Constellation Trails

I rounded out another three day weekend of riding (the wife was away on a business trip, so why not keep riding?) and prepping for the upcoming AZTR750 by heading up to Prescott. Kurt had requested some help in maintaining a local trail, so I thought I'd give a little back for a change. It felt good to do the work and the trail was better for it in the end.

Before...

...after.

Afterwards I wanted to check out the Constellation trails. I had heard about them, but had yet to ride over there. Reports listed them as a kinder gentler version of Dells riding. I almost went over there solo, until I remember that Mark had just relocated to Prescott. He was free and lived near the trails, 10 minute ride he said.

We tried to find a connector trail skirting by Willow Lake, but nothing materialized. We then tried some of the more difficult trails in the Dells to see if it would link to the Constellation trails. It may have, but that 10 minute ride had already turned into 45. Did I mention that Mark had never been to the Constellation trails? He's a jokester.

One of the basic rules of HAB....

If you're not HAB'ing, the views probably suck. Willow Lake here.

We cut our losses and exited to pavement for a few miles. A quick study of the trailhead trailmap told us we could essentially ride the entire network in less than 10 miles. So we began checking off the trails.

A history lesson of where the name came from.

Mark hitting a tight channeled switchback with ease.

The runout through a small chute.

I wasn't nearly as graceful.

Big views to the north, Bill Williams Mtn & Humphrey's Peak can be seen here.

Mingus Mtn doesn't look so daunting from the north side.

Mark cleaning a big up & over power move.

We wrapped up our tour and headed back to his place for a brew. It was great shredding some new trails with this cat. It's been a while.