Sedona: Double H

All the years I've been riding Sedona, I have yet to check off the Hangover trail. It's one of Sedona's gnarliest trails with steep rock faces, exposure and tricky route finding. I thought I'd finally hit it up as part of the famed Triple H route. This route takes you on the Hogs trails, Hiline & Hangover. It's a true test of bike handling skills & nerves.

I had crashed out at Ray's the night before after the ATOM Loop in Flagstaff. I was ready to hit Sedona early while temps were still cool.

I started from the Broken Arrow trailhead and made my way through the Hogs trails first.

H #1, High on the Hog.

Tough to snap bad pics here. Point. Shoot.

Met a couple of guys from Denver along the way.

One of the guys commented on my Pedal of Littleton socks, asking what my affiliation was. I told him I grew up with the owner back in PA. He then showed me his Pedal of Littleton logo'd shorts!! He said he was good friends with one of the employees there. Small world.

Leaving the Hogs area on a few new-to-me trails.

Turned out to be a viable scouting ride for the AES route.

H #2: Hiline.

Random speedy rider on Hiline.

Love this section of the trail, just pay attention!!

Where's Waldo?

Old Man Mingus lingering on the horizon.

Aka Oni approved.

Almost took a dip in the creek thanks to the slippery rocks!!

It was starting to warm up as I climbed a jeep road to Ridge trail. Sketch trail took a bit longer than normal as I could tell I was slowing down. By the time I reached the trailhead off Old Post I was contemplating a road ride back to the car!! It was toasty. I was on a section of the route that was all new to me,but I didn't want to skip it since I had to go that direction anyway. I had heard some horror stories about the Airport Mesa loop and I was about to go on a portion of it.

Thunder Mtn. as seen from Airport Mesa.

I thought the climb up Bandit trail was tougher than Airport Mesa, as it appeared some recent trailwork had been completed on the mesa. Perhaps other sections of the trail are brutal, this wasn't one of them. It was a mostly fun slightly downhill trail leading to the Brewer trail.

Brewer is rated double black on Trailforks, so I figured I'd be walking down a bunch of it. I couldn't have been more wrong. Brewer was an absolute blast riding down. The views didn't suck either.

This view from Brewer stopped me in my tracks. Dang.

Looking south towards Bell Rock & Hiline trail from earlier.

I was feeling kinda toasted and the afternoon was dragging on. As much as I wanted to finally check out Hangover trail, I thought it would be best to not attempt it in the heat and feeling tired. I opted to skip that loop and finish the ride over on the lower Hogs trails.

Touristy shopping anyone?

A short climb up Mystic trail brought me to Pigtail, an actual flow trail with jumps.

Hogwash puts the exclamation point on the ride.

While I didn't get to Hangover, this Double H route was a blast. I'll be back for sure once the temps finally cool off for longer rides. The Triple H is coming...

Flyover

Route:

Flagstaff: ATOM Loop

Autumn was in full swing up north and Flagstaff was calling. I thought this would be a good opportunity for another attempt at a huge route I've been trying to do. I have this super cool 100+ miler that I just can't seem to pull off for one reason or another. Conditions were looking about perfect and the leaves were gold all around. Maybe this would be the day.

I had a good night sleep and made it over to Safeway for an early start. I had hoped to start in darkness, but couldn't quite muster the motivation for that. A first light start wasn't too bad though.

I quickly got moving and warmed up, at least temperature wise, before I saw the forest thinning project had temporarily closed the trail. I found a way around and began climbing the Elden Lookout Rd. Overall, I really don't mind the climb, but for some reason whenever I do it at the beginning of a long day I get crushed. Today was no different and it really sucked my motivation to continue. Here I was, once again, barely 5 miles into a huge day and I was calling an audible. I figured if I didn't have a hundred miles in my legs, I'd at least do a fun route and try to see some new terrain. A popular ride up here is the Around the Mountain, ATM, loop, but I wanted to go around Elden. So, an ATOM loop of some sort, Around the Other Mountain!!

I bailed off the Lookout Rd. and did the short hike-a-bike, HAB, up Red Onion trail. First time on that one, looks cool as a downhill dash. This brought me to the beginning of Little Bear trail, one of my favorites.

Pausing on Little Bear.

Meet my new ride compadre, Aka Oni. He fears no HAB.

Saplings populating the charred hillside.

Most of the burned trees are gone now.

A fast rip down the AZT brought me here, below Heart trail, which is scheduled for a major reroute. Yes!!

On my way towards Rio de Flag, I noticed these new looking sign posts.

Down at the creek crossing I opted to check out the Tom Moody Loop into Picture Canyon.

A ton of rock art only a few feet off the AZT.

Tom Moody Loop.

Interesting logging / railroad history in the area.

Back out on the familiar open meadows along the AZT.

This northern AZ rail line is always buzzing with traffic.

I cut through Campbell Mesa & the Flag Loop trail before looking for an alternate back into town.

Trailforks led me to this hidden gem of singletrack.

A seemingly random bench parked in the sand all by its lonesome.

I found a series of gravel roads above the lonely bench.

Turns out the gravel was part of a nature trail system, but it dead ended. Back at the bench, I found my missed turn.

Stepping stones through Rio de Flag.

Back near civilization.

Bow & Arrow trail was a flattish multi-use path.

A short stint on pavement linked me to the Flagstaff Urban Trail System or FUTS.

The AZT then guided me through the busy streets near downtown.

The AZT leaves the traffic behind quickly as it ascends towards Buffalo Park.

Humphrey's Peak & Mt. Elden

All in all it was a fine day for a Plan B 'winging it' kinda ride. I'll try my 100+ route again sometime, maybe try to knock out a few more miles before getting to the Elden Lookout Rd.

Flyover

Route: