I haven't posted any ride reports in a while. We've been riding, just too much happening to post them. And since i'm heading up to utah next month, i figured i better get them in.
This ride was yesterday, 7/24/08. We met in Jerome & took the winding graded road to perkinsville, & headed up the mountains to Williams. Perkinsville road is a nice, bumpy, windy road that runs along the side of the mountains, then descends into the valley, crosses the river, then goes back up toward Williams. But we didn't take it to williams, we took the more interesting, scenic route up. Perkinsville road becomes paved as you get near Williams, & we wanted to have minimal pavement.
The riders:
scotty, Kim, Tom.
The bikes: 2 drz's & Tom's husky 250.
Early into the ride, Kim & i stopped for a photo op.. Tom had zipped on ahead & didn't even notice this guy.
Kim wanted to bring him along & give him to Tom, but this dude would have none of that..
Along Perkinsville road.
We got off the nicely graded perkinsville road, & got into the more unkempt parts. I think it was FR 354. It climbed up some pretty steep grades, & had a lot of rocks.. typical for Az.
We got off 354 & came back to perkinsville road & took it the remaining 10 miles into williams for gas & lunch. Tom had gone about 140 miles to this point, Kim & I about 80. After lunch, Tom decided to go back to prescott the way we had come, rather than follow us toward Sedona & have a 50 mile ride back on pavement. So Kim & i headed to our next destination: sycamore point.
There were several forest roads we had to ride on to get there. Some were almost invisible, overgrown with weeds. Some were rocky & steep. But we finally made it. It was worth it. Sycamore point is a nice overlook into sycamore canyon.. where the verde train goes, outside of clarkdale. Kim & i had been on the lower side of the canyon earlier in the year. This was a nice view of the other side.
This is a great scenic overlook, & not many people know about it.. the roads were reasonably easy to get there, & we only saw a few people along the way, & no one was there when we were. But it was after 3pm by now, & we still had a long way to go. It was also rumbling & getting dark.. monsoons were threatening!
On the way out, we stopped by white horse lake. It is a nice little mountain lake.. but we didn't see a white horse..
We had to go all the way north up to Garland prairie to get past the canyon walls to get to roads & trails to the east. But i always enjoy riding through garland prairie.. we usually see antelope, hawks, prairie dogs, deer, & other wildlife.. plus it's such a nice wide expanse. I'm a little surprised it's not covered with houses.. There are a few ranch houses, but it is pretty sparsely populated.
Kim, coming into garland prairie.
The san francisco peaks in the distance.. our northern arizona landmark.
We still had a ways to go, it was getting darker & threatening rain, so we decided to cut short a couple of side trips & overlooks, & head back to the top of oak creek canyon. This time we had to drop way south to get to an easterly road to take us there. Some of these roads were very rough, & as it was getting late, we were getting a little weary of bouncing along the rocks. But we finally got out at almost 6pm, & made our way down oak creek canyon.. paved switchbacks.. to sedona & home.
We did about 190 miles total.. about 70 paved, 60 graded dirt, & 60 miles of unmaintained forest roads.
Here's the track of the ride:
Elevations were from 4-8k, temps were warm in the morning in the lower elevations.. maybe mid 80's F. In the mountains, they were in the 70's. We managed to avoid the rain.
This was a little long, but a great ride.
This ride was yesterday, 7/24/08. We met in Jerome & took the winding graded road to perkinsville, & headed up the mountains to Williams. Perkinsville road is a nice, bumpy, windy road that runs along the side of the mountains, then descends into the valley, crosses the river, then goes back up toward Williams. But we didn't take it to williams, we took the more interesting, scenic route up. Perkinsville road becomes paved as you get near Williams, & we wanted to have minimal pavement.
The riders:
scotty, Kim, Tom.
The bikes: 2 drz's & Tom's husky 250.
Early into the ride, Kim & i stopped for a photo op.. Tom had zipped on ahead & didn't even notice this guy.
Kim wanted to bring him along & give him to Tom, but this dude would have none of that..
Along Perkinsville road.
We got off the nicely graded perkinsville road, & got into the more unkempt parts. I think it was FR 354. It climbed up some pretty steep grades, & had a lot of rocks.. typical for Az.
We got off 354 & came back to perkinsville road & took it the remaining 10 miles into williams for gas & lunch. Tom had gone about 140 miles to this point, Kim & I about 80. After lunch, Tom decided to go back to prescott the way we had come, rather than follow us toward Sedona & have a 50 mile ride back on pavement. So Kim & i headed to our next destination: sycamore point.
There were several forest roads we had to ride on to get there. Some were almost invisible, overgrown with weeds. Some were rocky & steep. But we finally made it. It was worth it. Sycamore point is a nice overlook into sycamore canyon.. where the verde train goes, outside of clarkdale. Kim & i had been on the lower side of the canyon earlier in the year. This was a nice view of the other side.
This is a great scenic overlook, & not many people know about it.. the roads were reasonably easy to get there, & we only saw a few people along the way, & no one was there when we were. But it was after 3pm by now, & we still had a long way to go. It was also rumbling & getting dark.. monsoons were threatening!
On the way out, we stopped by white horse lake. It is a nice little mountain lake.. but we didn't see a white horse..
We had to go all the way north up to Garland prairie to get past the canyon walls to get to roads & trails to the east. But i always enjoy riding through garland prairie.. we usually see antelope, hawks, prairie dogs, deer, & other wildlife.. plus it's such a nice wide expanse. I'm a little surprised it's not covered with houses.. There are a few ranch houses, but it is pretty sparsely populated.
Kim, coming into garland prairie.
The san francisco peaks in the distance.. our northern arizona landmark.
We still had a ways to go, it was getting darker & threatening rain, so we decided to cut short a couple of side trips & overlooks, & head back to the top of oak creek canyon. This time we had to drop way south to get to an easterly road to take us there. Some of these roads were very rough, & as it was getting late, we were getting a little weary of bouncing along the rocks. But we finally got out at almost 6pm, & made our way down oak creek canyon.. paved switchbacks.. to sedona & home.
We did about 190 miles total.. about 70 paved, 60 graded dirt, & 60 miles of unmaintained forest roads.
Here's the track of the ride:
Elevations were from 4-8k, temps were warm in the morning in the lower elevations.. maybe mid 80's F. In the mountains, they were in the 70's. We managed to avoid the rain.
This was a little long, but a great ride.
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