Day Five
Come morning, it is tough to drag myself out of my warm soft bed at the horrendous hour of 9:00am... But If I delay, I won't get to the bike shop by the time they open and I want to be first in line if possible to get the bike fixed. After a nice hot shower I head downstairs to check out the free breakfast. It is actually a nice full breakfast! And if I were a big morning breakfast person that would be great, but I eat light in the mornings. So after grabbing some scrambled eggs and bacon, I load up my gear and set out to find the dealership.
I found the address for the dealership last night. I plugged it into the GPS and figured it would be easy to find. Well, I drove right past it because I was expecting to see lots of bikes out front. Silly me...
You can see where the big $$ is here!
The inside of the dealership was much like the outside. There are all manner of ATVs, side by sides, and personal watercraft! But they actually have a nice selection of bikes inside as well, not too mention a nice selection of riding gear. Anyway, I get on over to the service counter and explain my problem. One of the guys comes outside, grabs my bike, wheels it around back and says they will holler at me shortly
About 40 minutes later they are done. The total bill is under $100 and I am ready to go. They even made sure I was good on oil.
What a great experience compared to some not so great dealer experiences I have had in the past on other trips! A big thumbs up to Northland Motorsports in Flagstaff
With the quick repair, it is barely 11:00am and I am ready to head out of town. I head West a short way on I-40 and then cut South near Rogers Lake and pick up FR 231. This should run all the way down to where the guys will be waiting for me.
Starts out nice and fun, so I have to remind myself I am riding alone and don't need to be taking chances...
No... this was NOT a close call... I have no idea how/why I got this shot
The soft dirt road gives way to a HARD and ROCKY road!!
With the bike loaded down, the suspension is working hard to absorb this stuff!
Yeah... crashing here would really SUCK!
It's always the
fine print that matters
Finally through the rocks and back to some nice dirt... and roots...
As I get close to the designated meeting spot, the maps starts to show numerous roads with the 231 label: 231A, 231B, 231J, 231M, and more... I make a few wrong turns here and there, all of which are actually quite fun, and then eventually I motor around a corner to see Roger and Casey waiting in the shade. Apparently, they have not been here long, something about late start, camp fires, tire issues, blah blah blah... Anyway, we are still right on schedule for the route and should be fine to make our destination for the day somewhere near Jerome.
Our goal now is to get over to a road that shows as FR 538 or Jerome Rd on my maps. This runs somewhat South in the direction of Jerome, but most of the maps I have show it NOT going all the way through. My old Topo maps, circa 1999 or so, do show it going through. Casey mentions something about one of his maps showing it go all the way. It will mean some serious backtracking and detouring if it doesn't go through!
I take point, for no particular reason, and off we go. This turns into a really fun ride. The road generally follows a big power line right of way and winds back and forth along the terrain. There are lots of elevation changes and fun corners. It is a bit rough in places, rutted and rocky with the occasional downed tree branch. I settle into a nice pace and just motor along for a while, enjoying the beautiful scenery. It is a really nice day, but it is WINDY!! There are high wind warnings for today and I can see why. The tree branches are really whipping around and the wind is howling when we stop for breaks.
After a pretty good stretch of riding, I come around a sharp rocky corner to a fairly steep descent that ends with a bright yellow gate.
Rut Roh... Not that I would mind backtracking the stuff we just did... but...
Casey wanders down for a closer look
The view back toward the sharp corner
So it turns out that according to the signs the road is actually open to two wheeled traffic!! There is a gap there at the end of the gate over to that single post, just wide enough to get through. We press on, not really sure what awaits us but thinking there must be a good reason why the road is closed to four wheel traffic...
It does not take long for this road to start getting really interesting and challenging! It has everything. There are sections with nasty rocks. It is narrow and winding in places. It has steep climbs and descents. It even has some soft sandy rutted up sections. Sometimes it has all that at once. Then there is the wind I mentioned, which is now literally roaring up the canyon to the ridge we are riding.
One of the easier sections of the road
Gotta keep your momentum going here!
Casey takes off after Roger
A flat section... just after that terrifying descent you see in the background...
Some of the descents on this road are quite hair raising and probably not real good for the seat cover of the bike. I wrote a short version of the popular Disney song Let It Go for this and posted it in Casey's report. I'll share it here as well since it sums up my feelings about this road and that one descent in particular. (sing it!)
Let it roll, let it roll
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it roll, let it roll
I'm freaked down to my core!
I don't care
What they're going to say
Let the bike rage on,
The rocks never bothered me anyway!
It's funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can't get to me at all!
It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me I'm free!
Let it roll, let it roll
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it roll, let it roll
You'll never see me cry!
I found myself praying... out loud... a LOT on this particular road. It is a real exercise in stamping down those primal fears that rise to the fore, screaming at you that you are going to fast, that you are out of control, that you are about to die an ugly and painful death, and on and on... I just keep telling myself over and over that the bike is more than capable of doing this so long as I don't prevent it from happening in a moment of blind panic.
You can really hear the wind here...
And then comes another long steep climb...
Casey leads, followed by Roger
I hug the inside line on these climbs. There are enough big rocks embedded in the road, waiting to bounce me off the road, that I don't want to be anywhere near the exposed edge of the road. The really steep sections make me truly appreciate the low end grunt of my 530 and its ability to just keep on chugging as I feed in more gas. I just hug the tank with my knees and keep leaning forward as the rear skips all around, kicking out loose rocks and dirt. And just when you think there can't be any more climbs...
The last straight section gets REAL steep...
There's nothing worse than seeing the other guys make it through or over something, because then its YOUR turn!
I take off after I see Casey crest the top of the hill. It starts out not too bad, but as soon as I reach that first left curve, it starts getting seriously steep and there are some nice rough spots. What rain they get out here has done a good job of eroding the road. I chug my way up and join the others.
Now the road flattens out for a bit as it winds back and forth along the top of a ridge. It has become more like two sandy ruts that run along each other with scattered rocks in each track. I notice that there are what appear to be relatively fresh mountain bike tracks, as in pedal powered bikes... It is at this moment that I relish in my total potatoness and enjoy the fact that I have a gas powered motor between my legs. My hat is off to those other kind of people though...
But the flat stuff does not last long and we soon arrive at something which I have been eye balling on the map for some time now... a serious set of STEEP switchbacks that gets us down off the ridge QUICKLY!
Remember... steeper than it looks!!
Roger coming down to the start of the first switchback
LOTS of nice loose rocks to slide in...
And over he goes...
This gives you a decent idea of how steep and tight it is, about like the top of Black Bear pass in Colorado
Here's Casey sliding around the corner...
Roger, about 2 or 3 switchbacks lower than me
You won't ever catch me riding a pedal bike on this...
After what seems like an eternity of sliding and arm pump, I finally reach the straight section down near the bottom and catch up with Roger and Casey. We're all looking at each other with that wild eyed, "Did we really just do that!?" look on our faces. According to my topo map, we just dropped over 1000 feet in about 3/4 mile!
We're still out in the middle of nowhere and have miles to go. So we set off across what looks like flat land, but looks can be deceiving! The road takes on a roller coaster feel, rising and falling, winding back and forth over the undulating terrain. One moment it is smooth dirt and the next it is back to rocky and rough. It pays to keep the speed sane because there are a lot of quick direction changes and other unexpected surprises around corners. It is great fun!
The wind is still cranking. Watch this vid and turn up the volume. This is actually how it sounds in the helmet!!
The only other gate along the way...
Nice deep wash
Casey climbing out
Lots of big rocks on which to target fixate if you aren't careful!
Despite the rocky terrain, the road is actually red dirt with rocks in it
As we continue Southward, the terrain gives way to more gently rolling hills and maintained gravel roads
We eventually reach the Verde River and the town of Clarkdale
Verde River
Abandoned power plant
Train car service building
We stop in Clarkdale to get gas and take a break. At this point, Casey is telling us about a cool old hotel somewhere in Jerome. That is our destination for the day and it just down Hwy 89 a ways. So after a short rest, we head out again.
And that would be the hotel high and center
The historic mining town of Jerome, you can see the open pit copper mine far right
I don't think there is currently any large scale mining in the area
Technological wonder of its day...
We wander our way through town until we reach the hotel high above all else. Casey swears this place is reasonably priced. In my experience, altitude always equals higher price, for homes or anything else... Still, we might as well check into it.
I head inside to inquire about rates. It is soon readily apparent that this place is NOT reasonable, at least not by my standards. They want over $200/night for their cheapest rooms!! Casey is tighter than me by far when it comes to hotel room costs, so it takes all of about a nanosecond to convince him we should stay somewhere else once he believes me.
Meanwhile, there is a cool old car in the parking lot
The front of the hotel - supposedly haunted...
Well, by now it is late in the day and we are getting hungry. Casey knows a place outside town where we can go camp. So dinner is next on the priority list. We passed a place back down the hill when we were coming up to the hotel, so we decide to backtrack and check it out.
I think this place is haunted too... In fact, the whole place is a Ghost town, even though almost 500 people live here
Whatever, the food is good.
During dinner Casey figures out where we will be staying for the night and a plan for tomorrow's riding. We're gonna head for a camp site outside of town. Come morning, we'll leave the tents and a good portion of the luggage at the camp site and make a fun loop without all the extra weight on the bikes. Then we'll pack up and do the second half of the day over to Crown King and eventually back to Phoenix to end the trip. Dang... this week has gone fast!
The ride out of town is a LOT of fun. 89 is real twisty here and I let the 530 stretch its legs a bit
It really is a fun bike on the paved twisties, even carrying loads of luggage and running on full knobbies. The road climbs up a winding canyon almost 1000 feet in elevation by the time we reach the top. Here, we cut off on to a side road that wanders off into the woods. I believe it is FR 104.
Looking back West toward Hwy 89
We turn South on FR 413 and there are camping spots all along the road. Casey pulls into a spot that he likes and declares this is it. I let him know I am heading back the highway where I spotted some decent looking "facilities" and that I will be back shortly. With that I zoom away. My business taken care off, I run back out FR 104.
Cool stratification along 104
Upon my return, Casey and Roger are nowhere to be seen...
Since I did not pass them on my way back, I figure they have moved on down the road. Sure enough, about another half mile or so further down I find them setting up camp in a spot closer to where the road starts to descend the mountain.
The FIRST thing Roger always does is unpack the chair so he can take off the boots!
I guess this is a popular spot
and I'm done...
My 3 man tent. I like having space inside the tent for my stuff
The wind has never let up since this morning. If anything, it seems even more intense now. The trees all around us are whipping back and forth. The sound of the wind howling brings back memories of hurricanes from living on the Gulf Coast. It just never lets up. Fortunately, down among the trees it is not too bad so the tents are not getting beaten by it. We are up on an exposed ridge though and it howls on into the night.
Once it gets dark, Casey and I wander down the road a bit. The view off to the Southwest is fantastic. Prescott is in the distance, its lights spread across the desert floor below. We sit on some rocks, watching the clouds rip across the sky and just visit for a bit. It is nice to just be out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but hang out and sit. It's been a long day of riding though and I am starting to get tired. We hike back to the camp and call it a night, eager to see what tomorrow will bring.
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After getting checked in I clean up and head for dinner. Afterward, I spend the better part of the evening out on a very nice patio off the main lobby, enjoying the cool dry air. I send a few pics from the phone to Casey and he shoots back a few of their incredibly cool camp site, then it is off to my room and a really comfy bed... 
Awesome road!
