10/5/07 garland prairie

n. az ride 10/5.. some mud, rain

I got a new tire, so wanted to try it out before leaving town. My riding buddy Kim was game to go, so we headed up oak creek canyon to fs 535 to head toward Williams. It rained off & on, & the trails were muddy. I didn't take very many pics.. it was supposed to be a short ride.. we didn't leave until 11:30.. but we ended up over 100 miles & looped up all the way to flag before coming back down the canyon.

First, my new tire!


the few shot i took- Kim at a break.


A nice herd of antelope on garland prairie:




We got into a lot of mud.. i was glad i had on a new front tire. It slipped around a bit, but i didn't go down. the open prairies were very slippery.. & there were some big pools of water covering the road we had to splash through. We had raincoats, so didn't get soaked. Once up to I-40, we came back along old rt. 66 to flag, then back down 89a to home. It was getting cold in flag by 5pm! Time to do desert riding! The mountains will have to wait until spring!
scotty

5/23/07 jerome-oak creek canyon loop

Wed. 5/23. Two drz's went on a little ride around the verde valley in north central Az. Here are some pics & descriptions of that ride. It was about 150 mi total, with about 1/2 on pavement, 1/4 on improved gravel/dirt, & 1/4 unimproved/rugged dual track. Here is the track on the map:



The elevation ranged from 3k to 7k ft. We started in Sedona, went up oak creek canyon on 89a, then turned off road. We were in the ponderosa pines for much of the early ride until we got below Williams & started coming down. It was pretty chilly up higher.. i had on a mesh jacket & pants & was cold! It was in the 50's early on, but warmed up to the 90's after Jerome.


If you look closely in the above pic, you can see these guys:


There were 15-20 in this group, and another 8-10 about 10 miles down the road. They weren't too bothered by us.. deer seem to know when it's not hunting season! I think they were mule deer.. we've also come upon elk.. but not this ride.


We cleared the pines & started down into juniper & cypress. We cut over the top of the rim to the perkinsville road, then down to Jerome.


This is the early part of the Verde River near perkins ranch.


The perkinsville road was improved gravel.. good thing. Kim had a stock tank on his drz & was getting low on fuel. We had hoped to get to Jerome before he ran out.


from the northwest side of the Verde Valley. You can see the san francisco peaks & the Sedona red rocks in the distance.


Here's where Kim ran out of gas. I loosened a hose from my acerbis & gave him a couple of pints.. i just shut off the petcocks, took off a hose, turned on the petcock & let it run into an empty water bottle.

Sedona in the distance.. that is the clarkdale cement plant in the foreground. Jerome is to the right, but not in view, yet.
Here is Jerome from the northwest. We could see all the way across the valley to the eastern edge of the mogollon rim. It was raining over there.


Lastly, the old Jerome mine. It was a bustling copper mine in the early half of last century, but is an artist/tourist town, now.


No crashes, major mechanical problems, run ins with the law or drug smugglers.. It was an easy ride.. there were a few miles of more rugged roads, but i would rate it easy, overall.
scotty

5/15/07 jerome-orme ride

jerome/orme loop (az ride)

Ok, our sedona/jerome loop turned into an orme road/jerome loop. Here's the track of the ride:



We met at the lowest point on the map.. Corky, Tom, & I. We rode about 55 mi dirt, then from Jerome i parted & went to the mvd in cottonwood, Home depot, etc (errands). Tom & Corky rode through Cherry, back to the start. Here are some pics & descriptions of the ride:

True to form, i went down. i was going around a corner, took it too wide to avoid a big rut, overcorrected, back tire slid in hard pack. The shifter was bent, a faring came off the hand guards.. tweaked my foot & ankle a bit too.. still hobbled. At least i got it out of the way early in the ride.



The shifter was hitting the case guard & not letting me upshift. I pulled it off & Corky performed emergency surgery with the most delicate tools available.


Corky taking a well deserved break after riding for about an hour..


Some of the roads were rocky, some were pretty easy.. a good ride. Enough nasty stuff to be fun, but some breaks from it, too.



Don't see a lot of these guys much anymore.. they eat ants & are easily disturbed. This guy is pretty little.. only about 2" long.


Tom taking a victory lap.. well.. he was just catching up.. Tom & I were so slow that Corky took a nap!



Some great views on this ride.. some to the south,


Cottonwood & the verde valley to the north.. you can see the sedona red rocks in the distance.. a little hazy, though.


This was probably our most traumatic event.. with a moral to the story. We had to back track once because of the paper map Tom brought & my inattention to the gps. So i had to stop at every intersection to make sure we were on the right road. Well, Corky got impatient with all this geekiness, so when a road was declared, took off. At one intersection there were 3 roads, but only 2 on the map. We started taking the high one, assuming it would follow the mountainside, but it got very narrow, so i turned back & got on the right one. I was hoping Corky & Tom would also turn back, or that the high road would connect with the main one. Well, Corky said the road turned into a squirrel trail & they finally decided to turn back. By then i could see them about 200' higher up the mountain. The bikes would stop. I would yell if they were ok.. they were. They were trying to turn the bikes around. Corky got his drz turned, but had to walk up about 100yds to help Tom get his husky turned. I had my cell phone, so made a few calls.., relaxed & enjoyed the views. Finally, they made it back. The above pic is Tom working his way along the squirrel trail. below, they are back on the main road. They were about the upper left corner of that pic.



coming 'round the mountain.. sycamore canyon in the distance, bits of Jerome around the hill:



Here's Jerome.. you can see the 89a switchbacks starting on the upper left, & the old copper mining town on the side of the mountain.


The last part was brutal.. very rocky for about 3 miles. There was no smooth parts, just sharp, jagged rocks. We were all glad to get to the end for.. LUNCH!




All total for me was about 130 miles.. about 40 to the meeting spot on I-17, 55 miles from orme to jerome, then about 35 back to sedona. I went from 80 on the freeway to 10-15 in the rocky stuff. A great dual sport ride!
scotty

4/28/07 oak creek canyon overlooks

I haven't been on or posted a ride in a while, so here one is. I didn't have a good camera (forgot it ) so has to rely on really bad cell phone camera.

Anyway, the ride was about 120 miles, about half & half pavement & off road. We went up oak creek canyon, then left on a forest road. There are a lot of cool overlooks & i got a few pics. The trails were dry, rocky, & several of them were maintained. We had to dodge the cagers a lot.. on Friday there were a lot of people going camping. Anyway, here's the map, route, & a few pics.



















scotty