Tom rode in from prescott, Kim & I met him at hwy 179 & schnebly hill road about 9am. It had rained a lot the day before, & was quite cool for this time of year...60's at the starting point, & we were climbing!
Here are the riders:
From left to right, Tom, Scotty, Kim.
Schnebly hill road was typical.. very rocky, but plenty wide. We passed several jeep tour operators on the way up. The vistas here are spectacular.
The bikes:
My drz, Tom's 650xl, Kim's drz.
We got to the top of schnebly hill, crossed the freeway, & continued into the rim forest toward lake mary road. There was some mud, but the roads were fairly easy. It had snowed at this elevation the day before.. a rarity on the rim this time of year.
there were still patches of snow on the ground. Tom crossed mingus mountain on the way over, & it was covered with snow. Still, the temps were in the 50's & warming.
We covered about 20-30 miles to Lake mary road, then traveled south about 3 miles to the next forest road. As we made our way east, the roads got more rugged & rocky. The mud was minimal.. less than we expected. But up here, rocks are plentiful. We saw a group of 6-8 elk cross the road, & saw some antelopes at a distance... but they wouldn't pose for the photographers. So i looked for easier subjects:
A nice stand of aspens.. they are dwindling in northern az, but there are a few pockets of them here & there.
We got deeper into the forest & the rocks & ruts got bigger & deeper. We took a break on a high meadow.. there were views of the san francisco peaks in the distance.
the road was pretty easy in this section.. no one had any problems, & neither bikes nor riders sustained any damage!
We finally made it out of this section, & had a run of pavement to do. It was about 1pm, & we decided not to take forest roads to the rim road, then over to strawberry, our lunch destination. We were getting hungry, NOW, & figured the main reason we go on rides is to go out to lunch, anyway, so we decided to take the pavement past clint's well & into strawberry, about 30 miles. We had logged about 60 miles of dirt, & Tom had a friend he wanted to call to join us for lunch, so off we went to strawberry.
I guess we were too famished to take any pictures.. we all got the lunch special: open faced angus burger covered with chili, onions, cheese, & for me, cholula!
Here are the riders:
From left to right, Tom, Scotty, Kim.
Schnebly hill road was typical.. very rocky, but plenty wide. We passed several jeep tour operators on the way up. The vistas here are spectacular.
The bikes:
My drz, Tom's 650xl, Kim's drz.
We got to the top of schnebly hill, crossed the freeway, & continued into the rim forest toward lake mary road. There was some mud, but the roads were fairly easy. It had snowed at this elevation the day before.. a rarity on the rim this time of year.
there were still patches of snow on the ground. Tom crossed mingus mountain on the way over, & it was covered with snow. Still, the temps were in the 50's & warming.
We covered about 20-30 miles to Lake mary road, then traveled south about 3 miles to the next forest road. As we made our way east, the roads got more rugged & rocky. The mud was minimal.. less than we expected. But up here, rocks are plentiful. We saw a group of 6-8 elk cross the road, & saw some antelopes at a distance... but they wouldn't pose for the photographers. So i looked for easier subjects:
A nice stand of aspens.. they are dwindling in northern az, but there are a few pockets of them here & there.
We got deeper into the forest & the rocks & ruts got bigger & deeper. We took a break on a high meadow.. there were views of the san francisco peaks in the distance.
the road was pretty easy in this section.. no one had any problems, & neither bikes nor riders sustained any damage!
We finally made it out of this section, & had a run of pavement to do. It was about 1pm, & we decided not to take forest roads to the rim road, then over to strawberry, our lunch destination. We were getting hungry, NOW, & figured the main reason we go on rides is to go out to lunch, anyway, so we decided to take the pavement past clint's well & into strawberry, about 30 miles. We had logged about 60 miles of dirt, & Tom had a friend he wanted to call to join us for lunch, so off we went to strawberry.
I guess we were too famished to take any pictures.. we all got the lunch special: open faced angus burger covered with chili, onions, cheese, & for me, cholula!
Tom's friend came & visited with us during lunch.. by around 3pm, we figured we better get going. We were going down the fossil springs road switchbacks & heading over to camp verde.
This section of fossil springs road had problems with accidents.. many cars had gone over the edge at the first turn in the switchbacks. I guess the county or the forest service finally put in the concrete barriers to lessen the danger.
Here's a closer look at the carnage below..
There were still lots of flowers blooming. Even Tom started taking pictures of the flowers!!
The firecracker penstemons are some of my favorites.. the reds are very intense.
And of course, the lovely cactus flowers.. There were still a few of them around.
We continued down fossil springs road, & crossed the creek. this is a beautiful riparian area cutting through the mid elevation deserts. It runs to the verde river, & is now closed to fishing, while they try to re-introduce native species. The power plants along the creek are decommissioned, so all we can do is look & take pictures.. although the pools looked cool & refreshing!
the bridge crossing the creek.. some of the surrounding terrain & vegetation can be seen.
The deep pools below the bridge. From the top of the bridge, you could see fish swimming below.. they knew you couldn't fish for them, so they were plainly visible.. mocking us..
The biggest ones were maybe 6".. but it was their attitude that got to us..
We left the bridge & continued uneventfully to camp verde. Tom headed back to prescott, & Kim & I back to Sedona along fr618. My gps had over 150 miles on it, & it was almost 7 when i got home. A good ride through some nice central az variety. Elevations were from 7500 to 3000'.
scotty
This section of fossil springs road had problems with accidents.. many cars had gone over the edge at the first turn in the switchbacks. I guess the county or the forest service finally put in the concrete barriers to lessen the danger.
Here's a closer look at the carnage below..
There were still lots of flowers blooming. Even Tom started taking pictures of the flowers!!
The firecracker penstemons are some of my favorites.. the reds are very intense.
And of course, the lovely cactus flowers.. There were still a few of them around.
We continued down fossil springs road, & crossed the creek. this is a beautiful riparian area cutting through the mid elevation deserts. It runs to the verde river, & is now closed to fishing, while they try to re-introduce native species. The power plants along the creek are decommissioned, so all we can do is look & take pictures.. although the pools looked cool & refreshing!
the bridge crossing the creek.. some of the surrounding terrain & vegetation can be seen.
The deep pools below the bridge. From the top of the bridge, you could see fish swimming below.. they knew you couldn't fish for them, so they were plainly visible.. mocking us..
The biggest ones were maybe 6".. but it was their attitude that got to us..
We left the bridge & continued uneventfully to camp verde. Tom headed back to prescott, & Kim & I back to Sedona along fr618. My gps had over 150 miles on it, & it was almost 7 when i got home. A good ride through some nice central az variety. Elevations were from 7500 to 3000'.
scotty
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