Headed north for some cool(er) riding, yes it was cooler than Phoenix, but we were still sweating like mad in the higher humidity & mid 80's. We've been wanting to check out another section, or Passage, of the
Arizona Trail (AZT) so we decided on the
Blue Ridge Passage just north of Payson. Our group of 6 had never been on this section of trail so there was an air of uncertainty about what conditions we would encounter. The online trail reports were few and mostly dated, we just had to find out for ourselves. The plan for the day was to start at the northern terminus of the Blue Ridge Passage just off Rt, 87 @FR138 (approx. 40 miles north of Payson)
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| Locked & loaded |
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| Seron coming into focus |
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| Good day to be on the bike |
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| One of a handful of gate crossings |
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| Bottom of our descent & start of some HAB. Photo by Seron |
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| Rescued this poor fella for a couple of tandem mtn. bikers. Photo by Seron |
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| Diggin' in. Photo by Seron |
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| Phil rolling on the Fred Haught / AZT. Photo by Seron |
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| Photo by Chuck |
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Nice to see a bit of water on the ride. Photo by Seron
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| Where's the trail? |
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| Phil. Focused. |
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| Just like that the ferns are gone. |
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| I thought it was supposed to be 'cool' up here!! Photo by Seron |
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| Turnaround spot for the day, looking down from the Mogollon Rim |
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| I'd love to have one of these signs in my garage!! |
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| General Springs Cabin. Photo by Seron |
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| It would be nice to have a choice of rides everyday! Photo by Seron |
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| Every limb was covered in dirt after my second tumble. |
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| Starting up a 3/4 mile HAB, fun stuff. Photo by Seron |
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| Phil throughly enjoying his HAB efforts!! |
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| Cool overlook that I missed on the way out. |
When it was all said and done, 32 miles & 4300' of climbing at around 7000' elevation makes for a tired body. Aside from the 2 HAB sections both coming & going the trail was a really fun ride. I thought the trail flowed a little better going south to north. It also helped to know when the tough sections were approaching. I'll be back to ride this one again for certain. Thanks to Seron, Phil, Chuck, Jeff & Dave for the great riding company as usual. The drive home was entertaining as we were all glued to the windshield watching a phenomenal lightning show. One of the best I've seen in years. Looking forward to our next big ride in the pines for sure. A few more pics
here.
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