Goldfield Mtns. - Sixteen Stone

Open invite rides. Gotta love 'em. You know the drill, post a ride, 20 people say 'Heck yeah!', a few days later the list sits at 11, a few days before the ride it's 5 and on ride morning maybe one other person shows up. Then you post the pics and 55 people say: That looks awesome!! I'm going on the next one!!

Sound familiar right? Right. So, when I posted an open invite to ride the rugged Goldfield Mtns I was sure to fatten up the ride disclaimer: 'Looking for adventurous riders to join in some exploratory riding, no drop ride, there will be hike-a-bike, slow riding, route finding, conditions unknown in some areas, prepare for a backcountry ride, blah, blah, blah'. I figured I'd get at most one or two suckers...I mean, riding pals to join.

What happened that Saturday morning in February still shocks me: 15 riders showed up, all eager to put tires on unfamiliar terrain even if it meant some walking. It was a mountain biking miracle. Now don't get me wrong, I loved the turnout, but now the pressure was on!! I needed a good enough route to not only keep everyone interested in the ride, but wanting them to come back for more!! Plus, the added mystery of the unknown 1.4 mile trail I had 'kinda' seen on satellite imagery. What could possibly go wrong??

Riders started gathering shortly after 8a for an 8:30 rollout. The goal was to be finished by 12:30. I even had a couple of buddies from San Diego show up with another fella from Cali. Let's do this!!

Eric gets the first shot since he was the first to commit to the ride!!

The first mile or two is nice double track into singletrack. That gets you back into the thick of the Goldfields. We bounced down the initial chunky decent to our first unknown piece of trail. This one was mapped, but I hadn't been on it. Let the hike-a-bike commence!! A short push led us up & over a small saddle and I was immediately on the lookout for my satellite imagery find...

I found the unmapped trail and waited for everyone to regroup here.

The trail dropped into this drainage and provided some technically challenging riding, but most of it was rideable.

The early consensus was approval. I knew there were two climbs on this trail, but were they rideable?

The first one was short and everyone gave it a crack, but we ended up pushing to the saddle.

Good place for a bike pose.

Looking down the other side of the saddle. This looks promising.

The last few of the group make their way up.

Counting myself, that's 16 stoked Goldfield riders!! I'm sure we set an all-time high for the most mtb riders in the Goldfields on a single day. No question.

It got me thinking, this trail needs a name. It came to me on the next downhill navigating over & around some rocks. Remember the band, Bush? Their debut album was titled Sixteen Stone. Kinda seemed fitting that 16 mountain bikers were digging this rocky trail. Just like that, Sixteen Stone was born.

The second uphill was similar to the first, a short attempt at climbing it, then hike-a-bike to the saddle. The ensuing downhill to Willow Springs Tank was an absolute hoot, rugged, narrow singletrack and just steep enough to keep me on edge, but rideable.

Plenty of water too. Always nice to see in the desert.

We were now back on the mapped trails and gave Sixteen Stone the stamp of approval. It's not for everyone, it's rugged, there's plenty of hike-a-bike, but the general vibe was favorable.

I knew the group would like the next trail, Slice-O-Heaven, as it's probably the premiere backcountry trail in the Goldfields. We'd ride the first half of it, then peel off for another short loop on mapped trails that I had yet to ride.

Break in the action.

One by one, riders pop over the saddle.

Entering the 'Sweet spot' of the Goldfields on Slice-O-Heaven.

This would be our second diversion of the day: Anniversary Arch Loop.

Everyone gave this tricky step-up a crack, Steve came close!!

Chad almost pulled it off!!

The approach didn't allow for a lot of momentum.

Evan couldn't quite squeeze through. This move stumped everyone, granted everyone only took one crack at it.

Some hike-a-bike led to this, fine singletrack up top.

Views weren't sucking.

A few of the fellas took the optional rock roll in the distance for extra credit.

Happened to turn around and found Anniversary Arch!! It's not big, but it's cool.

The trail took a couple of splits near here. Some went left, I went right and discovered a nicely routed trail. Jeff ended up on some other trail one ridge over. It looked promising, but it wasn't mapped and looked like it may take more of an effort to figure it out. More on that one on a future post. Stay tuned...

This slightly chunky downhill only took out one tire, not shown.

The Anniversary Arch Loop was really cool, so glad we did it and the reward for the hike-a-bike was worth it IMO. I'll be adding that one to the regular rotation.

Slice-O-Heaven money shot.

Exiting the previous photo on an extended section of slickrock.

Mark and his fatbike are definitely Arizona proud!! Check out some AZ theme ridewear at Crank Style

Amazingly enough we arrived back at the staging area a few minutes early!! Say whaa??? From what I could gather, everyone enjoyed the ride. It helps going in a group setting for something like this or at least having one person that knows the area well. We rolled the dice on a couple sections and were rewarded, doesn't always work out that way, but today was a great day. Thanks to everyone for coming out and having a great attitude. I'd be happy to host another one.

Full photo album:

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