I had been home from the Tour Divide for a month and a half and had done a few rides. The heat was really affecting me, mostly due to a mild spring and just as things began to crank up - I left for a month of cool weather riding up north. Upon my return it was consistently 110ยบ and I couldn't seem to get out to the trail before the sun came up. Not a good combination.
I needed to get up north, back in the cooler pines of northern Arizona. Mike was free on Friday, but we needed to be back by 3p, so our choices were a bit limited. I then recalled a trail in Payson I've been meaning to check out for a couple of years. Trail 200.
It must have been 20+ years since I've ridden any trails within Payson's town limits. There are some good trails there, just not a ton of miles. The town does have plans to add more trails, check out the
Payson Area Trail System (PATS). From what I could gather, Trail 200 was a figure eight and about 7 miles or so. There's really not a trailhead, just a small dirt shoulder in a cul-de-sac.
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| The trail skirts a few houses before diving into the goods. |
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| Almost instantly we knew this was going to be good. |
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| Mike negotiating a switchback. |
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| Singletrack through the trees and a random giant boulder. |
We saw a well developed trail forking off to the left after the boulder. The trails I had ridden many years ago were that direction and not far away. Seemed like a logical connector trail.
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| We found this rock outcropping, not sure the significance of the Dream Catcher & astronomy pictographs. |
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| This area had quite a few spider trails. |
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| Cool looking tree bark. Photo by Mike. |
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| The mid-section of the figure 8 was a short, loose grunt that had my legs & lungs burning, but the view at the top was well worth the effort. |
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| Peering across Houston Mesa to the Mogollon Rim in the distance. |
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| Mike getting some chute action. |
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| The trail is well built with a few tough moves. |
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| It also has its share of quick luge-like bursts. |
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| Miniature Thor's Hammer. Photo by Mike. |
We were cruising along the far end of the figure 8, in & out of trees. I came to small section with a few embedded mid-sized rocks. I rolled over the first and was about to lift my front wheel over the second, but was a smidge too late. My front tire halted forward progress at the exact moment I applied maximum force to the pedals. Guess what happened next? That's right, rear wheel started to elevate, but in slow motion fashion. My weight was completely shifted forward and I slowly extended my arms until I was practically in a handstand. I cleared the bike and stood up, no harm, no foul, but check out how the bike ended up!!
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| Not staged!!! It's practically hung like a Christmas tree ornament. |
We had a good laugh over that one. Then resumed the twists and turns through the trees.
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| More giant boulders. |
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| It was getting into the low 90's, but the tree cover kept the temps manageable. |
Once again we were cruising along and passed though a redrock open area with a small ledge. I rolled it and as I began rounding the next corner it sounded like a gunshot...PSSHHEWW!!! Mike's tire was flat instantly, sealant spewed all over.
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| This was quite the puncture. One Dynaplug & two tire bacon strips wouldn't seal it. Time for the tube. 45 minutes later, we were pedaling again. |
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| We were really enjoying the layout of the trail and the topography. |
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| Plenty of tech moves through this section. |
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| A little reminiscent of Hiline trail in Sedona, not quite the penalty for failure though. |
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| Comes complete with a wooden bridge. |
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| A few of the areas had plenty of B-line options to session. |
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| Wait a second, did we transport via portal to Sedona?? |
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| Portal to a Sedona Vortex?? Ok, this is getting creepy. |
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| JRA: Just Riding Along and snap!! These happen to be the pedals I rode on the Divide. I guess they would've broke on me somewhere along the climb up Marshal Pass. |
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| Now it has a Prescott vibe. |
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| Mike spotted an optional rock to play on. |
We were getting short on time for Mike to get back by 3p thanks to the blown tire and extended lunch break with too much BS'ing. It took us 3 1/2 hours to ride a little over 7 miles!! Ha! Super fun trail though and I'll be back for sure. It definitely links into the Boulders trail for additional mileage. With some route sleuthing I'm sure I can come up with a loop of sorts around Payson. I know Mike would be game...
Route:
