We had a couple choices left for our last day of riding - Airport loop or Ledge n Airy. Well, there are millions of options in Sedona, but those were the main two I was interested in. The night before we decided to man up and rise early so we could try to hit up both. For some reason I was thinking it would be light at 6am, but it was pitch black, and cold...another low 20's night. This actually made it easier to pack camp since any condensation or pooled water was frozen. Miraculously we were driving away from camp by 7am which may just be a MTB road trip world record. We had a bite to eat at McDs and were at the airport road shortly thereafter trying not to freeze our butts off in the morning cold.
Bundled up while we try to get ready. There were already tourists in the parking lot ready to hike up top of the rocks to check out the view.
View of sedona from across the road
We set out to ride the loop clockwise, and it started off with more sweet red slickrock riding
A bit of cactus shows up but the trail is still pretty mellow
Views were good too
But suddenly we were above the red rock into a continuous garden of softball to volleyball size cobbles.
With a sea of cactus on either side to "soften" your landing if you screw up. I would leave with numerous spines sticking out of my leg and even more stuck in my pant legs
The namesake of the loop
406 and Gman ride on
View over west sedona from the top of the loop
At the NW corner of the loop we split off and rode down Bandit.
Our route would take us across to Red Rock Loop Rd via bits and pieces of Old Post, Ridge, Carol Cyn, Herkenham Trails. Ledge n Airy is just across 89a from there. Unfortunately the trail we found which we assumed to be LnA was not, and by then we had dropped down too far to turn back in our remaining time. So we headed across Pipleline to Gadsden, and then some random trails across to another road.
On Gadsden we find frozen water.
Time for some rock-hucking. Point of impact:
Splash!
Gman tries curling, sedona-style
We continue on up the wash
Back on the south side of 89A we pick up High School Tr, little used with some steep climbs and descents
This eventually leads us into a tight wash that was pretty cool
Gman rides into the abyss
We cross back over to Bandit via Table Top and Carol Cyn. This is the view north partway across the last segment of Airport loop
Back at the truck I climb up top the rock outcrop to get a final view of Sedona. Looking east.
And north
And at the traffic jam of cars trying to find a parking spot while we take up space changing and downing our final sedona beers.
We couldn't resist poaching the hot tub one last time before heading out, a great way to end an awesome road trip. Then it was on the road. I definitely can't wait til next Thanksgiving to get back here again. There are just too many awesome trails not to come back sooner. And it would be nice to be here during warmer weather so we could poach the swimming pool instead of just the hot tub
