turtleman and the doi pui single track

Jun 21, 2006
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myself and my fellow muppet, took of from the south side of the samoeng loop up to doi pui on our klx300 and xr280 recently " upped" by ball from the motorcycle shop near the bridge.
the acsent began with some sandy rutted uphills, this is where our californian friend excelled and was soon showing us the " sallows shuffle" up the ruts...

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soon took its toll though

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a quick call to mae taeng had this rider back in good spirits

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the rest of the trip up to doi pui is relatively boring as it turns into the 2 lanes of concrete for the pick-ups, however the start is good fun enough to make it worthwhile and a good alternative to heading up from huay tung tao, of which about half the acsent to doi pui is now tarmac...
we did stumble across this fella on his dream with 30 kilograms of lychees on his back, thats like half the weight of the fish justin caught the previous evening on loi kroh...

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accepting the forbidden fruits as gratitude

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on this track about 800meters from doi pui, which has a great hump for wheelies by the way, dave FL maybe a one -handed one on the AT!

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the single track can be found as a 180 degree left hand turn up a hill, it is immediately single track

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and is relatively easy to find although a few side trips to peoples gardens are par for the course on a first time attempt at this track..if you are coming from doi pui the turning will be on the right hand side.
the track then snakes up the hill before reaching its highest point

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the sudden sunlight had a adverse impact on justin however and he soon morphed into

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TURTLEMAN!!

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after no more than about 3 kms, the track then makes a nasty downhill ,we naturally spent the customary 45mins surverying the scene

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before bailing out and paddling down

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with varying success

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which we timed perfectly with an downpour, it was here that dr. sallows discovered an incredible malayan sun-band turtle that he explained was at such a high altitude, about 5000feet at this point, because of its acute need for the strongest rays of sunlight, pretty amazing stuff, email the doctor for more details on this creature..

the trail here then becomes a bit of a hack and a paddle

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and we were glad that mr.BBQ had debriefed us thourougly on the art of the paddle before we even thought about trying this trail. see how we have learnt...

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the trail follows the side of the moutnain here and the views across to the south are stunning, the single track lasts for maybe anohter 3kms, if it has been heavily raing then people should attempt with caution as a lot of the trail is either steep

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and littered with rocks or is right on the edge of a cliff, howver if us muppets can do it then most people prob could aswell,

at the end of the single track

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no honda dreams here by the way or even any signs of them. it then joins up with a wider SLIPPERY path, thankgod that sign was there as we were just about to send for slicks..

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the trail then takes you back down to mae rim main road with a couple of possible exits, we chose right and it turned out to be not the one we looking for, if you are still clamouring for dirt here keep going left and it will lead you down " barrys trail" back to the main road through a village, if anyone needs a better decription please email me or justin for some gps co-ordinates. at one certain fork on this track down the hill it possible to make a right that will take you over to the huay tung tao area of the sutthep mountain.

THE MUPPETS.