It was almost 2pm by the time we left Kadykchan.  The reason I wanted as early a start as possible was today we begin one of the classic adventure rides … the Old Summer Road section of the Road of Bones. If I show a map of the whole Kolyma Highway / Road of Bones system, you will note that between Kyubeme and Palatka (just north of Magadan) there are four segments, Two between Kyubeme and Kadykchan, and two between Bolshevik and Palatka.  The northern branch each times the road splits is just known as the Kolyma Highway, or Kolymsky Trakt.  The southern alternative between Bolshevik and Palatka is known as the Tinkin Road or Tinkinskaya Trassa.  The southern alternative between Kyubeme and Kadykchan is known and the Old Road or Old Summer Road. Of these 4 segments, 3 are maintained roads.  One segment is no longer maintained, and is, in parts, abandoned.  That is the Old Summer Road from Kyubeme to Kadykchan.  This is the “classic” stage of the Road of Bones.

Sherri Jo, who left Magadan with a grand total of 2 half-days of off road riding under her belt, was going to have to learn fast or die trying. We made good time on a well used first section … the first 40 km southwest from Kadykchan to the Old Summer Road’s most southerly point, where there is now a popular hunting / fishing base. As we turned northwest, the road began to deteriorate and it was clearly not so heavily used.  Our speed slowed. We passed the abandoned village of Adygalakh and met a couple in a landcruiser.  They were from Susuman, but the man had been born and raised in Adygalakh, when the town had existed, and they often returned to the region to pick berries and soak up the utterly wild, unspoilt nature.  We were offered as many blueberries and redcurrants as we could fit in our mouths. Soon after saying goodbye to the berry picking couple, we were on a road that to all intents and purposes looked abandoned.  I could see only one set of vehicle tracks … made a day or two ago. To make matters worse, there were bushfires in the area and the area we were passing through was still smouldering.  A tragic (for us) consequence of the bushfires, was the large number of trees that had fallen across the road. Some we were able to move.  Some we were able to break.  Some we were able to lift and ride under.  And there were some we could nothing about at all about.  One log took 90 minutes to get both bikes over.  I had to crash my bike over it.  Get the front wheel up, and then throw the back end over.  SJ’s bike I decided to take around through the burnt out forest … through super light ash – impossible to get any traction … all the while hoping cinders didn’t burn through the tyres.  Every 50-100 metres was another tree across the road. We had said goodbye to the berry picking couple about 5pm.  By 10pm we had done a mere 8km more.  If we’d had a chainsaw, we might have done it in an hour. We reached a stream across the road at 10pm and refilled our water bottles.  The struggle with the trees across the road had resulted in me drinking a gallon of water since 5pm.  I spoke with Sherri, who was as knackered as I was.  We were both covered in soot from manhauling burnt trees and driving bikes through ash.  There was just an hours daylight left.  It was time to set up camp.  There was clearly no traffic on this section of the road, so we set up tents in the middle of the road, right next to the stream.