Riding Beal Well

The Fun Trail That No One Has Ever Heard Of

No one has ever heard of Beal Well...much less biked it! I did and ... had a blast!!

It is usually not too hard to talk my wife Cindy into driving me up to Beale Well. She usually stops on the way back and collects rocks; she loves geology, and especially rocks.

Driving up the county road to Beal Well is not a lot of fun as we usually find the road looking like a sand pit ... from all the military vehicles running up and down.

To the north of this road is where they do extensive training for the armed forces, which includes the dropping of live bombs and the shooting of real guns. To the south of the road is where I ride.

As usual, I got my bike prepared right in front of Beal Well. The well has a windmill (which doesn't turn) yet still had water in it. This water provides drink for wild animals such as mountain goats, wild donkeys, and lost hikers. I said goodbye to Cindy and rode off down the huge wash that goes to the left. I tried to stay on the edges of the wash because the middle had been chewed up by off-roaders. This wash became more narrow as it headed between two mountains to the southwest of Beal Well.

Once the wash exits the draw it widens greatly, and actually it turns into dozens of small washes, much like the braiding of a net, or the pattern of expanded steel (check this desert feature up on the map I have provided).

I stopped here and took a good healthy drink and enjoyed an excellent view of the Salton Sea (which is actually a lake formed in 1911 by an overflowing Colorado River). This was the point where it would really get fun.

I just picked a piece of the braid and rode as fast as I could. Most of these "mini-washes" are only 4 to 10 feet wide and usually only last 100 yards or so before they end at a large mesquite tree or ocotillo cactus. (I figure these big plants grow at the end because each mini-wash channels water right to them).

Anyway, when I got to the end of the mini-wash I had to decide right-or-left... then jump my bike (usually a foot or so) out of that wash and look for another piece of the braid. I occasionally manage to hit a branch of these trees and my skin pays the price, for the Mesquite Trees (like most desert plants) are covered with huge thorns. I have not yet hit an ocotillo bush, thank god, for one of those would most likely take a chunk out like the bite of a shark!

As I cruised down this alluvial playground I'm on the alert for downed ocotillos... for if I ran over one of those ... I would surely have been changing tires or tubes (I've had a flat on almost every run I've made here).

While riding out here I never know what I'll see, so I kept my eyes wide open.

Here's a sample of what you can find:

Off-road breakdown?

Camper Shell

Barrel Cactus

Need a truck bed...seat?

I've come across old cars, unexploded bombs, campers, deer, coyotes, snakes, lizards, tarantulas, sheets of plywood, boats, illegal aliens, and many others.

About a third of the way down this 10.5 mile ride I cruised up perpendicular to the telephone pole road, or what is normally called a "pole-line" road. These roads are built when they installed the poles and are kept-up so they can maintain the poles.

After crossing the pole-line road I tried to take a left-turn every chance I could. The first couple of time I tried this ride I ended up on the sandy, torn up, County Road to Beal Well, and I couldn't figure out why. I finally looked at Google Maps and found ... all the mini-washes didn't head west toward the Coachella Canal (where I was going), but instead tended to angle north toward the county road.

About 3 miles from the canal I came across the gravel pit. I couldn't help but think ... why here? There was gravel everywhere in this desert.

As the mini-washes approach the canal they are all herded (by dykes) into a few large river beds that will pass over the canal (the canal actually dives underground ... travels under the wash ... then pops back up). Finding a clay crust in this dry river bed proved to be especially challenging, for many more vehicles roam here, so I exited the wash by climbing up the side of the dyke. I rode across where the canal dropped, down the road that paralleled the canal, and back into camp.

I immediately went to Mom's motorhome to assure her I was alive and healthy.

I'l admit, this is a different type of mountain biking. Try Beal Well... I think you will find it a blast!

Once you do, please feel free to come back and tell me about the experience by sharing your story here.

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