Friday 5/25:"Dude... here's your footpeg..."
I awake to another beautiful day. Rolling over and peeking out the tent flap, I am greeted with the drooly mug of Spike and his puppy dog sidekick. It would seem that we have attracted some visitors, a large bull terrier of some kind and a small pup of a different kind. They kind of remind me of the old cartoon with the low key bulldog strutting down the road with the hyper little yapper snipping at his heels and asking him what they are gonna do for the day... Looney Tunes? Whatever... time to get packing so we can hit the road!
There are days when you wake up and you know before you even get started that it is just gonna be one of those days in terms of feeling "right". Some days it seems to take forever to get into the groove of riding, my concentration might not be up to speed, I might feel a little off kilter, muscles might be a little sore or joints a little stiff. Well, I'm feeling pretty good. John's gourmet cooking, a few beers and a good night of sleep seem to have really hit the spot! It's gonna be a great day!
The "Sometimes General Store" at the campground
We head North up US 89 towards Sedona. My back brake is feeling really mushy and seems to be a little low on fluid. I'm hoping to find a place in town where I can top off the reservoir. Casey wants to hit the local McD's for breakfast. We stop for gas and to top of our Camel Baks, Casey heads for the McD's while John and I check out a local autoparts place. I'm thinking I need DOT 4 fluid. So I buy the smallest container they have, which is WAY too much. When I go to add it I notice it is supposed to be DOT 3
Well, John needs some DOT 4 so I top him off. Fortunately, there is an auto repair shop next door and the guy is willing to trade a tiny bit of DOT 3 for a new bottle of DOT 4. I get topped off and take off to catch up to John and Casey.
The only McD's in the world without golden arches supposedly
Sedona is a giant tourist trap. All the buildings look the same in terms of style, color, architecture, etc,... Bland is the word that comes to mind...
No doubt, property prices are astronomical because it is a prime location for anyone interested in outdoor activities. After choking down some kind of greasy McMuffin sausage thing, we make one more stop at a local grocery store and then head out of town. The run up US 89 North of town is very scenic. It roughly follows Oak Creek up a narrow canyon with walls averaging over 1000 feet high. There are some seriously nice houses along this stretch of road. Were there no traffic, it would be a really nice ride. As it is, we just putt along behind a long line of cars, trucks and RV's. At the end of the canyon the road climbs up onto the bluffs above.
The creek is much lower down to the right. We are still down in the canyon at this point.
I don't know if it is the guy thing or what, but big rocks are cool!
Looking back down from the top of the climb out of the canyon
Looking South back down the canyon towards Sedona
Another gratuitous KLR shot
After stopping for pictures, Casey leads us a short ways up the road before we turn around for a missed turn. This will be the start of the unpaved stuff for the day. The road starts out a nice rough gravel and begins climbing. I am sure there is a formal name for the area we are entering, but I have no clue what it might be. Essentially, we are climbing up on to the edge of a large plateau that runs roughly East/West in this area. Once on top, the road opens up and is mostly dirt with rocks mixed in here and there. Pine trees abound. Beautiful.
We reach an intersection and Casey heads us South back towards the edge of the rim. There are some overlooks he wants to visit. The road starts a gradual descent and becomes a strange combination of silt in places and rough rock in others.
John on the way to an overlook
I love these kinds of texture shots... Yes... I am a nerd
John enjoying the shade
Casey capturing the view back down the canyon, which I think is the West Oak Creek Canyon
A small panorama - The canyon is around 1000 feet deep in the distance
Trees as far as we can see
This tree looks like some kind of squiddly sea monster...
The bikes parked a few yards back from the edge
A radical change from the low desert early in the week!
After all the picture taking and John attending to some important paper work... we get back on the bikes and back track to the main road. I think we've been on FR 536 and at some point it became 236 or we made a turn. It is hard to keep track of these things when I am not the one in charge of making sure we get where we are going
Eventually though, we head South again and I think we are working our way around the Western most portion of the Oak Creek Canyon so that we can get down to the Southern edge of the rim. The road opens up and we make pretty good time and raise some serious dust.
Casey and the bug eyed bike
When we get closer to the Southern rim, the road bends to the East and runs along the top of the rim. There are occasionally smaller roads that branch off and run out to the edge of the rim with some spectacular views back South towards Sedona. The main road is mostly hard packed dirt/gravel. These little side roads are tricky buggers with some nasty deep silt!! Trying to get a heavily loaded KLR to steer is a lot of work. I know I should just relax and trust the bike but I can't get the image of me SMACKING a pine tree out of my head... Nonetheless, I manage to make it without incident and it is worth the effort!
A close up of the previous shot - the big chunk on the right is about 2 miles from us as the crow flies
Sedona is about 7-8 miles distant between the mountain and the tree
The edge of the rim is at about 6800 feet and the floor below is around 4500 feet. While we are soaking it in, we spot a TINY little speck moving among the mesas. It is a tourist helicopter that is flying around the edge of the rim. Too small to show up in a picture but it would have been cool to capture to help give a sense of the scale of the scene! We head back up to the main road and investigate a few more side tracks. After two or three more with essentially the same kind of view, I decide I have had enough of the silt and grab a shadey spot to wait for Casey and John when they backtrack on the main road.
The proverbial fork in the road... I sat in the shade on the right
The break in the shade feels great. It is nice to just sit, feel the air and listen to the wind. I can't hear Casey and John's bikes. I guess after maybe ten minutes or so, I hear the distant note of the bikes approaching. They pull up to join me for a break and to decide where our route will take us next. Casey was thinking originally that we'd backtrack to the point where we cut South. However, looking at the maps, there seems to be a road that looks interesting that kind of loops Westward and then North to almost the same place and that will get us where we want to be. Best of all, he's never been on it before so it will be a new adventure! He elects for me to lead with the GPS. So we head up FR 231 over to 538 and run 538 North to 527, the road we were originally trying to reach.
I settle into a nice rythm and enjoy the ride. The road climbs and meanders among the tall pines. I am soon lost in the experience, focusing on the riding, reading the road, dodging ruts, jumping erosion berms, dodging trees, and forgetting to stop to take any pictures at all...
It is an awesome road! How I would love to have roads like this closer to home so that I could ride them much more often!! We turn West on FR 527 and it only gets better!! However, the road is starting to get really rutted and rough! The bike is really moving around under me and I am working pretty good.
Somewhere along the North end of FR 527, I am coming over one of the erosion berms. As soon as I hit it I realize I am not carrying enough speed to get the front end over so that I can ride it out on the back tire. As I crest it, I see a DEEP hole on the back side
In goes the front and the forks compress for all they are worth. When the back end comes through, it hits HARD!! I am hanging on for dear life at this point and hear a loud THWACK!! As I slow to regain my senses, I notice an odd "rat-tat-tat-tat-tat...." Oddly enough, it reminds me of when I was a kid and we'd put the playing cards in the spokes of our bikes to make motor noises
I slow and look around at the back of the bike but can't see anything unusual. Could it be the motor? I pull in the clutch and coast, playing with the revs of the motor. It does not change with the engine speed. I am going slow anyway so I just pull over to have a look. As I come around the back side of the bike I notice my license plate is gone! KLR's are known for losing license plates and I have already experienced this before and had raised it up considerably. Apparently though, I did not raise it enough
The good news is that everything is still present, it is just bent up under the fender and sitting on top of the tire, hence the sound of the plate flapping on the knobbies. I yank everything back out and it looks not too much worse for the wear. We get back on the bikes and keep going. I pay a little closer attention to the remaining berms...
Not long after the plate incident, we come out of the woods into a plain. There is a rotted old log cabin in a nearby pasture so we stop for a break and some pictures.
I was having a hard time figuring out how to force my camera to use the flash, so the images are darker in the foreground than I was wanting
Looking back into the woods
The GPS shows that we are really close to some other roads that should lead to I-40. However, once we get up the road to the intersection, we find a sign indicating private property. Just in the distance, not even a half mile, we can see the road we want. There is an open gate, so I am thinking the road is public and just the land on each side is private. We ride on through and find another open gate on the far side and a well maintained county road that heads the direction we want to be going. It is wide and smooth... I soon lose sight of John and Casey in the ensuing dust storm
A few miles later we reach I-40 and stop for gas and a break to decide what we are going to do for lunch.
Historic Route 66 just happens to pass right by the place where we stop
At this point, we decide to just scoot on down Historic Route 66 to Williams, a few miles down the road, and have lunch. Interestingly, we barely go a mile or so and the road becomes wide and flat covered in gravel. It crosses under the freeway and is paved a short distance and then goes back to being gravel until we come into the edge of town. It seems the town is getting setup for some kind of event for the weekend. We roll in past one of the town's finest and then pull into a cheesy looking 50's style cafe to look for equally cheesy burgers.
It is of course the Route 66 cafe... duh
The food is greasy and cheesy as expected. The wait staff look at us like we just beamed down from the mother ship. I guess we are a bit rough looking with all the dirt and grime of a week of riding ground into our gear and skin
They are nice enough to top off my Camel Bak with ice and water though
After a nice heavy meal, we mount up and head South out of town on Hwy 73. We are looking for a way to cut back over to the East a bit to pick up one of the roads that Casey wants to include on the route. Apparently, it goes by some really cool scenic over look
He has me running point again with the GPS looking for FR 110. The areas on both sides of Hwy 73 are giant spaghetti balls of forest roads
We soon find FR 110 and head East in to the woods...
Occasionally we pass some folks that have a nice spot picked out a bit off the road. Typically there is an RV of some sort surrounded by a fleet of ATV's!! Judging by what we see, ATV sales in this area have to be some of the highest in the country! We take FR 14 over to Davenport Hill Rd, and then head South. The roads are great. It is obvious that they see a lot of traffic. Given that it is Friday afternoon on Memorial Day weekend I am a bit surprised there isn't a ton of traffic, but we see only a few other vehicles until we reach a camping area. We experience a bit of confusion at the campground in trying to hook up with the road that continues South and this results in a little tour of the campground. It is PACKED and there are ATV's everywhere!! We get lots of strange looks, as if these ATV people have never seen a motorcycle
Anyway, our little detour over with, we find ourselves heading South on FR 12.
FR 12 hits Sycamore Point Rd. This is apparently where Casey wants to go. So we head East with me leading again. This is a FUN road!! I am feeling the groove and really settle into a nice pace. The road is running mostly flat but twists through the woods, across some open areas, and then back into the woods. Eventually, after a really great ride, we reach a circular drive area where cars would normally park. We park the bikes and head to the edge for a look.
First impression... COOL!
These next five shots should be stitched left to right. IF you look REAL close, you'll see John in the far right taking a picture. I don't know how to make it so that section of the image is brighter without making it look unnatural.
That is Sycamore Creek down below, currently a dry wash
There's John!
And Casey...
His pics are prolly nicer than mine
Is that a trail along the ridge leading down to that formation?
Look center left in that previous picture for this formation.
Just a few feet beyond Casey's feet is a sheer drop of several hundred feet. We are at 6200 feet and the creek is at 4600 feet.
What is it with the freaking gnats around these parts!!
If I stop moving for only a moment or two, I am immediately swarmed by gnats. They are flying in my ears, up my nose, in my mouth and eyes
If there is one thing that bugs me it is bugs in my face... We decide we've seen enough and this is not a good place to camp. Too many gnats. So we'll keep moving and get farther South before calling it a day. Already the shadows are starting to lengthen. The run back to FR 12 is a hoot! Shortly after the intersection at FR 12, we pick up FR 11 and run that down to FR 105, another great stretch of road!! We run 105 over to FR 354 and then start heading in a Southerly direction.
FR 354 starts getting a little rougher and more technical. The rocks are obviously volcanic and getting larger. Today I am feeling pretty relaxed on the down hill stuff for some reason. I am standing, letting the bike move around, applying the back brake as needed just to keep the speed in check, and picking my lines through the rocks. For some time, everything is going great. As they say though, when everything is going great is when you should be most paranoid
After rounding a corner, I start down a long straight section that is fairly steep and littered with some good sized rocks. Everything is going fine one instant and then in the next instant, I have no left side foot peg!!
Apparently, one of the rocks off to the side was
just a hair higher than I thought...
I manage to stay upright and bring the bike to a stop. I look down just to make sure... yep. It's gone...
Nothing to do but start looking for the peg. The bolts simply sheared right off, so I don't think I'll be able to remount it on the trail, but I still need it if we are going to make any kind of repairs. As I am walking up the hill, John comes around the corner and stops about half way down, "Dude,... there's a foot peg laying right here! And there are the bolts..." Well, there are what is left of the bolts but the peg itself seems perfectly fine. Cool. I gather up the pieces and head back down to the bike to see what can be done. The center stand mounts where the foot pegs mount and they share the same bolts. The left side of the stand is hanging down and the foot is into my chain. Hmmm... not good. The mount on the right side is bent. Looks like it will have to come off. We break out the tools and get to work.
It never looks as bad as it really is in the pictures...
Not something you like to see in the middle of nowhere with the sunlight fading...
This gives a little better idea of the roughness but does not convey the steepness... really...
The offending stone
Maybe 150-200 feet back to the bikes
John is not only a good guy to have along because he is a good camp cook, but he is pretty handy at rigging stuff up with whatever he happens to have on hand, a real McGyver
We take the center stand off and soon realize that the rock did not hit the peg, but that the center stand bottomed out HARD on the rock. This made the mounting bracket slice right through the bolts! There is a good sized dent in the bottom of the stand which is made from several layers of 3/16"" thick steel plate. With the center stand removed, the bolts are too long to hold the right peg in place without it flopping loose. Earlier in the week, some light mounts John had made decided to come apart. He has the pieces in his bag. One of the pieces works perfect as a spacer so the peg will stay in place. Nothing can be done on the left side since we have no way to remove the remains of the two sheared bolts. It seems I have to get myself down off this mountain without being able to stand up on the pegs...
After some discussion, we decide that John and I are going to make for the first road that cuts West to the main Hwy and head for civilization. There is no point in me trying to continue the ride on rough roads without a foot peg. Casey still wants to head for the spot where we had planned to camp. I am not wild about splitting up the group, particularly with Casey being alone. He assures us that he will be fine and that he will be extra careful... Well... okay... but I still don't really like it. As we are getting set to go, Casey mentions that he has some
really pressing matters to attend to. John donates a pack of wet wipes to the cause and we hastily make tracks
[Gotta run... I'll try to get back to it ASAP!]