Thursday 5/24: Continued...
So anyway, we're standing on this precipice looking back down the valley the direction from which we came. Bubbling up on the breeze from down below is the sound of Haigler Creek tumbling down into the valley over the many rocks that have long since fallen away from our perch on high. No mutant baby elks to be seen anywhere...
The air is crisp, dry and cool. It just feels so refreshing against my skin, unlike the thick clingy air in the deep woods of East Texas back home.
The road up out of the valley
Casey pondering the view with an eye towards taking the perfect picture... I just snap away relentlessly...
That is the road out just over his head.
Gotta watch where we're walking or it is a long way down!
The top of the tree in the center is about even with our feet
John and Casey scoping out great camping spots down by the creek
So this rock has been here a LONG time... I wonder just how many more pounds would be enough to make it teeter off the edge...
Looking back up the creek valley, very rocky and rugged!
Quite a few trees out here have been burned... I wonder if it is lightning related since we are so high up and there is not much evidence of burns lower down?
After our break, we start climbing up out of the valley again. The road is great. The weather is great. The bike is running great. I am not at work. My pager is at home. The cell phone is turned off. Man... I need to do this more often! After passing by Turkey Peak, the road drops down into a shallow valley and runs back to the Northwest. We soon reach Hwy 260 where we stop so Casey can do some route work in his head and consult his maps. After a few minutes of baking in the sun, we decide to head West and pick up another dirt road oddly named "Control Road". It cuts over from Hwy 260, North of Payson and comes out over on Hwy 87 just South of Pine. Not only should it be fun, but it will save us some time in connecting to our next dirt road.
I take point, enjoying the smooth pavement and highway speeds. It is only a few miles to our turn off but I like being on the pavement for a bit. It is a nice time to relax, take in more of the scenery, and enjoy the wind blowing through the mesh gear. Central Arizona is simply beautiful! It doesn't hurt that Hwy 260 is a really nice ride too! We soon reach our turn and head back onto the gravel. The road is wide and relatively smooth, not too dusty, and is soon wandering through the woods. I love it.
A small sample of the Control Road
John eyeballing a little trail that runs up the hill from the road...
It does not take long before we reach Hwy 87 and then we head up into the small town of Pine. We do a run up the center of town to take it all in. On the North side of town we pull over to top off the bikes with gas. I spotted a nice looking little 50's cafe back down the road and we agree to try it out. The parking lot is pretty full so it can't be too bad
Looking at the age of the average patron, I think the idea of a 50's style cafe here was a pretty shrewd business move
Casey tries to decide what to eat...
The food and service are pretty good. Casey gets a HUGE chili dog that takes up the whole plate...
No way I could eat that and then get back on a bike! Thank goodness I have been taking point today, hopefully that won't change after lunch
My cheeseburger really hits the spot! However, it is the Coke that really makes my day... Yes... I am an addict
Stuffed, we head back outside to resume our journey.
Looks real 50's on the outside eh?
The friendly old keeper of the porch really likes a good belly rubbing!
As we head out of the parking lot, Casey takes point
I'll have to hang back a little...
We head up the highway a few more miles to another tiny little touristy town, Strawberry, where we cut West to find the Fossil Creek Rd. As we leave Strawberry, we are right around 6000 feet in elevation. The road starts down into a valley and slowly drops in elevation. It does not take long for things to get interesting!
That little dot above the trees at the base of the road is John or Casey, hard to tell from here...
Not much better here... notice the locked gate!!
When I catch up to the others, they are stopped at a sharp curve that bends the road around onto the edge of a deep canyon. I am a little disappointed that we were not going up the road with the locked gate (not that I want to go around the gate, but that there was a locked gate there to begin with
). However, this road looks promising!
See how steep that wall on the left is...? Well... it is just as steep off to the right
immediately beyond that pile of gravel on the edge of the road
According to Casey, these barricades are recent additions to this road
A better view of the drop... don't want to blow a corner here!!
Road is the ledge on left side
The drop looks to be several hundred feet easily and that is just to the first spot where you'd HIT on the way down. It is quite a bit farther all the way down to the bottom! Carefully looking over the ledge, it would appear that the barricades should have been put up a long time ago
If one was not familiar with the road, this curve sneaks up on you because it is at the end of a straight section and down behind a slight crest in the road!
Apparently, even the locals had trouble with it...
Apparently, they have been having trouble with it for quite some time!
Standing here looking at the assortment of vehicles at the bottom is kind of strange. It is a LONG way down and there would be far too much time to ponder one's fate... I will be riding VERY carefully while we are on this road! As we are mulling around taking pictures, the local FedEx delivery guy roars by in a cloud of dust. At his pace, I don't think getting stuck behind him in his dust will be a problem! I take point just so I can get ahead to stop for more pictures. I have a feeling this road will have plenty of opportunities!
John posing for me to help give a sense of scale
He's that dot above the center of the second gravel slide from the left
Off in the distance I see the FedEx guy's plume of dust and his truck rounding one of the many bends. As we ride on, the road starts a gentle descent down into the valley. The nasty corner was at about 5400 feet. The bottom of the valley looks to be at least a thousand feet down from that point. The farther we go, the steeper the descent becomes. Eventually, we reach some switchbacks and begin to descend pretty fast!
John heading for the first switchback
John is a big guy, but you'd never guess it from this pic!
Or this one!
I've almost got the camera pointing straight down at this point
After taking my pics, I set out to catch up to the other guys. When I reach the bottom, the road flattens out and runs along the side of Fossil Creek. We've dropped to about 3500 feet from 5400 feet! I find Casey and John on the side of the road chatting with the FedEx guy. He's already made his delivery and is headed back the way he came! I pull up to find Casey and him carrying on a confused conversation, hehe. Apparently, between Casey having his helmet on and the noise of the truck, neither of them can hear each other and both are a little confused by each other's responses
I pull right up next to the guy and just ask him politely, "Are you
asking us for info or
offering us info?" He replies, "I'm offering info if you want it!" Cool! I listen as he tells us about some camping opportunities. We then thank him and get back to riding. All along the side of the road, there are little side trails that run down to the creek a few yards distant. There are cars and trucks tucked into nearly every one of them. We reach a spot where the road crosses the creek and Casey pulls us over for a stop. Time for a break.
Heading down to the creek for a dip!
Really have to watch your step...
The bridge over the creek with a nice shady spot underneath... already occupied
Looking upstream from our spot
Not looking to good for dipping this way...
Looking better back towards the bridge! See it?
Casey and John concur
Aaahhhhh.....
John really gets into his river dipping
Casey is trying to decide if he can tolerate the cold water and the nice breeze that makes wet clothes feel even colder!
John again
Now they are hassling me about getting in...
Resistance is futile...
I carefully make my way down into the water... BRRRrrrr!!! Aaahhhh!! Ohhhhh!! That is a bit chilly there!!
Aaahhh!!! Much better now... I find me a good rock to sit on and enjoy the cool feeling of the water. Small perch are tickling me by nibbling on my toes and leg. In a few minutes, the shock of the coldness wears off and I am used to the temperature. Man... this is just what I needed!! While hanging out, John realizes he has cut his foot on something. It is not serious, but it does seem to be bleeding pretty good. As we climb out, he notices blood scattered about all over the rocks where he was taking off his gear and getting in the water. He follows it back to the culprit... a piece of litter from some careless twit that was here before us
I get my gear back on and then head towards the bridge. I always like the way my socks and boots feel after my feet get a good soaking in cold water. I have done it on many other rides as well. However, high in the Rockies of Colorado, it is ONLY my feet that get dunked and even then only for a minute or so before I simply can't take the frigid temperature of the snow melt water! Right now, my feet have that soft warm fuzzy feeling like my bed in the morning when I am at that perfect temperature that makes getting out of bed so !#$%^& hard
A small water fall just as the creek goes under the bridge
It gets deep and nice on the far side of the bridge!
Yes, I could really get used to being able to come to a place like this fairly often and just hanging out, relaxing, and forgetting about all the worries of the world. Alas, we must move on...
Soaked head to toe... but loving it!
As we leave the creek behind us, the road once again starts to get fun! In short order we are climbing up out of the valley on a pretty steep road. The road has some pretty harsh washboard though and it is really beating me good at the pace Casey is running, maybe 25 mph or so.
The view from behind...
According to the GPS, we have a pretty good way to go before we reach another intersection. I catch up to John and Casey pretty quick. John waves me around and I settle in behind Casey. Somewhere around Cimmaron Creek, I just can't take it any more. The road has gotten pretty bad. For me, it is much better at about 35-40mph, so I move around Casey and set off. After passing through about 4500 feet, the road begins a fantastic twisty descent down through Hackberry Canyon. The road is awesome. It is one of those annoying times on the bike where I am totally in the groove, having a blast, and I just don't want to stop to take pics! However, I know that this is the best place to take pics
Surely you understand my dilemma
Ride it is then... and the KLR is all for it!! The gravel rolls and crunches under my tires as I grind into the corners and then spray rocks coming out. At several high spots, I wait until I catch a view of the others and then take off again. Other than a truck we passed going the other way back by the creek, the road has been deserted.
Eventually, the road begins to straighten out and the valley opens up, getting very wide. The fun is about to end as I can see the highway in the distance. I pull up to an overlook and take in the view looking back up the canyon. After a few minutes I see the dust from Casey and John come around a corner. We're pretty close to Camp Verde, which I think is where Casey is planning to find a place to camp. After they reach the overlook, we consult the GPS. Casey shows me where we are trying to go and I take the lead again. After getting a bit confused about which way I am supposed to go (I forgot to zoom out the GPS to get the big picture
) I turn around a few hundred yards down the road and get us going the right direction
Now we're on Hwy 260 heading into Camp Verde...
[Time for bed... more later!]