Flagstaff was the goal for the weekend, but I was able to jumpstart my travel north when I only had to work a couple of hours on Friday. I was on the road by 10am heading up I-17, but before making a beeline to the pines I thought I'd go check out a loop on the northern fringes of the
Black Canyon Trail (BCT). I had heard the new(er) trail up there was good, just needed some tires on it and some catclaw pruning.
Of course I forgot my clippers. The forecast for the entire weekend was for windy conditions, 30mph gust kind of windy. It was already happening when I was getting ready at the Big Bug trailhead. This route was all new-to-me terrain and I hoped to knock out the 28 miles in under 4 hours.
The first 18 miles are on well graded dirt roads, Old Sycamore & Orme rds. They have a few short hills to begin with then get stupid fast when coupled with a modest tailwind!!
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Downhill with a tailwind: Zoom!! |
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End of Old Sycamore rd. near I-17. |
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More quality dirt road on Orme rd. |
I finally saw the first BCT sign near mile 15, but the 'trail' didn't begin here. It was more dirt road, slightly downgraded condition from the prior two, but still a very rideable section.
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Northern terminus of the BCT. |
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A kinder, gentler Arizona jeep road. |
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Seemingly endless views climbing the hills. |
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Jeep road turns south, allowing the wind to smack me head-on, only for a short bit. |
I dropped into Russian Well where a few cattle greeted me near the windmill. I rode passed the remnants of a stone structure and found the turnoff onto singletrack. Finally, some trail!!
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Russian Well. |
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Singletrack! |
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Well contoured trail, something the BCT is famous for. |
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Talk about vague!! Good thing I had a GPS, barely a hint of other trail users. |
I highly recommend riding this trail with a GPS loaded with a track to follow. There were many times where the trail was virtually non-existent or the multitude of cow paths often were more established.
I was cruising along and rode through a small dip in the trail and heard a very pronounced 'SNAP'!! Not the sound anyone wants to hear when riding. I stopped to find out what broke. It was my saddle...again. Second one in 6 months. Hmmm. Making me wonder if it's reliable enough for the crap I ride on. The Achilles Heel this time was the mounting bracket for the tensioning screw on the nose of the saddle.
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A bit more sag, but it was still rideable. |
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Prickly Pear forest in full bloom. |
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A rare shady spot. |
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The Agua Fria River actually had water in it!! |
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Mmmm, good climbing. |
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Ranch greenbelt. |
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This gate made good camouflage for the Voodoo. |
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One final gate before crossing Old Sycamore rd. |
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Copper Mtn. Hopefully soon there will be a spur loop completed over there. |
While I saw no evidence of tire tracks or footprints on the trail, it's a really good ride. Next time I'll tack on a bunch of extra miles for a full day outing. Go ride this trail!!
Nice write up. I really hope that work continues on that area. When we ride it, we take a small pair of hand clippers to take out the evil catclaw
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