Category Archives: GPS

bikes, GPS, history, MTB, roadtrip, travel, USA

Prescott, a short ride & Arizona desert driving

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After two tiring rides on consecutive days, today was supposed to be a driving day. But unable to sleep from 3.30 this morning I eventually got on the internet & found a short loop just out of Prescott – a town that was vaguely on the route we were taking towards Joshua Tree NP. I did eventually get back to sleep, so after a lazy start we made our way down I-17 towards Prescott (“Press-kit” apparently). We got a little distracted by Montezuma National Monument – more cliff dwellings, but not nearly as many or as grand as Mesa Verde NP.

A fair way & many traffic lights down a highway off the interstate, Prescott is a nice big town. We did seem to park on a street that is mostly antique shops (the town’s not that old), so after lunch we perused these until I got bored & then eventually found the center of town. A nice big leafy square with the grand county court house in the middle – & plenty of statues of course. It was pleasantly warm, but breezy so I wasn’t too worried about going out for an easy afternoon ride.

Just west of town we found the trail head in the National Forest & I set off for what sounded like a fun little loop (or so it seemed in my sleep-deprived state this morning). There was a short easy climb to begin with up to a saddle & then the trail skirted a hill & descended for about seven kilometres. The trail was wide & smooth – mostly dirt, with a little sand – & fast. It was great fun, especially all the little water bars to jump off & some nice banked corners. I was having a great time in the sun, but with the breeze & a few small trees around to provide shade it wasn’t too hot. I would have no qualms about taking a confident beginner down this section of trail.

At about the half-way point of the loop the trail turned southwest & started making a gradual climb up a wash. It was a little sandy in parts, but OK. As the canyon narrowed the climbing got a bit more technical periodically – there were a few steep rocky bits I couldn’t clear. That beginner I was thinking of bringing along better not mind a bit of pushing for a while. The trail eventually came out at a small manky dam & meandered along & across roads for a while – trail finding became a little more of a challenge. With one final climb out of the way, it was downhill all the way back to the parking lot. Having not intended to ride today, I thoroughly enjoyed myself on this little ride & wasn’t really tired when I finished.

With the ride out of the way, we could make for the Californian border. Valerie had mapped out a route through various backroads which was great. From the Prescott area we headed south on the 87, dropping a lot of altitude in a hurry to get down to the plains. Managing to find gas in a small town, we were more confident that we wouldn’t be stranded in the desert as night fell. The big cacti were starting to appear & the towns were looking more delapitdated as we got further away from the main highway. There are an amazing amounts of derelict hotels & gas stations in these parts, with the associated shells of various vehicles. Occasionally we would happen upon a small town that still had a little life in it.

One such town was Salome – we stopped for dinner at a bar/cafe. The bar was dark, with thin strips of neon & full of locals – unfortunately for me, Valerie preferred to eat in the ’50s style diner, which was still fun (at least the burger was great & the lime drink concoction I had was supercharged with sugar, but very drinkable). Not finding a motel room with two beds in it in Salome, we pushed on to Quartzsite (we’re on the I-10 now, the freeway between LA & Phoenix) & are staying at the Yacht Club Motel. That must be a bit of desert humour, as there’s no sailing on water to be had for miles. It’s really a motel of trailers – first time I’ve ever stayed in a trailer. There’s more room in here than we’ve for weeks & almost a proper kitchen – I wouldn’t buy one, but it’s a pleasant change.

The jagged silohuette was very pretty as the sun set

I couldn’t reach high enough to Tipp-ex an ‘n’ on

bikes, GPS, MTB, roadtrip, travel, USA

Sedona ride & Meteor Crater

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Everything was giving me the impression that riding in Sedona at this time of year is ridiculously hot, so I was up before six this morning for the hour long drive south & down (a big drop in elevation) to get my first taste of legendary Sedona singletrack. The drive down the Oak Creek canyon was stunning, if slow, as the sun was still rising. Parking at a trailhead in town (avoiding the Red Rock recreation fees), I was soon out on the trail following another GPS track pilfered off Garmin Connect. This one included both the Templeton Trail that came highly recommended the previous day & the Highland Trail that was supposed to be a fun downhill.

It was starting to warm up a bit by the time eight o’clock rolled on, but the first part of climbing along the Ridge Trail was not much of a hassle. There were some beautiful desert plants around, & also many more (small) trees than I was expecting.

True to name, all the ground was very red-brown. The trail marking was great with signs at all the main intersections, map boards at the trail heads & these massive cairns.

After a steeper down hill, I was carrying my bike over stepping stones across the Oak Creek looking up towards Cathedral Rock.

I started to have a few mechanical issues with my rear derailleur slipping, but I eventually sorted those after a couple of stops. On to the Templeton Trail beside the creek, not long after softening my forks I managed a great OTB (over-the-bars) dismount when my front wheel just stopped against a big rock. I managed somehow to jump over the bars, land on my feet on the trail & catch my bike before it hit & injured me again. Luckily this was all out of sight of the small group of hikers that came by – they all commented that I must be crazy riding these rocks, I was inclined to agree with them. As the creek was so nice, they obliged & took a photo of me.

The Templeton Trail then climbed quite steeply & technically – I got the idea I was doing a downhill trail in reverse – before leveling out & skirting around the base of Cathedral Rock. I got many different views of this stunning outcrop during the morning, here are some of my favourites.

As I continued climbing, the breeze picked up & was a great cooling system. I missed an unsigned turnoff to a minor trail that my GPS track was giving me, but after backtracking a little I found the Made in the Shade Trail just past a big intersection – this climbed nicely up a wash before a final steeper climb up a gully put me on the Highland Trail that skirted the side of the mesa I’d been tracking around for a while. This wasn’t too exposed, but there were times I had to take my eyes off the view & make sure I didn’t go off the edge into some sort of pointy vegetation.

At the end of the mesa, the trail plunged off steeply & I was a bit annoyed that I couldn’t ride more of it. But still conscious of being alone & my confidence for big rocky drops not really there, I managed the almost-as-hazardous walk down. Down on the saddle behind Cathedral Rock there was a bit of slick rock riding. A lesser used trail, navigation became trickier – I was glad to have the GPS.

Spot the trail

I cruised back down to the Red Rock crossing of the creek & then slowly climbed back up the Ridge Trail. Maybe it was the sun & the wind taking it out of me, but this was the biggest riding struggle of the trip yet. Nevermind, I made it back to the car still enjoying myself & the gorgeous scenery.  Sedona fully deserves its reputation – I only rode a few trails, they were excellent & there are many, many more.

We had a quick look around the rather touristy town of Sedona, mostly at some little complex made to look like a traditional Mexican village filled with galleries of various kinds. It was nice, but I’m not sure my biking get-up was the best. With the sun high in the sky, the drive home was completely different – not quite as nice. The wind was really getting strong in places & would continue to increase in intensity as we has a lazy hour back at the motel cleaning up before heading half an hour east on the freeway.

As we drove into Flagstaff from Nevada Valerie had noticed a sign for a Meteor Crater – as it wasn’t far away we decided to go & check it out. This was a completely different “big hole in the ground” that we have grown accustomed to seeing over the last few weeks. The 1.2 km diameter & 170 m deep crater was made when an iron-nickel meteor only about 50 m across came crashing into the Arizona high desert (very flat all around). It was insanely windy out on the viewing decks (I got blown into a handrail at one stage), but worth it to see one of the best examples of meteor impact on earth. The recent history of it is quite interesting too – NASA used the crater floor to train astronauts in geology & also for testing Apollo spacesuits. There’s a good panorama of the crater part way down the linked page above, but here are a couple of my shots.

bikes, GPS, MTB, national park, roadtrip, travel, USA

Flagstaff Ride & Grand Canyon South

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A quick bit of research on the interwebs the previous night had me at the trailhead for Mt Elden just outside Flagstaff on Sunday morning.  The parking lot was strangely busy for early Sunday morning – it turned out there was a local Super D race on (a mostly downhill race, with a little bit of climbing).  From the trailhead there was six kilometres of easy climbing up through beautiful forest.  Near the end of that I stopped & chatted for about twenty minutes with a friendly local pharmacologist – got some good tips for Sedona the following day.  I continued up the Schultz trail before eventually hitting Sunset.  Here the climbing got a lot steeper & I was having to work now – ended up at nearly 2800m!  I was continually being warned that soon fast racers would be coming the other way, so that was a good excuse to walk up a very steep rock garden.  Slightly past that, the racers started passing by very quickly – as the trail was quite narrow, it was safest for me to walk so I could quickly get out of their way.  I saw the second rider completely lose it & go flying down the side of the hill about ten metres, stopped only by a lone pine.

Grovelling up the fire road to the lookout, I found the start line & watched for a little while before starting my big descent on Upper Oldham. It was fantastic with a great variety of trail, some techy rocky switchback, followed by with fast flowy bits & then back to the technical rocky stuff. I really enjoyed the ride & the great variety there was in the twenty-two kilometres I did. It was nice to earn all the downhill with the (mostly) very pleasant climb.  The last part of the ride was around Rocky Ridge – aptly name.  The whole area was very popular with bikers & hikers – great to see so many people out using the trails, I think I could quite happily live in Flagstaff.

I still love riding through meadows at high altitude

Back to the motel it was definitely time for lunch before we headed back to the Grand Canyon. This was my third visit to the GC, but my first to the more often visited South Rim. I loved seeing it from a different perspective, even if it was busier & somewhat windy. I still can’t begin to describe the vastness of it & these few photos may not be much use. Very interesting place, especially seeing all the different strata. This time we managed to get glimpses of the Colorado River – something you can’t see from North Rim.

Looking west, the haze had definitely set in as the sun set

bikes, city, GPS, MTB, roadtrip, travel, USA, vehicles

Las Vegas & Blue Diamond

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As we had rolled in to Vegas pretty early, Valerie was keen to get some more cowboy boots (by the end of the trip, the car will be filled with shoe-boxes). I had previously thought the western-wear shops in Calgary were stupidly large, but this particular Boot Barn was on another level. There were at least twenty aisles of cowboy boots, as well as those shelves lining the walls. Valerie found a pair she liked, while I contented myself with a pair of boot-cut Wranglers – I may decide I have enough money just before leaving Canada to get a pair of outrageous boots, but they would have to be made in Alberta.

Boots, as far as the camera can see

Red Rock Canyon has a good reputation for riding just outside of Las Vegas (good hiking too apparently). I hit some trails outside of the very small town of Blue Diamond yesterday morning. Blue Diamond was originally a company town for the gypsum plant just down the road – fortunately for it, it was far enough away that it didn’t get demolished during expansion of the plant (unlike poor Exshaw). I got a map from the local bike store (there are probably less than five stores in total in town, so good to see one is a bike store) & a recommendation for the best two hour loop. Leaving Valerie to amuse herself (which she did quite easily), I was quickly up to the saddle on a fine day for riding (sunny, nice breeze). Paying ten dollars for a map was OK, but no one had thought to mark any of the intersections – so the three-way ones close together got more confusing than they should have been. I ended up doing an extra half-hour loop with a nice techy climb & interesting descent then traverse back to the saddle. I still managed to get most of the loop I was given in & back to the car in ninety minutes. I must have missed the best part, as over the twenty kilometres it, for the most part, wasn’t all that interesting – spent a lot of time just riding straight, easy gravel paths. Nice ride all up, but perhaps I’d be more charitable if I didn’t spend so long looking at a map trying to work out where the many intersections led.

The yuccas were scratchy, but at least I didn’t fall in any cacti.

Gorgeous day for a ride in the desert.

Back in Vegas, it was a short walk back from the hotel after dropping the car off to get the injectors cleaned out. This turned out to be the highlight of this Vegas visit – sad, I know. A quick search online showed that one of the closest auto shops was just over the railway lines. It turned out that they specialized in exotic, mostly Italian, cars. The mechanics were great to chat too (an old guy, Cal, & a Kiwi from Dunedin with the best/strongest Kiwi accent I’ve heard in months) & it was nice to have a look at all the cars they had in the shop. My dust-covered old Outback looked a bit out of place surrounded by Ferraris, Maseratis, Alfas, Bentleys & so on in various states of repair. It was a pleasant respite from all the tackiness on the Strip.

Some guy brought his Camaro in, after getting the Dino back from a full engine rebuild that day.

More of the afternoon was spent checking out one of the Outlet malls, which always turns out more costly than it should. Thankfully, the temperatures during this visit were a good ten degrees Celsius lower than my last visit – 30ºC/86ºF is so much more pleasant than 45ºC/115ºF. I quickly tired of the shopping & hearing too many Australian accents (strong-dollar has made them almost as numerous in Vegas as Mormons are further north!), so we headed back to the hotel for a while before heading out to check out the Strip during the evening.

Each time I’m Vegas I feel I’m doing the place a great disservice by not going out & spending a lot of money on food, drink, shows or just throwing it away down a slot machine. If I was with a group so inclined (I must have friends like that somewhere), I might just do so – but this time I was quite happy to wander slowly along as Valerie discovered it all for herself. After all, there are so many weird & wonderful things to see – & that’s before you start people watching.