Coco250 - The Revenge of Mingus

The Coconino 250, Coco250, is an annual event on the Arizona Endurance Series, AES, calendar. It's a timed bikepacking stage race where the clock stops at camp each night. It gives riders of all speeds the opportunity to mingle and share tales & tribulations from the days ride.

This year's version would not include Bill Williams Mtn. due to closure.

This year would be something special as the route creators, Chad & Scott, would both be riding!! One of these guys would be turning 40, so it was really a no-brainer to attend this year. A few other friends signed up as well, this was going to be a fun 4 days.

It had been 6 years since my last run on the Coco and the scars from pushing my bike up Mingus Mtn. had healed enough to warrant another go. I was under no illusion it would be easy, as Mingus Mtn. still ranks supreme on overall hike-a-bike effort for me.

2020 has been a really dry year here in Arizona, at least since spring. I thought if anything could usher in a storm system it was the Coco250 AND the fact that we washed our cars in the days leading up to it!! No dice. Not only would it be dry & sunny, but the low portions of the route were looking rather toasty on the forecast.

I decided to drive north early on Friday, the morning of the start. There's no set start time, the clock starts when you do. I was hoping to roll out around 9a, but my parking plans were altered at the last minute. I ended up riding to the start only to realize there was plenty of open street parking nearby, so I rode back to my car and moved it closer to the finish area.

Where does the route start/end?? The Place, of course. I didn't get on route until 9:50a!! I thought for sure I was the last one to get going.

While crossing my first street, a fella asked me if I was doing the Coco250. Word has gotten around.

The Flagstaff Urban Trail System, FUTS, links riders to the Arizona Trail, AZT.

Smooth sailing here along the AZT, don't be fooled, there are plenty of rocks!!

Fisher Point split of the AZT.

Once again I was riding George's Binary Bicycles SuperB 29er. Huge thanks!!

Beautiful cliff band near Walnut Canyon.

Bluebird skies offer a crisp view of the San Francisco Peaks.

This particular area has seen a handful of re-routes over the years. So much better.

Mr. Topofusion, aka Scott Morris, catching up to me while I was actually riding and not taking photos or stopped for a picnic break!! It was good to see another riding and someone started later than I did!!

Ahhh, Anderson Mesa begins.

I tried matching Scott's pace, but those Colorado acclimated lungs were a bit too much for me. All the gates along the AZT kept us riding together for a couple of miles. We were now on Anderson Mesa, the notorious section of AZT that is pure death mud when wet and postholed chunk when dry. Today was no different except the singletrack portion was actually really nice. As a side bonus, it wasn't windy!! The jeep road sections were a rubbly mess, but nothing unexpected.

I stopped for this Lake Mary view, Scott rode on as I only caught one brief glimpse of him after here.

Typical Anderson Mesa. It's flat & slow.

It does have this cool sign though.

The AZT drops off the mesa at Horse Lake trailhead and almost immediately the conditions return to sublime forested singletrack.

Gently climbing towards Mormon Lake.

Remnants of an old railroad bed.

Another rider!! I caught up to Lee as we neared the end of the AZT portion.

I found my groove on the forest roads leading to I-17. Caught up to another rider, Chris, who wasn't feeling as good as myself.

This sign means camp isn't too far away!!

I began turning into the ADOT maintenance yard when I heard my name. It was Chad, Scott & Mike all grabbing some refreshments from Chad's cooler. Sweet!! I was surprised I caught up to them, but found out both Chad & Scott missed a turn for a couple of bonus miles.

Filling up on water for the final few miles to camp and to get me into Sedona the next morning.

Iron horse at the ADOT yard.

Beer me. It was cold, no need to lug it to camp and give it time to warm up!!

Beginning the rocky descent on Schnebly Hill Rd.

Our designated camp location resides a fair distance back on a super rugged 4x4 road. High clearance is mandatory, yet there were a bunch of people camped out along this road. I began to wonder if someone had already snagged our spot. Thankfully, the road is rugged enough to deter most from venturing out too far.

Just in time for golden hour.

It really doesn't get much better.

Schnebly Hill Rd. meanders through the red rocks.

Believe it or not, but I found some dirt to lay on for when my air mattress goes flat at 3a.

Happy Birthday, Dude!!

What a spectacular spot to watch the day fade away, the stars & Milky Way were out in force.

A few of the guys were only planning to ride down to Sedona in the morning, then head to Flagstaff. Cottonwood had been hovering in the mid-90's the past few days, not ideal for the beginning of a monstrous climb.

In spite of my slow leaking pad, I slept really well. I woke a couple of times due to the last minute arrival of some other campers who didn't feel it necessary to camp more than 100' from our group.

The next morning we learned of another camp intruder. Lee met a Ringtail up close and personal sometime during the night and it pounced on his head!! I guess it lingered around a bit before leaving Lee alone. It made for quite the entertaining story!!

Lee is all smiles after surviving Ringtail2020.

Top of Munds Wagon trail starts off as a wide path.

First rays of light over Sedona. Nice downhill to start the day.

Munds Wagon trail quickly morphs into tight singletrack.

In what seemed like only minutes, I've descended a bunch.

Sounds like a challenge.

Dangerous?? Don't fall in the crack?

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning to be out.

I did notice my rear tire was a little on the soft side. It was rideable and I was almost to Circle K. I'll mess with it there. Upon arrival I opened my framebag to retrieve my pump, it was coated in ultra fine moon dust from our Moab trip a few weeks ago!! I cleaned it off and realized it wasn't working at all. Nada. Welp, that sucks. In the trash it went. By now, Mike & Denny had arrived and I borrowed Mike's pump to get me through the next section. I had some CO2's and extra sealant, but it wouldn't be wise to continue on without a pump. At least there were two bike shops barely a mile off route up ahead.

Mike getting some hike-a-bike practice on upper Broken Arrow.

The famed White Line high above Chicken Point.

Bell Rock, another in a long list of notable Sedona rock formations.

SR179 underpass on Templeton trail. I'd detour over to the Village of Oak Creek near here.

I rolled over to Bike & Bean and inquired about a hand pump...sold out. Say whaa? They only had large floor pumps in stock. That's not gonna help me out. I crossed the street to Absolute Bikes and they not only had pumps in stock, but a few to choose from. Sweet. I added a bottle of sealant to the rear tire, pumped it up and was on my way back to the route. But first I had to make a quick stop at another Circle K. Seems I hastily grabbed a shitty diet Mountain Dew earlier. I don't drink much soda, but I love having some during these types of rides. This time, strawberry Fanta would be my jam.

Bonus singletrack next to SR179.

Can you find the Chapel on the Rocks?

Closing in on Cathedral Rock.

Looks a bit different up close.

It sure is popular with the hiking crowd. Searching for a Sedona vortex.

Finally down by Oak Creek after looping around Baldwin trail.

I didn't even mind the sandy conditions down here, so peaceful.

Crossing Oak Creek.

I was ready for a swim!!

Red Rock State Park is a vital water stop. It was now getting warm, not hot per se, but you better stay hydrated. Of course when I went to the visitor center to top off the doors were locked!! Closed from noon to 12:30p for cleaning. Hmmm, what time is it? 12:22, whew. The doors opened as scheduled and I loaded up with cold water.

Next up: Lime Kiln trail. I knew there was a nasty hike-a-bike at the beginning, then things mellowed. This trail is cool because it's a direct connection between Sedona and Cottonwood. It's a steady mix of singletrack and jeep roads marked with rock cairns encased in wire cages. You still need to pay attention though as it's easy to get off route. The other concern on Lime Kiln is the sand, how bad would it be since it's been so dry? I'd find out soon enough.

Shlepping up the initial hike-a-bike.

I met two riders coming down, also walking, I asked them if they were lost. Hehe. They said they'd been wanting to check this trail out and won't be back!! I told them it gets a bunch better after this. They mentioned seeing another rider a few minutes earlier descending the backside. I figured it was Mike, the only description they could offer was: 'He had a beard'.

Lime Kiln saddle!! Looking back towards Sedona.

Lime Kiln saddle looking ahead to Mingus Mtn. Still seems so far away.

If you can get beyond the initial hike-a-bike, some sweet singletrack can be had.

I like the mix of singletrack to dirt roads out here, keeps you alert.

I found that bearded guy, Mike, at the 89A underpass.

A distant view of the less publicized W. Sedona red rocks.

The sandy sections were minimal at best and not deep!! The trail winds around some really cool topography near Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

Descending Lime Kiln inside the park.

One of these days I'll come back here to ride the other trails in the park.

Crossing the Verde River in Cottonwood.

I made a quick off-route detour to Las Salsitas for a burrito to go, my dinner for the night. Then I was back on route and headed for BBQ. It was now 4p, much later than I had hoped. The hour detour to buy a pump in Sedona didn't help and the riding there is always slow going. No matter, that's why we carry lights.

Time to go Hog Wild!!

Mike & I topped our water off, then stocked up at the Maverick station for the big push. I thought I was ready...

The temperatures weren't bad at all, maybe a blessing by starting up Mingus so late in the day? At least the climb was already in the shade.

I was keeping a good pace and felt fine as I gained elevation.

Somewhere around the 3 mile mark of the climb I had to get off the bike. The pushing began earlier than I hoped.

The slow progress continued as did the relentless grade. I probably shouldn't have looked up at the towers, seeing how far I needed to climb. A mile of walking passed and I was already tired of pushing. I wasn't even to the hard section yet. It started to take a toll and I began sliding down the slippery slope of asking myself why I was out here once again putting myself through it. I didn't really have an answer other than I had wanted to see if I could get to the top of Mingus before nightfall. Well, that was a resounding NO. The sun had set fifteen minutes ago and I still had 5+ miles of hike-a-biking to go.

I was now seriously contemplating turning around and getting a room in Cottonwood. I stopped pushing and sat down on the side of the road and gave K a call to inform her of my plans. We chatted for a bit and she always knows when I'm done. She doesn't ever tell me to stop, she knows if I'm calling, the decision has already been made. She'd come up in the morning and we'd spend some time in the Flagstaff area before heading home.

Mike arrived as I was ending the call. I really didn't want to break the news to him as I was looking forward to riding more with him. It would've been nice to have some company on the upper Mingus hike-a-bike but I was done. Mike understood and trekked on. As a side note, both Denny & Mike finished the route. Well done fellas, no small feat.

Mike catching up to me as I sat roadside pulling the plug.

On my way down, I spotted this stash in the road. Maybe that would've changed my mindset for the better!!

One last parting shot heading down FS493.

Down in Cottonwood I looked up some rooms and realized my only option was over $200 per night. No thanks. I called K again and she said she'd drive up now and we'd head up to Flagstaff where rooms were much more reasonable. I really wasn't in the mood to bivy after dropping out.

I hung out at the Maverick station for a couple hours, watching Mike's slow progress up the mountain. K arrived sometime after 10p and we were checking into a motel within earshot of the Union Pacific line in Flagstaff by 11:30p. The train didn't bother me, I was out.

The next morning we drove up to Aspen corner so K could see some fall color. It was still splendid!!

Not sure I understand the need to carve graffiti in nearly every single tree by this popular pullout. 

We made our way back down to the valley with minimal delays on I-17. I don't regret my decision to stop early, it was a fantastic two days of riding. It was great to see and ride with some friends I haven't hung with in a while. I think I need to do some easier rides for a while.

Route:

The Key to Mingus

 The mention of Mingus Mtn. often brings shivers down my spine. The hike-a-bike up the north slope during the Coco250 still ranks as one of the most soul crushing efforts I've done. Twice. For some dumb reason a third will happen in a couple of weeks, but I digress. This time around we'd be climbing Mingus from the south, not cresting it, but sideswiping it on forest roads. This route is part of the new AZ1000 route and was a bit of an unknown to me.

My friend, Tara, had expressed interest in tagging along on my next adventure ride. I thought this would be a good fit for her in spite of the disclaimer about never riding most of the route. Originally, it was going to be a 42 mile point-to-point (P2P) ride, but it made more sense to park right off I-17 and ride the 7 miles along Orme Rd. to the northern terminus of the Black Canyon Trail (BCT). That would make retrieving the car at the end much easier and Orme Rd. is a nice ride. The other car would be left in Cottonwood, at the base of Mingus Mtn. The nice thing about that is, the final 10 miles or so are almost all downhill!!

The ride was now sitting around 50 miles and I expected a steady pace all day. Everything looked great on satellite!! (Famous last words, eh?)

We met up in N. Phoenix and caravan'd to Cottonwood. We left Tara's vehicle there and made our way south to the Dugas/Orme Rd. exit off I-17. We readied ourselves for the day and wouldn't you know it, 15 minutes ahead of schedule! I just need to load the track and we're off...hmmm, where's the track...shit. I did everything to the track last night EXCEPT copy it to the GPS. #awkward

No worries, I have the route on rideWithGPS, so I pulled that up on my phone, then sent myself a text with the turn by turn cues. There were only 4 or 5 forest roads for the entire route, how hard could it be?? Car locked, let's ride!!

The first 7 miles were familiar terrain to me, some early washboards gave way to great riding conditions.

Big sky country up here.

The obscure northern terminus of the BCT.

Nearing the end of Orme Rd. and the outskirts of Dewey.

We noted that we had already gained over 1000'.

A short bit of paved SR169 brought us to Old Cherry Rd.

A quick check of the phone to verify our next turn. Photo by Tara.

This one slice of private land was my only real concern. I couldn't see a gate on satellite and it was easy, clean sailing. Always glad when these things work out.

It was a nice homestead ranch too, all by its lonesome with great views.

After cresting a short hill, a long fast downhill greeted us.

Two hours in, time for a snack break. This area reminded me a lot of the Stagecoach400 route in SoCal.

Rut-roh, didn't realize we were going to be on THIS!! The running joke here is, the Great Western Trail is...Western. That's it.

Our next turn was onto Cherry Creek Rd. a nice paved climb. It was beginning to get a bit toasty in the lower, unshaded elevations.

We topped out over the climb a little over 5,000' and began a rapid descent. Next thing I knew we were surrounded by tall pines and camping!! Seemed out of place at such altitude, but it was beautiful. The road soon turned to dirt and we rode through the tiny hamlet of Cherry. There's an old volunteer fire dept. and a bed & breakfast!!

The good dirt continued and we'd climb over that small rise up ahead.

The road mostly contoured the hillside and was really nice to ride.

We stopped to get our bearings and Tara said, 'I think we missed our turn. Looks like we're about 2 miles off route.' Huh? I checked my phone and sure enough we were nowhere near the track!! Tara mentioned her phone had been beeping but didn't know what it meant. Mine was quiet. The difference being, I only use the free version of rideWithGPS, Tara is a paid subscriber and those beeps were alerting us about a missed turn!! Learn something new every day.

Remember that well contoured road? We'd be riding back through Cherry on it now!!

The bed & breakfast complete with books to read.

A family out enjoying the old fire dept.

We ended up returning to the paved portion, climbing a bit and found a very large, wide open forest road, FS132, where we should have turned. I guess I was enjoying the fast paved downhill too much to notice. What's an extra 5-6 miles anyway??

Back on route and in the trees!! Time for lunch.

We knew the main climb was coming, just had to get through the next 5 or so miles.

The grade wasn't too bad. It was slow going, but rideable. Tara was beginning to feel the effects of 4+ hours of steady climbing. She walked some bits, but otherwise rode great.

The views to the south were beginning to open up.

Nearing the top of a long steady grind.

It was somewhere in here that a white pickup slowly caught up to us. We had stopped on the side of the road to let them pass and the driver asked if we needed anything. I asked if they could spare any cold water? They more than willingly obliged. It was brain numbing cold!! Soooo good. It lifted both of our spirits.

Still climbing, nearing 6,000'.

We finally topped out on the main climb, but knew a few more ups & downs awaited.

We were ready for a nice downhill. Let 'er rip!!

The radio towers of Mingus Mtn. from a unique vantage point.

We kept checking the route to see when we'd hit our next turn.

That turn would lead us to the big final descent. The day was already longer than both of us expected. Water was warm, we were ready to be finished.

Before long we reached our turn and there were a few scattered campers, but no one around. I mentioned to Tara that if we see anyone at camp we should ask for some cold water. A mile later we saw a family hanging out by their trailer. We rolled up and asked if they had any cold water to spare. Next thing we knew a guy was coming towards us with an armful of water bottles!! 'Take as much as you need and here's a couple cold ones'. Whoa. Faith in humanity restored. Again, the cold water froze my throat. We couldn't thank them enough. They even asked us if we wanted anything to eat, they were getting set to make tortas, tacos, etc. Now, don't get me wrong, we both would've loved that, but it was getting late and we didn't really have too much effort remaining. We thanked them for the offer and rode away.

Our first glimpse of the Verde Valley!! Photo by Tara.

Still a long ways off, but a lot of down between here and there.

All smiles now!!

One last climb, leading to the saddle on the right.

The temps were pleasant above 6,000', shade was nice too.

I began the final climb and passed a couple of OHV's that had stopped in the roadway for a beer break. I asked if this was the beer handup station and was promptly offered one!! I did want one, but opted to keep cranking up the hill. I barely beat the OHV crew to the summit as they sped off down the mountain.

View from the top sure doesn't suck.

Tara's electric orange rig. Photo by Tara.

What's this?? Running water? It was cold too, pouring from the side of the mountain. We didn't need any now and it was only 8-10 miles to Cottonwood from here.

While we were stopped Tara had a revelation of sorts. She mentioned to me that she thought she left her car keys back in my car...at the start. Hmmm. She checked and double checked every pocket, compartment & pouch. Nada. Well, nothing we can do about it now except make a plea on social media. I asked if anyone I knew was in the area and about to head south. If so, I could pickup my car and drive back. Option 2 was to call AAA, then a local locksmith. In the meantime, keep riding.

Continuing down Mingus on a more friendly portion of road.

Verde Valley getting closer.

The Mingus downhill hit a step, a 2 mile flat section that gave our hands/wrists a break.

Here are the summit towers from the other side of the mountain.

The leaves were putting on a show, splashes of red along the way.

We rolled up to the area where the Coco250 veers off towards trail 106 and found the group of OHV drivers from earlier. They were amazed at our tenacity and couldn't believe how far we rode!! For the third time on this ride we were offered ice cold water!! Yes, please. Even though we were only a few miles from being finished, it was much appreciated.

Shadows growing long in the valley.

The panoramic spread is rather impressive, all of Sedona dead ahead.

'In a couple of weeks, I'll be camping there, then riding up here!!' Photo by Tara.

Saw this sign posted next to some trail crew vehicles. New dirt is coming to Cottonwood!!

If you want to help out, here you go.

A couple of trails are complete.

We made it back to Tara's car, no keys on the ground. She made a call to AAA, but was on hold for a while, then gave up. Next in line was a local locksmith. He answered right away and said he could be there in 2 hours. We needed to eat, so we rode over to Las Salsitas for mexican fare. They even let us bring in our bikes!!

Table for two, please.

After dinner we still had about 20 minutes before the locksmith arrived. He got to work, explained the fees (let's just say you shouldn't lose or misplace your keys late on a weekend!!) and had us on the road by 9:30p. Back at my car, we found Tara's keys sitting under her duffel bag on the passenger seat!! Lesson learned.

So, the key to Mingus is: bring them!! In spite of it all it was a great ride and Tara's longest to date - huge kudos!! Thanks for joining the fun, but maybe next time we'll do a loop!!

Route: