bsacbob
Administrator (Retired)
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2012
- Location
- Chiang Rai
- Bikes
- Honda CRM-AR 250, Honda CRF 250-L, Suzuki V Strom XT 650 Honda XR250 Baja BMW F650GS
Well after an entertaining night at the Crossroads Restaurant, it was an early start but not before a light breakfast ( thanks Sean for opening so early).
Today's route back was a little over 400km thanks to my GPS having a bit of PMT
The area of particular interest between the 1091 and the Hwy 1 and west to north towards the 120, both of these areas are a spiderweb of trails most of them not mapped as yet.
Hitting the 1091, some sections have been resurfaced and as usual, hardly any traffic to speak of.
Still better than the 1148 in my opinion.
The reservoi, nearing the 1091 - 1020 junction was the lowest i have ever seen it, still several long dry months to go before and rains come
Making the unassuming turn off the 1091 at N18.95248° E100.07519° soon began branching off in all directions.
Very active with farming trunks it was pretty deep in dust in several places.
Following a more used path at a T junction to my surprise i popped out on this now wonderfully paved section of the 4045 that looked well worth a return visit.
After a short period on the wonderful, pavement it was back onto the dirt at N18.98099° E100.00672°
So many unmarked villages along the way, all looked a little surprised to see me.
Nice little fixer upper opportunity.
Another unmarked village.
Through a fly-infested rubber plantation.
Power poles lined the route maybe in time this will also be paved.
Looked like a former school or military building abandoned now.
A real mixed bag of trails, some sections pretty rocky and easy to catch you out.
That's where i'm heading.
Passed several abandoned homesteads along here and apart from the odd village no signs of life anywhere.
Unusually large spirit house.
Sign for a new wat being constructed near the Hwy 1.
A small ramshackle village of Ban Rong next to the highway.
After a 50 km brain fart by my gps i was on my way to the blue lake of Lake Lompukiew at location N18.76454° E99.87343°. The road to the lake is pretty thick with bulldust at the moment, but major improvements are underway to lay a new road and a visitors, the days of it being a free to view site are numbered.
Short climb and nice buddha image marks the lakeside
A good tip to remove your riding gear, it's a bit of a hike to get to the edge of the water.
Being a Sunday, several locals visiting the lake to feed the fish, no signs of any tourists.
Nice population of several species of fish all well fed.
Would make a good photo spot in December before the leaves start to fall.
Well keep shrine adorned with the usual animals etc.
Back to the car park the visitor's centre now completed.
From here a clockwise loop heading towards the waterfalls of Mae Kae, i was happy to see the way was still unpaved and sure to be very few visitors.
The first waterfall, the little brother of the two, but still pretty impressive and not a soul to be seen, this would make a nice camp spot.
To the left is a national park rangers station and level camping areas.
Mae Kae 2 is only a km or so away, this is way larger than the other site and also has a small shop selling snacks and food.
This was by far the better of the two, my poor pictures not doing it justice.
The small shop.
The dirt continues and so does the bulldust, things start to get a little steep here on in.
Again so many unmarked villages along the way, but even there votes count.
Some climbs pretty steep to as i played back and forth with a couple of heavily laden pickup's much to their amusment.
Problem was pssing thes eguys on the hill the viz turned to zero real quick.
Fortunatley they had been polite enough to let me pass several times a toot of the horn i was clear of the dust again.
Steep decent on my pet hate, concrete strips.
Another large but umarked village ahead.
Abandoned school and headmans office.
Nice forest section coming up and some welcome shade from the afternoon sun.
Coming down this steep hill i was attacked by a couple of dogs, as it turned out they are from this homestay where five Thai cyclists had stopped for food, a very nice spot.
Ban Lao Su school looking pretty nice amongst the poor local's wooden shacks, i guess this is well funded.
The climb out of the village is a steep one but at least you can get above the smoke for a while.
Entrance to Tha Pha Thai NP, will seldom get visitors by the looks of it, it's well off the beaten track.
Almost smoke free up here.
Couldn't quite figure out why they had a couple of scarcrows hanging over the pond, never seen this before.
Into the cute little village of Mae Hang and a brightly painted new wat being formed on the hillside.
The concrete soon disapears as i leave the village.
Pine needles litter the way, a sure sign of the elevation is 1000 m or more.
All around this area new trails turning everywhere, on reflection i think i had chosen the wrong one, it was pretty sketchy in places.
The way i ought to have gone i think, oh well next time.
More unmarked junctions
The air was thick with acrid smoke and fresh fires smouldered away.
Another fresh fire erupts ahead of me.
Still a mixture of concrete and dirt as i was getting closer to the 120 junction.
A big wedding party was underway in Pha Bok as i pulled into the temple, locals soon tempting me with shots of Lao Kow, with still a long way to go i passed on this oaccasion.
Soon hitting the 120 i decided to push on home the fastest way i could as it was getting late in the day, my mind now wandered to thoughts of some ice cold Beer Laos in the fridge at home.
So all in all it had been a good couple of day's and i was overall pleased that many of the trails are still unpaved, bad news for the locals but great news if you like to explore a little out of the reach of most travellers.
Elevation plot of the day shows a highest point of 1020 m, i was surprised it felt like considerably more.
Today's route back was a little over 400km thanks to my GPS having a bit of PMT
The area of particular interest between the 1091 and the Hwy 1 and west to north towards the 120, both of these areas are a spiderweb of trails most of them not mapped as yet.
Hitting the 1091, some sections have been resurfaced and as usual, hardly any traffic to speak of.
Still better than the 1148 in my opinion.
The reservoi, nearing the 1091 - 1020 junction was the lowest i have ever seen it, still several long dry months to go before and rains come
Making the unassuming turn off the 1091 at N18.95248° E100.07519° soon began branching off in all directions.
Very active with farming trunks it was pretty deep in dust in several places.
Following a more used path at a T junction to my surprise i popped out on this now wonderfully paved section of the 4045 that looked well worth a return visit.
After a short period on the wonderful, pavement it was back onto the dirt at N18.98099° E100.00672°
So many unmarked villages along the way, all looked a little surprised to see me.
Nice little fixer upper opportunity.
Another unmarked village.
Through a fly-infested rubber plantation.
Power poles lined the route maybe in time this will also be paved.
Looked like a former school or military building abandoned now.
A real mixed bag of trails, some sections pretty rocky and easy to catch you out.
That's where i'm heading.
Passed several abandoned homesteads along here and apart from the odd village no signs of life anywhere.
Unusually large spirit house.
Sign for a new wat being constructed near the Hwy 1.
A small ramshackle village of Ban Rong next to the highway.
After a 50 km brain fart by my gps i was on my way to the blue lake of Lake Lompukiew at location N18.76454° E99.87343°. The road to the lake is pretty thick with bulldust at the moment, but major improvements are underway to lay a new road and a visitors, the days of it being a free to view site are numbered.
Short climb and nice buddha image marks the lakeside
A good tip to remove your riding gear, it's a bit of a hike to get to the edge of the water.
Being a Sunday, several locals visiting the lake to feed the fish, no signs of any tourists.
Nice population of several species of fish all well fed.
Would make a good photo spot in December before the leaves start to fall.
Well keep shrine adorned with the usual animals etc.
Back to the car park the visitor's centre now completed.
From here a clockwise loop heading towards the waterfalls of Mae Kae, i was happy to see the way was still unpaved and sure to be very few visitors.
The first waterfall, the little brother of the two, but still pretty impressive and not a soul to be seen, this would make a nice camp spot.
To the left is a national park rangers station and level camping areas.
Mae Kae 2 is only a km or so away, this is way larger than the other site and also has a small shop selling snacks and food.
This was by far the better of the two, my poor pictures not doing it justice.
The small shop.
The dirt continues and so does the bulldust, things start to get a little steep here on in.
Again so many unmarked villages along the way, but even there votes count.
Some climbs pretty steep to as i played back and forth with a couple of heavily laden pickup's much to their amusment.
Problem was pssing thes eguys on the hill the viz turned to zero real quick.
Fortunatley they had been polite enough to let me pass several times a toot of the horn i was clear of the dust again.
Steep decent on my pet hate, concrete strips.
Another large but umarked village ahead.
Abandoned school and headmans office.
Nice forest section coming up and some welcome shade from the afternoon sun.
Coming down this steep hill i was attacked by a couple of dogs, as it turned out they are from this homestay where five Thai cyclists had stopped for food, a very nice spot.
Ban Lao Su school looking pretty nice amongst the poor local's wooden shacks, i guess this is well funded.
The climb out of the village is a steep one but at least you can get above the smoke for a while.
Entrance to Tha Pha Thai NP, will seldom get visitors by the looks of it, it's well off the beaten track.
Almost smoke free up here.
Couldn't quite figure out why they had a couple of scarcrows hanging over the pond, never seen this before.
Into the cute little village of Mae Hang and a brightly painted new wat being formed on the hillside.
The concrete soon disapears as i leave the village.
Pine needles litter the way, a sure sign of the elevation is 1000 m or more.
All around this area new trails turning everywhere, on reflection i think i had chosen the wrong one, it was pretty sketchy in places.
The way i ought to have gone i think, oh well next time.
More unmarked junctions
The air was thick with acrid smoke and fresh fires smouldered away.
Another fresh fire erupts ahead of me.
Still a mixture of concrete and dirt as i was getting closer to the 120 junction.
A big wedding party was underway in Pha Bok as i pulled into the temple, locals soon tempting me with shots of Lao Kow, with still a long way to go i passed on this oaccasion.
Soon hitting the 120 i decided to push on home the fastest way i could as it was getting late in the day, my mind now wandered to thoughts of some ice cold Beer Laos in the fridge at home.
So all in all it had been a good couple of day's and i was overall pleased that many of the trails are still unpaved, bad news for the locals but great news if you like to explore a little out of the reach of most travellers.
Elevation plot of the day shows a highest point of 1020 m, i was surprised it felt like considerably more.
