It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 2:50 pm

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 5 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 12:52 am 
Offline
Obsessed
Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:39 pm
Posts: 3407
Location: Ocean Beach
Given: 2423 thanks
Received: 7322 thanks
Bike(s): Revel Rail, Spur, Carver Ti,
Favorite Trails: Hmm........
Headed out to Phoenix with Sierragoldens and Jfsh for Presidents day to do some riding.

I tried to convince Schillingsworth to ride AZT with us, but ended up joining him on day 1 to ride the Goldfields instead. We did a ride out there a couple years ago and I've been wanting to go back. It is not well known for biking as it's mostly horse trails, but the scenery is awesome and there are some great pieces of trail if you're willing to put up with some crap and hike a bike. John had a group ride going that would include some unknown stuff. I told Jeff and Basil, if it sucks, worst case the ride will only be 10 miles. haha.


We showed up to find a group of 12 or so all ready to go. No messing around when there are goods to be had.

Image


We made a bee-line for the unknown trail. Some tough climbing and sketchy descending on loose rubble ensued.

Image


The unknown trail was pretty good, and super chunky. Mostly ridable but quite a few get offs where the bike got hung up on rocks. Definitely better than some trails in the Goldfields and led to some great views after a short steep climb. You can now find it on Trailforks as Sixteen Stone

Image


Lots of lichen covered granite

Image


Cool view with a sneak peak of singletrack down below. More to explore later...

Image


We didn't find the arch on Anniversary Arch loop, but we found a nice spine to ride

Image

Image


Then a bit of descending

Image


There were lots of re-groups which worked well for taking lots of photos

Image


And lots of gawking

Image


This trail is called Slice o' Heaven

Image


Schillingsworth in HAB heaven

Image


Beers were calling our name and it was time to go

Image


Fun ride. The selection of trails this time were tough but generally ridable. Everyone had a good time. After beers came tacos, we joined some others with the promise of awesome grilled salmon tacos and mango salsa at Boca Taqueria. Did not disappoint.


Top
 Profile  
 
The following 5 users would like to thank evdog for his or her post:
avidtest, Christ D., Ld00d, mtbchip, OldDogDan
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 12:53 am 
Offline
Obsessed
Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:39 pm
Posts: 3407
Location: Ocean Beach
Given: 2423 thanks
Received: 7322 thanks
Bike(s): Revel Rail, Spur, Carver Ti,
Favorite Trails: Hmm........
Jeff had found us a sweet campsite the night before right near Gold Canyon and that was where we headed after tacos. There had been talk of doing a second ride but Goldfields took longer than expected and it was almost 4pm when we got back to camp. After a beer I talked Basil into a sunset lap around Gold Canyon. Jeff decided to rest his legs for the next day. We were close to a jeep road that would take us up over a ridge that lay between camp and the the trail network.


Golden hour

Image


Gold Canyon always delivers great views

Image


We climbed up some xc trails to Lost Goldmine Tr, hitting Seguaro Squeeze on the way

Image


Then back south on K trail

Image


Image


Running out of light but we had time for a quick lap on Phantom and Where ya Fromme

Image


Image


Did a stupid steep HAB up a jeep trail rather than climb Quartz Ridge, in the interest of time

Image


Great sunset

Image


Jeff had gathered some firewood that was laying around and had an impressive selection from Kern River Brewing, so we had a pretty good evening.


Top
 Profile  
 
The following 6 users would like to thank evdog for his or her post:
avidtest, Dirtrider, Ld00d, mtbchip, OldDogDan, tfitz
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:51 am 
Offline
Obsessed
Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:47 am
Posts: 2182
Given: 6166 thanks
Received: 6399 thanks
Bike(s): mango. pivot. chumba
Favorite Trails: san jaun. arizona trails
I stayed out there for a week prior if you get up on the hillside you can’t see anybody or you don’t get any drive by’s. Left just before the bottom of outer limits.
Image

_________________
We'll ride it till they pave it. -Clyde
ImageImage


Top
 Profile  
 
The following 4 users would like to thank tfitz for his or her post:
avidtest, Dirtrider, evdog, Ld00d
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2020 12:20 am 
Offline
Obsessed
Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:39 pm
Posts: 3407
Location: Ocean Beach
Given: 2423 thanks
Received: 7322 thanks
Bike(s): Revel Rail, Spur, Carver Ti,
Favorite Trails: Hmm........
The ride I have been talking up for years is the Arizona Trail from Picketpost to Kelvin. It's one of my top 5 favorite rides but it's been like pulling teeth to get anyone from home to come out and ride it. Jeff and Basil were interested but it took some arm twisting to convince them on doing the full point to point ride. I also wanted to try and ride it the "wrong" way, starting in Kelvin. Most people doing day rides head south from Picketpost trailhead. Climb for ~12 mi then you get a fun 7mi descent down to the Gila River. But you still have 16mi of desert riding to finish that can put the hurt on late in the ride. I've ridden from Kelvin to Picketpost a few times but never on fresh legs - it's always been part of a bikepack or larger ride where I've had a bunch of miles on the day already. Often I've felt better even with the extra miles than a day ride heading south. Heading northbound the climbing is easier along the river, then a 2k climb to Martinez canyon, then a happy ending with 12mi of mostly descending right to PP. Sounds easy, right?


We got a bit of a late start as there was a marathon that was using Peralta Rd which ran past our camp. It was slow going getting out of there with runners everywhere. Finally rolled out of Kelvin trailhead just after 9.


I was able to point out some highlights like the AZT last spike and this railroad bridge.

Image


We soon started seeing poppies along the trail

Image


There was lots of talk about how much the trail sucked. :smile:

Image


Lots of green - one of my favorite little sections

Image


I finally took a minute and crawled in the mine shaft. At first it looks like it may go pretty far back, but its just a shadow playing tricks. It curves right a bit and ends in less than 20ft.

Image


Almost ready for a lunch break

Image


I wasn't paying attention and caught us on a steep HAB away from the river rather than taking a slight detour to it. Got us turned around and headed back to our lunch stop. After seeing just a few hikers on the trail the river was a hub of activity. A big family in some side by sides parked on a sand bar, multiple groups of jeeps rolling through, and the only other biker we'd see all day.


Rad jeeps. Full Size Jeep Association

Image


Jeff and Basil both got away from me on the climb away from the river.

Image


I wouldn't see much more than a glimpse of them until the 14mile overlook. Here is Dale's Butte

Image


I was the only one who got two thumbs up

Image


My knee was killing me on the climb. Had to stop and down some tylenols. Ending up walking more than normal. But it went pretty quick.

Image


Almost there

Image


The others had been waiting a while when I got up top, so they were ready to keep going. Had to stop for a few pics here. Such an awesome spot with killer views both north and south.

Image


Looking back south. Can confirm there is still snow on Mt Lemmon : )

Image


Around the corner I was called out to by a thru hiker sitting up above the trail. Couldn't hear what he said at first but could tell he wasn't happy. Turns out he had smacked a cholla with the back of his hand and had a cholla ball badly embedded, but didn't have anything to remove it. I had the means to pull the whole thing out at once but he said it was embedded deep and wanted to try pulling it out thorn by thorn. That was an exercise in pain and frustration as each spike was still attached to the ball so it would poke him and reattach. My multi tool has scissors so I offered to cut the spines. That worked great and now he just had dozens of embedded needles to pluck. This was going to take forever and I was way behind by now, so I told him to keep my tweezers and rolled out. He definitely needed them more than I did at that point! Ouch...

We're headed all the way to the head of Martinez Canyon here. You can just make out singletrack in a few spots.

Image


Wasn't long and we were at the top. Just a bit more HAB...

Image


Caught up to Basil and Jeff at a gate here. Picketpost now in view

Image


Another favorite spot. This always seemed like a great spot to camp

Image


Chasing daylight. There is still a deceptive amount of distance left, still not sure if we'd need lights or not

Image


All done. Neither was as stoked on the ride as I was. Both said they were ready for it to be over 10 miles ago. We were all pretty beat. Dinner at Los Hermanos in Superior was awesome.

Image


It was lights out for everyone pretty soon after we got to camp. The only excitement was some rustling over by Basil's tent not long before bed time. Someone paid a visit wanting to cuddle

Image


Verdict on the directional choice. I think it's a wash, really. This one wiped us out. Might not have been so hard but none of us have been doing big rides lately. So my theory obviously needs more investigation!


Top
 Profile  
 
The following user would like to thank evdog for his or her post:
Ld00d
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2020 12:21 am 
Offline
Obsessed
Obsessed
User avatar

Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:39 pm
Posts: 3407
Location: Ocean Beach
Given: 2423 thanks
Received: 7322 thanks
Bike(s): Revel Rail, Spur, Carver Ti,
Favorite Trails: Hmm........
Final day, we just wanted a short ride. Jeff had a longer drive than us. Since we were right there and he hadn't ridden Gold Canyon yet we opted to ride there. I'd be able to add some stuff I hadn't done with Basil so it wasn't a repeat.


Riding from camp again we climbed up to Quartz Ridge and followed it west for a ways

Image


We generally made our way west and north to hit up part of Gila Monster

Image


Rolling the Canuck drop. Real trail doesn't seem to continue beyond so we hiked back up and continued on

Image


We continued north to Hoodoo, figured the guys would like the ending. None of us did great on the climb.

Image


Here's the descent. It's burlier than it looks on video. And I swear I was riding faster than it looks




Basil rolling out the last hard part on Hoodoo

Image


Next up was K trail, with a bit of play time on the drop in again

Image


Took about 10 tries to get on this rock and lined up to turn into the roll

Image


Basil rolls in the longest way possible

Image


Image


It was getting later than we wanted so we skipped Tech trail and Phantom and went for the quick HAB back up to the ridgeline. We were mostly packed up so just had to change clothes and load bikes. Jeff headed out ahead of us. We hadn't discussed lunch but both were hungry. The taco place from Saturday was suggested and it was pretty much on our route home. We were about to pull in and I said to Basil wouldn't it be funny if Jeff was sitting here eating when we get here. He wasn't, but he pulled in just as we were getting out of the truck :smile:

Image


Great trip!


Top
 Profile  
 
The following 5 users would like to thank evdog for his or her post:
avidtest, Dirtrider, Inconceivable, Ld00d, OldDogDan
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 5 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 3 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group