The weather changed & got cold this week, but it warmed slightly toward the end of the week. Tom had to go to Boise, so Kim, Brian & i decided to take a short ride while the high country was open.
We were planning on going up cedar flats, which runs between the west clear creek & beaver creek wilderness areas, but they were paving some of the road that crossed the creek by the beaver creek campground, so we changed our route & went up the old blue grade toward stoneman lake, then past apache maid lookout & across to long valley.
Brian on his new klx.. he's been riding very well! We had to climb through some rutted & steep sections past apache maid, & there were no problems with anyone.
After passing the apache maid lookout, we got on fr229. It was very rocky at first, but later it smoothed out. We had about 10 miles of pavement on lake mary road to get to this primo destination.
We got a fairly late start.. since it was pretty cold.. it was nearly 11am when we got on the road. We left the cafe about 1:30, & decided we'd go back to cedar flats & cut across the other way, then come back to sedona.
Out of the pines, & into the juniper & cedars..
We had some fall colors in the washes & spots where some hardy deciduous trees could find water. It was elk season, so they were all hiding, but i did see a fox run across the road & some deer bounding away. Of course they never stop & pose. This area has a lot of magnificent alligator junipers.. some are more than a hundred years old.
We were heading almost due southwest.. right into the setting sun.
Cedar flats is fr 214 between apache maid mtn & west clear creek. It is a pretty rugged road, with a lot of washed out parts, miles of jagged rocks, & a few spots with steep rocky climbs & descents. There were some pretty big steps we went up & down on this road. Some you can maneuver through, some you just close your eyes & give it throttle! (don't really close your eyes..)
I didn't get any pictures of the gnarlier spots.. too busy hanging onto the bike. No video, either. I didn't even bring the helmet cam this time. Too bad. There would have been some good spots for video on this ride.
..Kim demonstrating how to climb a cobby section on a 250.
By now, it was past 4pm & the sun was starting to set low in the sky. We were still approaching the west clear creek wilderness, & you could see some of the canyons of that area in the distance.
We followed the edge of west clear creek canyon back down to fr618, which went back toward sedona.
The sun behind us & the moon before us, we made good time back to the pavement.
I had about 110 on my odo, with about 30 of that pavement. We had climbed into the 7k ft range. Not many more days of riding at this altitude until next spring. I'm still hoping next week the weather will permit us to climb casner mtn between clarkdale & sedona.. we'll see!
All of us have been most impressed with the 250's. They have plenty of power for any offroad venture we get into, are much easier to manage & maneuver through the tight places, & are fine on pavement. Everyone went the speed limit (at least!) on the highway, & we could keep a pretty good pace in the rocks, too. The last time i had ridden cedear flats i was on the drz. It was much more difficult on it, with the higher profile & added weight. It seems like the suspension is better on the wr, but it's probably just because it's easier to handle, being lower & lighter. I'm still quite pleased with the change.. & am very impressed with the wr's performance.
scotty
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