like feet that I have to break trail but it's not nothing I was worried it would just be a dusting you know what I mean like it was down below that seems to not be the case sorry I keep talking so that you don't have to listen to just my heavy breathing as I ride okay okay okay oh killed it killed it got a little more sideways see what I mean though we got in the front just started pushing sideways I'm gonna go slow this could get interesting yeah this is deep bro I mean the elevation change is obviously greater than I think it is if we've got this much more snow just I mean we're a mile from where we had none yeah it's hard to even keep going right now we're just pushing the back end is sliding out yeah I don't know getting up to the top might be difficult jeez I can't even stop the turn is right up there it's really just gonna depend on if anyone's been up the road although people have been up this one and I still can't move yeah I'm just spinning guys man I wish I had a third person camera right now like someone else with a camera snowy for showy like hills are a problem so getting up to the top of that I don't know you see this this is a lot later oh yeah icy slush yeah I uh climbing is becoming difficult so it may be time to just check out that side I don't think we're gonna get to the top there's not enough ruts warning the remainder of this video contains a copious amount of heavy breathing if the sound of an out-of-shape middle-aged man breathing like a water buffalo makes you uncomfortable you may wish to reduce your volume you have been warned I'm by myself and I always preach not taking unnecessary risks I mean worst case I drop the bike but let's see if we can get around the corner I mean I'm full feet down waddle right now just trying not to spin out slow and steady yeah okay um also knowing I have to fight back through all that it's problematic there's my turn off let's at least look at it and then we'll decide yeah I mean this is the very top all right well I'm looking at this I think probably climbing it is going to be not a thing we do yeah I'm not even moving right now I mean maybe I think it's lighter because it's on a hillside I don't know can we get through this part that'll be the real determining factor yeah we are like just digging right now all right so this is the road up the dork mountain and as you can see it's a bit of a challenge to climb so there's not a lot of uphills on the way back down so it's probably a good time to call it and head back down let's try to get back down just a little bit all right well that's fine last time I hit snow was two years ago and I stopped right when I hit it and I've always kind of wished I kept going um so now I know that it is possible to keep going but very difficult so I feel less bad about having turned around but um that was not as deep so I wish I'd pushed on a little bit then so that's good I'm learning it's all about learning how to ride in the snow yeah okay coming up this is a lot easier than it was okay good good good good good and stopping isn't easy actually let's check out this side part because it doesn't go up as high question is can I turn I think I can somebody was up here with their dog not that long ago that's actually good news this is a layer of ice yeah okay this is this is maybe not going to be awesome ---- my foot got in a bad position damn that's fun though starting to get it that's what happens when you're around I wanted to do it in front of the camera because I did it up there successfully and I'm just playing around I'm getting tired obviously so time to head down I think this is hard work I'm sweating and head down out of the snow and see how we feel so sorry that wasn't riveting snow content um but thing this channel is is real um I'm not an extreme rider I'm not even a thrill rider I'm really more of an exploration rider I wanted to bring you guys up to see the snow because I wanted to see it and it's fun to it's fun to put around and I feel better if somebody was with me and I'm not going to push up like going up this hill even I could barely get enough traction to get up so uh I think we'll head down out of the snow a bit for now but let's take one last look around so beautiful it's beautiful and pristine I definitely want to come back safely back in the ruts man I mean this is fun it's beautiful it's pretty cool and I'm glad because much later in the season it's probably this is at least it's at least passable but it's going to get a lot worse because like I said we haven't had a real snowfall seriously somebody hiked up here with their dog that's what this is somebody's walking along the road I wonder if they got stuck it's a whole little story a little narrative right here I mean there was a bunch of dirt but look footprints along the side of the road and dog prints I hope they're okay and they're fresh like yesterday day before so but there's no rig up there so if somebody got stuck they must have gotten out or they just didn't want to drive up but they were hiked up that could be as simple as that I should build a snowman while I'm up here that's actually a really great idea so where I live we don't get snow maybe once a year and if it lasts a day that's impressive but usually we get none so that's the other reason I like to come up here because I grew up in Sisters, Oregon and we used to have snow all winter and I miss it hopefully no cars come I think I would hear them I assume anyway we're gonna make a snowman real quick big snowball maybe I'll put it on the back and see how long it lasts heading down medium small there's a song that I could be singing right now that I'm not you're welcome got myself a hitchhiker that's awesome I don't even think I can get on without kicking that off oh he made it till I tried to turn around I messed that shot up it could have been a lot better I thought he was already gone so I stopped to turn around he didn't fall off till I turned around nice how awkward is that shot of me getting on the bike I wonder probably pretty awkward lame here's where I turn around like a boss there's now snow all over my seat I'm sitting in a puddle that was foolish the things we do for epic fun shots all right here's that intersection and then we'll go around the corner and there's almost no snow like this is it for snow kind of crazy it's awesome out here I'm definitely wet I have a change of clothes in the rig I definitely hear an engine oh there's a truck right there brave souls oh yeah I just stopped to take a picture yeah have fun yeah brave souls up here driving around and they're on their street tires and their stock rigs that's fun gotta bring the kid up here back through our slushy trails and then we're gonna go up here around the corner and there'll be no snow left so I just want to say thank you for coming along and again if you've got any tips on snow riding I'd love to hear them if you want to see more of this snowy slow going adventure let me know in the comments but I had a blast and this was something I've been wanting to do since I got one of these bikes and so I'm really glad I got to do it had to check it out got some great pictures and I hope some great footage so just want to say thank you for coming I appreciate you and as always please do not forget to be excellent to each other thank you excellent