We met at Perkinsville road at the jerome fire station, rode along the mountainside to fs 318a, then another 15 miles to the road to martin canyon.
One of the views along the perkinsville road:
The Riders:
scotty & Tom
I should have suspected something when Tom said he got this trail from some 4x4 jeep club, & it is supposed to be pretty challenging. My problem was i was geared too high. I put on a 16t cs sprocket for some up coming road rides, & hadn't geared back down.
The road zigged & zagged along martin canyon, crossing the dry wash 15-20 times. There were a lot of boulders to avoid in the crossings, but overall it wasn't too bad. I did drop the bike once. I was going slow through some boulders & tried to gas it to go over a big one, when the bike stalled & fell over. It was mostly the gearing.. i think i would have had the low end pull with the lower sprocket.
It was a very scenic ride.. through oaks, pinons & winding along the creek.
Tom was riding point, & i came to a spot where i stopped to pick a line through another boulder field. I heard Tom ahead, calling, so i walked up. He was at a point where the trail was the wash. It was a couple hundred yards of large boulders. I didn't think i could ride it, especially with my gearing. We walked up a bit to see if it improved any, since it looked like we'd be walking our bikes through the boulders. Neither of us really wanted to turn back, because we knew what we'd have to ride through to get back. But going forward seemed to be more difficult. So reluctantly (after a lot of whining from me), we turned back.
Heading back was actually easier for me, since it was mostly downhill.. i could roll slower through the boulders, rather than trying to accelerate when barely idling.
We got back to 318a, & turned to the south, toward prescott & heading to dewey.
We headed back to Jerome on 89a, then turned south on fs151, aka the powerline road. This was supposed to connect to the old cherry road, so we could ride to Mayer, then complete the loop to the north. The road was up & down, with lots of rutted out spots & more rocks. No problems, though, until we got to a couple of miles to the end. There was a sign warning of the road closure at the end. Earlier, we had run into several gates with padlocks & & had to look for alternate routes. The roads were on the gps map, but evidently had been developed since, & closed off as private property. We were over an hour trying to get out of a section North of 89a. We could see the road we wanted to get on, but it was fenced off. We rode along the fence for several miles before we found an open gate we could get through.
Now we were heading for more of the same. We got to the end of the powerline road, & sure enough, it was locked shut. We could again see a road where we wanted to go, less than 1/4 mile away. We doubled back, looking for a way over, & found a spot that was open enough to get through. Now we were on an easy gravel road, & heading for lunch! We rode for less than a mile, & got another gate! but this time, we were locked in. The sign was on the outside, threatening trespassers with prosecution, & we were on the inside, trying to get out. We rode all over the apparently new development, looking for a way out. Everything was locked down. There was a real estate lock box, which probably had the key to the lock, but we couldn't get it. Finally we decided to go back to the first gate, which had a chain across, & tilt our bikes & go under the chain. We wrestled our bikes under the chain & were finally free!!
But by now, it was too late to continue on to Mayer, so we cut the ride short & rode to Dewey for lunch.
After lunch, Tom continued back to Prescott, & i cut over prescott valley to Jerome & then back to Sedona. I had about 150 miles on the odo, & got home by 4.
Next week: 4 of us going dirt from Sedona to Grand Canyon, spend the night at the maswik lodge, then back north of the san francisco peaks through the pass, Flagstaff, & back down to Sedona.
Now we were heading for more of the same. We got to the end of the powerline road, & sure enough, it was locked shut. We could again see a road where we wanted to go, less than 1/4 mile away. We doubled back, looking for a way over, & found a spot that was open enough to get through. Now we were on an easy gravel road, & heading for lunch! We rode for less than a mile, & got another gate! but this time, we were locked in. The sign was on the outside, threatening trespassers with prosecution, & we were on the inside, trying to get out. We rode all over the apparently new development, looking for a way out. Everything was locked down. There was a real estate lock box, which probably had the key to the lock, but we couldn't get it. Finally we decided to go back to the first gate, which had a chain across, & tilt our bikes & go under the chain. We wrestled our bikes under the chain & were finally free!!
But by now, it was too late to continue on to Mayer, so we cut the ride short & rode to Dewey for lunch.
After lunch, Tom continued back to Prescott, & i cut over prescott valley to Jerome & then back to Sedona. I had about 150 miles on the odo, & got home by 4.
Next week: 4 of us going dirt from Sedona to Grand Canyon, spend the night at the maswik lodge, then back north of the san francisco peaks through the pass, Flagstaff, & back down to Sedona.
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