• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

My new favorite road

Forums New posts
kickstand~prophet

kickstand~prophet

0
Joined
Nov 25, 2012
Messages
18,504
Reaction score
678
Location
Lampasas
First Name
Drew
Last Name
Wright
Recently made a trip to Arizona to see the grand kids and found a killer road that several members had told me about before. Arizona 191 is a superb paved road. Sadly had to drive instead of riding but this road is excellent.:tears: Curve after curve after curve. Even some beautiful snow right off of it near Alpine,AZ. Cannot wait to ride it hopefully next year when it is warmer. I believe it is the curviest road that I have ever been on. Got to see several vintage Norton's riding near a look out point. If you ever get the opportunity to ride it do not hesitate, you will not regret it.:rider: I will see if I can get some pictures posted later to show you.:photo: Eager on south is sweet right about the end there is some road construction so be careful thru there but all in all the road is super curvy with switch backs and too many turns to count.
 
Last edited:
It is definitely a bucket list road! I’ve done it twice. The Morenci copper mine on the South end is truly astounding in its size. Hannegan’s Meadow is a great place to stay the night and the lodge had great food when I last visited. There is a lot of great DS riding in the are as well.
 
The Chino Mine over in NM near Silver City is lookin like a sprawling operation these days too. Its located where NM152 intersects US180 at Santa Clara & Bayard

Sent from my LGL62VL using Tapatalk
 
Ah, so you found it! Frankly, as great a motorcycle road as it is, I hated it when I drove it my Cherokee years ago. By the time I'd manhandled those curves from Clifton all the way to Alpine, my shoulders were shot. Much better bike road.

Drew, I wish you & I could manage to get out to AZ together sometime. It's been too long since we've ridden together. Great campground a couple of miles north of Alpine.
 
It's a great road. Silverbullet led me that way on my way home from picking up my Tenere in St George Utah . I noticed two things about the roads out there. They're not playing when they post a suggested speed limit for a curve and no guard rails [emoji15] before we hit 191 from the north , bullet said we didn't have time to waste because he wanted to be off the mountain by dark. I thought to myself , how long is the road going up and down the mountain ?!?!?!? I'd never seen anything like that. I'd only been to Big Bend and Arkansas.
 
The deer come out en masse after dark. Large groups of them will stand in the middle of the road just around the backside of blind corners. It's like they KNOW... :wary: The last time I was on it, we did the last 20 minutes or so in the dark because of weather related delays. It was in the high 20s and had been raining most of the day. We got into a good bit of hail as well. We stayed in a nice toasty cabin at Hannegan's Meadow.
 
...rode it north to south in April....will never ride that road again....:thumbd:
....Alpine to Morenci....count me out.
Thank You very much.
 
Last edited:
When Dahveed & I were staying in Santa Fe recently.... Riding Northern NM...& he had to be back home on Tue...
I decided ta stay and ride some more....so I rode 400 miles on that Tue...Originally hedded for Ruidoso & Cloudcroft on NM14 thru artsy Madrid & 337 south to 55
But when I got to Mountain Air on 60....& the rain forecast didnt look good for SE NM... I decided ta head west toward Socorro.. Reserve & then Alpine for the nite. The rain cooperated ...reluctantly... & the next day found me winding my way south on 191's wonderful wigglyness. That bit of paved bliss called 191 (or its prev # 666) never ceases to entertain me. I even saw a mountain goat in the street...downtown Clifton by the old rail station this time
The detour down thru the mine up at Morenci was interesting too..
(theyre moving the road again I think)
AZ/NM 78 is always a nice one too...then that boring bit of US180 back down to Silver City where NM 152 awaited. Anuther bit of wigglyness like 191...but shorter ..& slightly different
I had ta skip 15 up to the cliff dwellings due to the persistant rain but I did take an alternate route at Hillsboro...to Lake Valley on 127 I think...it was kinda fun for a bit out thru the hilly desert then over to Hatch on a straight flat road


Sent from my LGL62VL using Tapatalk
 
yeah lotta fun...wait till a freak snowstorm blows in, packs the snow between the tire and fender freezes, and locks up the wheel. down you go, this happened 7years ago to a group of 7 of us on our way to the Grand Canyon. busted up the bikes pretty bad enough that we turned around and came home.
it was a fun road till the blizzard hit!
 
US 666 (some crazy folks thought that the 666 was in appropriate for a US highway) is by far the best motorcycle road in the US we believe. Have ridden it 3 times. 2 south to north and 1 north to south. North to south is not nearly as fun as south to north. Last time we were on the road some crazy person ignored the longish travel trailer ban and managed to get themselves wedged in one of the curves.

US 180 on the other side of the mountains from Silver City to Alpine is a fun road as well.

Just 1 caution re 191. On the north end you need to watch it going into Springerville. Speed goes from 65 to 45 pretty quickly. The local sheriff/police love to have radar set-up.
 
I’ve ridden Hwy 191 3 times in the last few years. It is great. I love the town Alpine, & could see myself moving there someday. We stayed at the Hannigan Meadows lodge one time, it was nice. Amazing how cold it is up there during the Summer. Several of the forest roads are paved, & many others are nicely maintained.

The small hotel in Alpine is owned by an enthusiastic rider (2 BMW bikes sitting out front). He reminded me of Rich (owned KOA in Kerrville). I asked if they was his & he said “it’d be a sin to live here & not own a motorcycle”.

We should totally get a group & spend a few days based out of Alpine.
 
The run up to the cliff dwellings is fun. The dwellings themselves are cool and worth seeing at least once. It is a short hike. I did it in my dirt boots and Badland Pro pants. So it was not hard. We had come over from Truth or Consequences, spent the night in Hannegan's Meadow, and then the next day did a bunch of dirt heading back to ToC. The dirt was a blast, until it turned to deep slimy mud... The mud part was fun after the fact, once we managed to get through it and survive. I believe the mud section is actually a part of the CDR route.
 
yep! have ridden it twice in recent years. Great road, definately a bucket list ride. Beautiful road,
 
Scott Friday got me intrigued several years ago on a post in this forum, great road for sure! Now at five trips on a bike and one in a HP SUV. :thumb:
 
Tourmeister said:
... We stayed in a nice toasty cabin at Hannegan's Meadow.
Click to expand...

maximus_flavius said:
...We stayed at the Hannigan Meadows lodge one time, it was nice...
Click to expand...

There is a nice free campground just a stone throw from the lodge. I was planning to stop there last week but cold temps and rain convinced me to detour.



Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk
 
SilverBullet said:
There is a nice free campground just a stone throw from the lodge. I was planning to stop there last week but cold temps and rain convinced me to detour.



Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Wife and I stopped there for lunch on a trip a couple years ago, nice little spot...
 
Tourmeister said:
The run up to the cliff dwellings is fun. The dwellings themselves are cool and worth seeing at least once. It is a short hike. I did it in my dirt boots and Badland Pro pants. So it was not hard. We had come over from Truth or Consequences, spent the night in Hannegan's Meadow, and then the next day did a bunch of dirt heading back to ToC. The dirt was a blast, until it turned to deep slimy mud... The mud part was fun after the fact, once we managed to get through it and survive. I believe the mud section is actually a part of the CDR route.
Click to expand...

There was a lot to remember from that trip. That ride up 191 to Hannegan's Meadow was great, until it got dark ... and cold. I was just thankful we didn't have to ride into Alpine for dinner.

If I remember the story about this road, it was part of the Devil's highway. It was called the Devil's highway because it used to be designated Route 666. Apparently there were a lot of sign thefts, deaths and complaints about the designation, so the Arizona and US highway officials renamed the Arizona portion 191 and the New Mexico, Utah, Colorado portion 491.
 
Last edited:
Correct, it was actually designated Hwy 666. If you stop for lunch at the Bear Wallow Cafe in Alpine, they have a couple of the old highway signs hanging on the wall.
 
jfink said:
...so the Arizona and US highway officials renamed the Arizona portion 191 and the New Mexico, Utah, Colorado portion 491.
Click to expand...

It currently shows as US 191 all the way up through Utah to I-70 North of Moab. It continues North of I-70, in a round about way, all the way up to Bozeman, Montana.
 
Tourmeister said:
The deer come out en masse after dark. Large groups of them will stand in the middle of the road just around the backside of blind corners. It's like they KNOW... :wary: The last time I was on it, we did the last 20 minutes or so in the dark because of weather related delays. It was in the high 20s and had been raining most of the day. We got into a good bit of hail as well. We stayed in a nice toasty cabin at Hannegan's Meadow.
Click to expand...


First trip, wife and I went through on the Goldwing, had a cow elk jump right in front of us and cross the road in front of us. Second trip, stayed at Sportsman Lodge in Alpine, owner is a rider too. Yep, those gritters over my left shoulder are wild elk.


IMG_0109_800.jpg
 
Tourmeister said:
It currently shows as US 191 all the way up through Utah to I-70 North of Moab. It continues North of I-70, in a round about way, all the way up to Bozeman, Montana.
Click to expand...

We've now ridden 191 from Bozeman through Yellowstone and Grand Teton through Pinedale WY to I-80. On the return trip home from out 2018 adventure.

Northbound we've ridden from I-10 to St. John AZ then from Monticello UT to the Flaming Gorge Dam on various trips.

So far 191 is in our top 5 roads we've ridden.

I really want to do the border to border on 191. But I'm not sure I could do the trip in the required time.
 
JMZ said:
Why ?
Click to expand...

...jumped on 191 just north of Moab from 128 from 70.
...spent the night in Blanding.
...was going to go east at Alpine through the Silver City area down to Las Cruces where a truck and trailer awaited to truck back to Texas.
...191 all the way down to Alpine then to Hannagan Meadow was all just fine and dandy.
...at Alpine had changed plan to stay on 191 thinking was for the sake of time.
...from Hannagan Meadow to Morenci was the **** road IMO.
...the blind curves at 2 mph for 63 +/- miles is what turned me off.
...if I was the only hombre on the road would be one thing.
...but trusting some other individual to make their turns in their hot little Honda/Toyota/Chevrolet trying to be Mario Andretti ----> I'LL PASS...!!!
...I'll go 100 miles around that road for the rest of my riding career -- ain't worth it to me.
Again....thats just my opinion....your results may differ.
 
Last edited:
I don't know other people's experiences, but the one time I was on that road, I don't recall encountering another car from Morenci all the way to about Hannigan Meadow. We were all alone. It may have helped that it was on a weekday.

Also, just a note about Kyoti's experience. He rode south. Southbound, the twistiest part of the road will be nearly all downhill. My experience with super twisty roads is that, given a choice between downhill or uphill, I always prefer going uphill because having the bike under constant throttle adds control. I'll add that, while some people love switchbacks, I don't; they don't scare me; they're just slow and tiresome, and I enjoy sweepers a whole lot more. And for anybody who doesn't enjoy switchbacks, 191 is definitely the wrong road.

That said, not everybody enjoys the same experiences. While many here love the Twisted Sisters, I much prefer the county roads around Llano, or the River Road near Canyon Lake. Different strokes, folks.

PS - A few years ago, my across-the-street neighbor (Suzuki Hayabusa) was on that road with some sport bike buddies, when one of them missed a curve and ended up 50 yards down the mountain. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but it took all day and a boatload of dollars to get the bike towed back to the road and then to Alpine. NOT a place you want to be stranded under ANY circumstances.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top