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PostPosted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:11 pm 
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Still getting through pictures from the AZ trip, but here are some pics from along the Rainbow Rim Trail on the North Rim of The Grand Canyon.

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The waning minutes of the day from our campsite. My tent was about 40 miles from cell service, 22 miles from the nearest paved road and about 20 feet from the edge of the canyon. This is not a good place to camp if you are a sleep walker. For everyone else, this is soooo freaking awesome.

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The Rainbow Rim Trail is 18 miles long and easily ridable in a day as an out-and-back if you are "on the pedals". Personally, I think you would be quite the bonehead to do so as this ride deserves to take plenty of time to stop and smell the flowers, take in the views and generally just soak the whole place in. You can hammer on any trail, but it's not everyday you get to cruise along the rim of the Grand Canyon. We were camped at Locust Point and did the trail in two days. Day one was an out-and-back to Parissawampitts Point. It is a tricky name to say and we found unending pleasure from seeing how many ways we could butcher the name. Day two was Locust Point to Timp Point and back.

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The trail undulates mildly for most of the time as you gradually descend out to the points and then climb back away from the points before contouring around to the mid-point drainage. When you do not have the Grand Canyon vistas, you have some sweet singletrack through the mixed pine and aspen forest.

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Jeff cruising along

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Once out to the end of the trail at "Popabeertopitts Point" we spent about 30 minutes hiking/scrambling out to the far-tip of the of point for an even better view of the canyon. Here we enjoyed a sandwich and a little something extra we had packed in our camelbak bladders. Ahh still nice and cold.

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One thing we all firmly agreed upon was that it did not suck to be us today.

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The next morning we set off at just about the crack of dawn for an out-and-back ride in the other direction to Timp Point. The morning light was pretty incredible.

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Once again there were plenty of picture taking going on and generally enjoying the stops just as much as the GOs.

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Jeff on the Go

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We also came across at buffalo kill that was presumably made by a mountain lion. Amazing to think about the power of these big cats to take down a buffalo. Armed only with cameras we were certainly not the apex predator out here.

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Hello Kitty Toothpicks

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The views from Timp Point (the terminous of the trail) were once again impressive. The time of day can totally determine what you can see because of the way the light shifts along the canyon walls. We noticed a small speck of white in the distance and were able to determine that it was Thunder Springs, an impressive waterfall that comes right out of the side of canyon from an underground river. I did some Googling on this place and I might just have to dust off my hiking boots for a return trip up here.

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The "back" part of the ride went fairly quickly but we did stop to smell some of these.
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And check out this guy.

We were back at camp at brunch time and Jeff started busting up camp as he had to leave. It was great getting to hang out with Jeff (aka MTB Mayor of Kernville). Later that day Bill and I would get in another ride, but that is another story.

-Bill

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Last edited by MTBBill on Mon Jun 21, 2010 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:08 pm 
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Maybe it's just everyone jamming your server trying to look at your latest ride report, but it seems that your pictures are taking way long to post up on the last few reports you've posted. Something to keep in mind. But Rainbow has been on the short list for a while.


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:14 pm 
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Great TR as always Bill! That trip has been the one I most want to do for several years, more because of the location than the MTB qualities of the trails themselves. I thought when my daughter went to school in Flagstaff it would make it easier, but the North Rim is still about six hours from there. Turns out it's quicker to go through St. George AFAIK. But I'm still hoping to combine it with a visit with her. Thanks for reminding me I need to make some of these trips happen and not just dream about them.

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:33 pm 
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GP_pilot wrote:
Maybe it's just everyone jamming your server trying to look at your latest ride report, but it seems that your pictures are taking way long to post up on the last few reports you've posted. Something to keep in mind. But Rainbow has been on the short list for a while.


I have been intouch with the ISP for the server that the pics are on and they are telling my that my has "graduated" from the bandwidth of the server cluster I'm on. I have my site split between two ISPs so it looks like I'm going to have to move some stuff around at the backend of the site.

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 11:46 pm 
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GP_pilot wrote:
But Rainbow has been on the short list for a while.

Not for that long...last time I mentioned this trail you said it wouldn't be worth the drive. Looks like you've changed your mind :wink:

I can see this one winning the sdmba photo contest this year. Awesome pic Bill!
MTBBill wrote:
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:34 am 
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Great TR, Bill. I love N. AZ....I've ridden s lot of the AZ trail up in that end of the state.
Entire days on the trail with not a single other human sighting, but plenty of elk and a few Big Kitty tracks.

Speaking of which, an old guy, prolly deaf, was killed by a car on the road to Prescott a few years back. He was 260 lb.s, a long way from his prime. His paws were bigger than the head of the taxidermist holding it up for the pics.

And the size of his head, holy crap. Think African lion, without the mane.

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 9:16 am 
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Wow. That made me really homesick. Did that ride 2 summers ago along with a trip down North Kaibab trail to the springs. Did you get a chance to stop in at the lodge in Jacob Lake for their world famous milkshakes or cookies?


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:09 am 
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Trail whore.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 8:09 pm 
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moondogg wrote:
Trail whore.

Somebody has to do it. I'm just happy to take one for the team!

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