Green Bay's Un-Frozen Tundra

**Disclaimer** We are not Green Bay Packers fans, but rather enjoy the NFL. I'm a long time 49ers fan even through the lean years, which currently seems to be the trend. Heck, the Packers just beat the 49ers in San Francisco!!

Perfect day for football.

I enjoy the history of the game and found out last year that a co-worker's dad has season tickets to Lambeau Field and doesn't go to all the games anymore. I asked if we could buy a pair of tickets for this year to check out one of the hallowed venues in the sport. We didn't care who they were playing. As it turned out the week of Oct. 11th was available against the St. Louis Rams. Well, I've had no problem rooting against the Rams for years, so this would be easy to become a Green Bay fan for a day!

My old college roommate relocated back to Wisconsin many years ago, so this would also be a great opportunity to catch up while in the Milwaukee area.

The flight into MKE looked great for standby travel, so we made our bookings. First class was open too, so why not list on that as well. At the airport we were getting hungry and I verified that food was served on the 3+ hour flight in 1st. Unfortunately, 20 minutes prior to boarding a couple of passengers upgraded their tickets and left only 1 seat available in 1st...of course K snagged it!! At least I had an exit row. One granola bar and a handful of Reese's Pieces later I was rather hungry when we landed in MKE. It was going on 1am and it's a small airport, but thank goodness they have a 24hr Quizno's in the airport!! Refueled, we grabbed a shuttle over to the hotel for the night.

The next morning I came back to the airport to pick up the rental car from Thrifty. There were a few families all decked out in Packers gear roaming the airport. I could already feel the vibe for the game. In line for the rental car, there were two guys ahead of us trying to get upgrades. Nothing was available for them and I heard one say 'money isn't an issue', to which the response was 'sorry young man, I don't know what to tell you'. Eventually, they finished their transactions and moved on. The family behind me noted that the two guys were current Green Bay Packers players, Eddie Lacy & Randall Cobb - starting running back & wide receiver!! Funny to see them in the Thrifty rental line in the first place.

Rental car in hand we made our way out of town to meet up with my ol buddy, Korry. I hadn't seen him since '99 on a Whistler ski trip!! It was great seeing him and meeting his family. He took us over to a local hangout, Bilda's Friess Lake Pub, what a cool place. Tons of sports memorabilia, draft brews and local's beer mugs hanging on the wall. I grabbed a Karmeliten Bavarian Monk Dunkel that I rather enjoyed.

Older, wiser and less hair!!

We bid Korry adieu and made our way back to Milwaukee to retrieve a forgotten jacket!! Korry recommended we check out Lakefront Brewery downtown. After taking a peek at their website it seemed like a fun place to be. Tours were very popular and highly recommended to be reserved well in advance. We didn't have that option, so we'd at least go and have a beer or two.

The place was hopping!! I mentioned to the host that we had only heard of them 2 hours prior and were from Arizona. He asked how many were in our group. Two. He then told us 'it was our lucky day' as they only had two wristbands left for the upcoming tour in five minutes. Score! We were told to quickly grab a beer and join our group for the overview tour. We were liking this already.

The giant beer mug from County Stadium, the old home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The tour was fast-paced since it was the overview version, but full of wit from our guide and many tipsy Cubs fans!! They even had a small bar setup during the tour for a refill and more sampling!! Gotta love that.

The rest of the outfield structure from County Stadium.

Packaging area.

Sing-a-long to the Laverne & Shirley theme!

Enjoying the suds & warm weather on the bank of the Milwaukee River.

The cheese curds & garlic ranch dressing were outstanding!

Three Stooges tribute.

Some history of the Stooges artwork.

We checked in to our next hotel a little closer to Green Bay. After a good nights rest we made the couple hour drive north up I-43 to the game, catching a few glimpses of Lake Michigan along the way.

Traffic into town wasn't too bad, we found a $10 lot a few blocks from the stadium and walked up Oneida St. taking in the scene. There are neighborhoods right next to Lambeau Field, each one decked out in Packers paraphernalia, not to mention each house allowing folks to park in their yard for the game. It had almost a college atmosphere to it, super cool.

Lambeau Field from Oneida St.

Lambeau.

Tail-gating bar.

Steady stream of fans going inside.

Tons of NFL history here, that's why it's referred to as Titletown.

No Packers gear, but we have yellow shirts!

Beautiful brick facade.

I don't think there's a bad seat in the house.

Renovated skyboxes.

Aaron Rodgers intro.

Long way to travel for a game.

Kickoff!!

First play of the game.

Wisconsin marching band entertaining the crowd.

And just like that, the Packers win!!

University of Wisconsin marching band performing during the 5th quarter. tons of people hung around inside the stadium for at least 30 minutes after the game.

 We really wish more NFL experiences could be like this. Sure, there were a few Rams fans in the crowd, that's to be expected for any visiting team. We didn't see one fight, no drunken fools, etc. Just people out enjoying a game, having a few brews and soaking up the unseasonably warm mid-October weather. We'd like to take credit for that, it was 80º during the game!! (*A week later, the home game barely reached 50º!!) Part of me would like to experience a frigid frozen tundra kind of game, but I don't think I have enough cold weather gear!

Afterwards, we walked around the rest of the stadium checking things out before heading back to the car.

Just a few of the Legends.

Vince Lombardi standing watch.

Curly Lambeau.

Fans can do their own Lambeau Leap.

Thanks, Lambeau. It was fantastic.

K & her minions.

We needed to find a place for dinner and a brew. A quick consult of the Google brought us over to Titletown Brewing, the 45 minute wait to get in was perfect. It gave us time to go across the street to the brewery for a rooftop toast.

The restaurant portion of the brewery is in the historic depot building.

Time for suds.

From the rooftop, Green Bay is visible under the I-43 bridge.

Depot from the brewery rooftop.

Bratwurst wrapped in bacon!!

Our weekend came to a close after dinner. One final night in Wisconsin then we were plane bound back to the desert early Monday morning. Such a good time, perhaps this will get us going on our NFL stadium tour.

Two Sixty to Pine: Highline Control

3rd time's a charm, right? My prior two attempts to ride the Control rd. from the Highline trail over to Pine were thwarted by poor trail conditions & my lack of conditioning!! The first time was a few years back on a bikepacking exploration ride of sorts with Chad. The second was more recent, last December with Arturo. I was determined to make it this time!!

I rounded up the reluctant duo of Jeff & Nancy to join in on the fun. Jeff always seems to raise an eyebrow when I present him with rides, yet he continues to show up. I must be doing something right. I have a sneaking suspicion that it's Nancy who nudged him in the right direction.

Two Sixty trailhead sans snow.

Our plan called for a shuttle ride, point to point if you will. We met up at the Pine TH, then boogied over to the Two Sixty TH just below the rim east of Payson. At the start temps were cool & sun shining, setting the stage for a perfect day of riding.

As soon as we left the trailhead, I noticed something was different. The handful of deep ruts that Arturo and I experienced in December were gone!! Fully re-routed on sweet singletrack.

Fresh re-routing on Highline. Photo by Jeff.

I already knew the first few miles were going to be good, but some more trail work in the area really made for a fantastic start to the day. We couldn't stop grinning or pedaling. Jeff took most of the early pics because I didn't want the flow to end. Finally, after 3 miles of forested singletrack, I had to dismount for a trail obstacle. Most people only hear horror stories of riding the Highline trail, but that section is 30 miles to the west! (*Also slated for major trail work)

Rippin' rim country. Photo by Jeff.

Nancy all smiles too. Photo by Jeff.

Highline trail exceeding expectations! Photo by Jeff.

Evidence of a fresh re-route.

Forest Service employees actively moving boulders/tree branches into the old corridor. Photo by Jeff.

The next big re-route I noticed was on the long downhill towards Christopher Creek. Before, the trail dipped down into the drainage where it tended to get overgrown. Now, the trail meanders up on the slope while still maintaining a downhill flow.

Missed my timing by 1 second for a good synchronized shot.

More fresh tread in the early morning glow.

Fun techy switchbacks to play on. Photo by Jeff.

Well contoured trail replaced.....Photo by Jeff.

...This. Photo by Jeff.

There were still plenty of challenges on the trail, not everything was buffed out. Photo by Jeff.

As we approached Christopher Creek, my rear tire began to spew sealant. My first flat in...who knows when, it had been a while. I topped off the sealant and was back in business a few minutes later.

Fix-a-flat locale.

Don't slip! Photo by Jeff.

I had my tech game going, felt good on the power moves all day. Photo by Jeff.

Did we time warp to Sedona?

In a matter of minutes we felt like we were riding in Flagstaff, Prescott & Sedona.

I think this trail is about to become more popular.

The switchbacked climb out of Christopher Creek was fantastic, although I ganked 2 of 'em. The variety of the trail continued to amaze and we soon reached the Derrick trail split. We made really good time to this point and decided to stick with the Highline over to Horton Springs. We also knew this section of trail probably hadn't been re-worked, but it was only 2 1/2 miles, so we went for it.

The trail started off ok, climbing away from the Derrick trail. Then it became more steep and had large rock hits & sharp turns. Time to break out the HAB. Now it's a ride!!

Fairly steep through here. Photo by Jeff.

Some tight chunky lines. Photo by Jeff.

I was surprised how much the trail climbed since I thought the overall elevation was about the same to Horton Springs. I guess that's what made this section so tough, intensified grade followed by a super sketchy equally chunky descent. I'm always a big fan of downhill HAB. Not. Overall, the poor sections didn't last too long, but they were strenuous. Not sure I'd take a bikepacking rig on this section. At least the other option on Derrick & Horton Springs trails is rideable albeit longer.

We arrived at the spring where a few hikers were also enjoying the oasis. This is a very cool spring as you can witness the source of the water flowing out of the mountainside only a few feet from the trail. I'd recommend this as a day hike as well.

Jeff & Nancy help give the spring a sense of scale.

A secondary spring tucked away to the right of Horton Spring. This one had man-made help creating pools.

This turned out to be a perfect spot for lunch and to fill up on water. It was a bit warm, not hot, and I had gone through a good portion of my 100oz. For some reason I neglected to add more water to my bladder, only re-filled my bottle. Duh.

After a nice break we were back at the trail. The next section over to the Hatchery flew by, the trail was so much fun.

Every so often...Boom! A huge vista would open up.

Handlebar high grass made the trail tough to see for a bit.

Crossed Tonto Creek as we exited the Highline trail below the Hatchery.

The Highline pops out about a 1/4 mile below the Hatchery, so we ventured up the road to check it out and to see if there was a water fountain. There's a small exhibit inside the visitor's center which was really neat to see. We were all surprised by the scope of rivers & lakes this hatchery stocks, some as far away as southern Arizona.

Mostly central AZ, but there are a few outliers.

I don't think I'd like to ride with that on my back.

Fish tales galore.

The tiered residence of the outgoing fish, the bigger the get, the farther down the hill they go.

We didn't find a water fountain or usable hose, so we pressed on. Next up were 29 miles back to Pine on the Control rd. As I mentioned above, I had yet to put tires on it, but was fairly confident the road was in good condition.

We passed by a few isolated communities wondering if some were in direct competition. 

World's largest water bed?? Or simply the area's fire hydrant.

Near the junction of Roberts Mesa & Control rds.

Both Roberts Mesa and Control rds were in great riding condition, well graded and well traveled. A bit more traffic than we would have liked, but it wasn't horrible either as almost all the vehicles slowed down when passing us. The overall elevation trend was downhill to Pine, but let me tell you, there were plenty of opportunities to climb! Thankfully, the slopes were friendly, there were just a bunch of sneaky uphills when I thought we'd be going solely downhill. In short, it was a bit of a grind.

We did luck out on water though. We were about to filter from the East Verde River when we came upon another small community. A church was on the corner and had a working hose on the side and couldn't have come at a better time.

I start down a long downhill section. Photo by Jeff.

 My legs were getting tired as we made our way up the final climb to AZ87, I was ready to be finished. We bombed down a very short, but shoulderless piece of pavement before darting into the woods to finish the final mile or so on the AZT into the trailhead.

Pine TH.

Not sure why there's an AZT gate over here, the AZT leaves from the other side of the parking lot.

To answer my question: yes. The 3rd time was the charm. We had such a nice day and the extra trailwork surprises on Highline really enhanced this ride. I can't wait until all 50 miles of the Highline are finished (especially those shared with the AZT!!).

Full Highline trail.

I think the three of us all agreed that a really nice shuttle ride up there would be to leave a vehicle at the hatchery trailhead and ride from the Two Sixty trailhead over. Two options are available, do what we did and stay on the Highline all the way OR head down the Derrick trail and climb back up Horton Springs trail. This option only adds a few extra miles.

As always, it's great to ride with the SS duo, Jeff & Nancy, thanks for coming out. Read Jeff's take on the ride here.

Photo album: