Mountain Biking Archives

Bikepacking the Black Canyon Trail

Arizona offers endless amounts of outdoor adventures, even close to the masses of Phoenix. The Black Canyon Trail is one of them. Commence bikepacking!

Jeff and I met up at Emery Henderson trailhead just North of the Phoenix metro area late Friday afternoon, leaving work, emails, and busy life behind. Left one (of our two Tacomas) vehicle here and drove North, cached some water halfway’ish.

We were ready for another epic bike packing adventure.

Left another vehicle at the start area, loaded up bikes with beers in hand (and a cold 8 pack in an already overloaded backpack), we set off from Highway 69 and headed south on The Black Canyon Trail (BCT). The BCT was used by ancient Native American travelers and traders linking settlements together. In more recent times; it was used primarily by valley wool growers to herd sheep to and from their summer range in the Bradshaw Mountains and the Black Hills up until the mid 70’s.

We only had 30 min of daylight left, so we decided to ride until we either found a good camping spot, got tired, hungry or whatever. All while enjoying the trail and scenery

The simple pleasures of simply setting up camp whenever and wherever you want to. And we were treated to a spectacular starry sky, so we left tent sides open.

South we went after a solid breakfast and clean up of yesterday’s dinner events, and prepping bike and gear for the adventure ahead today.

We made stops whenever scenery was right or the legs requesting it

Even found a slow moving stream and enjoyed the last two cool beers while getting some shade.

Cool beer, creek side, at 10am. Not too bad!

Made our way to our water cache in almost 100 degree weather, while climbing. It was toasty. A river crossing followed shortly thereafter

Did a side stop for a large pizza in Black Canyon City, and saw some legit cowboys with boot, spurs, and hats. They were equally perplexed by our outfit as we were of theirs, as they drove off in a pickup with two dogs in the bed, and 2 horses in tow, we rode off on our fully loaded bike rigs. Back up the hill.

Climbing and bushwhacking through the trail

Made our way to our goal for Saturday night, after bushwhacking our way, we were quickly settled in water side and dipped in the water for an hour. Heaven!

Also, does anyone know what these sounds are from? Frogs?

For Sunday we had an early start to avoid some of the heat. We also knew that it would only get warmer the more we dropped in altitude.

Another river crossing

Jeff showing how it is (kinda) done:

Familiar territory in sight for me.

And we are done! 65 miles, lots of exposed sides, flats, climbs, downhill, rivers, sand, boulders, and gorgeous canyons!

Bikepacking the Coconino Trail – Flagstaff to Clarkdale

It is fall – even in Arizona. That means time for some bikepacking. In case you needed a refresher; Bikepacking is defined as “seeking adventure through multi-day, self-supported trips on lightly loaded bikes” according to Bikepacking.com

The route would take us from Flagstaff to Clarkdale Arizona. We had a few people interested, but due to various unforeseen circumstances it ended up being Jeff and I that decided that this was a good (or bad?) idea.
Thursday evening we headed to Clarkdale (just next to Cottonwood) where we dropped Jeff’s vehicle off, and relocated bikes and gear to my car. Continued onward to Flagstaff where Jeff had secured us some accommodations at some trusted friends house right in town. A 6 pack of craft Phoenix beers were graciously donated by me as payment. Host seemed to agree that this was a great idea. Thanks to Jay and Julia for hosting us!

Friday:

In the morning we loaded up bikes, ready to roll out. First stop – breakfast burritos in downtown Flagstaff.

Flagstaff is an interesting city. It is like a modern university hipster town with lumberjacks, hikers, outdoor fanatics and rednecks. You see everything from old peace VW buses, lifted Trucks with trucsticles, Prius (or Prii’), Subarus, and bicycles. Great city to visit, but even greater trail/nature there. Within 5 min biking from burrito place, we were on the Flagstaff Urban Trail and onward to the Arizona Trail where we would remain for a while.

Rolling through amazing scenery.

Arizona Trail - amazing — Arizona Trail – amazing

Arizona Trail description – worth the read, or experience

Cruising the AZT just south of Flagstaff

Jeff is on the struggle bus here. It isn’t all downhill!

One amazing thing about bike-packing is that when you feel like you are done for the day, you simply just stop. Assuming you have a good campsite in sight. So we did.

Campsite was perfect - in the middle of the woods — Campsite was perfect – in the middle of the woods

Saturday

After sleeping, well, no so great, but a tasty breakfast, we were off again. Breakdown camp, and climb! Hunting season must have kicked in, because we saw a few hunters, and (live) deer.
Today’s ride would take us through more forest towards the I-17, cross under, out over Schnebly Hill, and down into Sedona. The potential of beer and lunch at Oak Creek Brewery, was a great goal.

The downhill from Schnebly hill was techie, especially when your bike weighs in at over 60 pounds. But the challenges and the scenery was more than worth it!

Schnebly Hill - and down we go — Schnebly Hill – and down we go

We even spotted a few Tarantulas downhilling. Here’s one of them

Jeff is trying to contain his excitement

When we got to Sedona, we rolled into Oak Creek Brewery for some lunch and a beer or two. Clouds were looming, and they finally gave in 5 min after we left our covered restaurant. Luckily, a Circle K (convenience) store appeared on the horizon. We re-stocked on water and a couple of beverages for dinner while waiting out the rain for 10 min.

Technical Sedona Single Track was on the afternoon menu.

So, note to self - do not crash into a steep uphill rocky section when the only landing spot for your hand and arm is a SHARP and HARD Agave Cactus. Tendon took a hit from the puncture wound. — So, note to self – do not crash into a steep uphill rocky section when the only landing spot for your hand and arm is a SHARP and HARD Agave Cactus. One Tendon took a hit from the puncture wound.

But Scooby Doo fixes it all . Screw you. Stupid Agave. — But Scooby Doo band aids fixes it all . Screw you. Stupid Agave. Back to riding. I survived.

After enough riding for the day, and being passed by a rider (Artec) doing the Arizona Endurance Series Race (AES) Coconino 250 mile Stage Race, we decided that it was a good time to setup camp, because we were not here for racing.

Dinner and drinks — Dinner cooking while enjoying drinks

Sunday

After some solid mileage, your legs start to feel it. Even more so given I was sick the week leading up to this, and didn’t ride for almost 2 weeks.

Hot air balloons giving people the view we had all morning

Today's route was full of great scenery, again — Today’s route was full of great scenery, again

Summary

Great trails. Some hike-a-bike just south of Flagstaff. Lake Mary was pretty, but some cows had made some good dents in the soil making for a very bumpy ride. The fall colors were absolutely amazing. Schnebly Hill down was just as techie as you want it on bike packing. Sedona tech stuff was a bit tough on a heavy bike, and it took some of the fun out of it (for me), but the scenery made up for it. I wasn’t expecting much of the route from Sedona to Cottonwood, but it was gorgeous. Right before Cottonwood, there was some very fun downhill tech stuff.
Another A+ bike packing trip in the books.

Bikepacking the Kokopelli Trail

After a solid overnight drive from Phoenix to Moab, and a quick 4am breakfast at the only open establishment in Moab at such time – Denny’s, and a quick change to biking gear, we were picked up by our shuttle driver to take us to Loma Colorado – roughly a 1 1/2 hour drive in a car (or 3+ days as our mountain biking trails would take us).

En-route we dropped a few gallons of water jugs at a convenient place near Dewey Bridge by the Colorado River – a spot we’d plan on crossing 2 days into our 3 day planned ride, and a backup spot in case someone would take our supplies.

Arriving in Loma it was dark, cold, and a bit anxiety and excitement as to what awaits.

Quickly after a brief wrong turn, we were exploring amazing scenery, with the sun rising behind us, and us zig-zagging next to the Colorado River on some of the most amazing single track in the US.

There were even a few tough spots where you’ll get a good upper body workout as Jeff can attest to here

After some fun single track, hike-a-bike, and downhill dirt roads, it was finally time for some lunch. We found a great spot somewhere after crossing into Colorado.

20151016_122332 — Crossing a state line on a mountain bike – check – and calls for celebration with a COLD beer and cheese from my Camelbak. That will be my last cold beverage for a while

While eating lunch, we discovered an optional detour from the trail to see some cool canyons and rocks – of course why wouldn’t we detour and add a few miles to an already long ride. Hence we ended up cruising Western Rim which was absolutely amazing.

We did a few more miles and ended up at West Water Ranger station where the rumor had it there was a water spigot, and some good camping. Rumors were correct.

20151017_073654 — Not a bad view to wake up to; overlooking the Colorado River

The next day, waking up at 7am, after 12 hours of sleep we all felt well rested. Note that yesterday we had been awake for 36+ hours, ridden 50+ miles with bikes packed to the max, in technical terrain – we deserved some good rest for sure!

We had a few easy dirt miles ahead of us, some paralleling railroad tracks, some climbing, some rocks, and some gorgeous biking by the Colorado River. We even celebrated Matt’s birthday at lunch.

20151017_112510 — Matt cruising along the Colorado River

The trail markings were starting to be more visible than the first day. The first day we had the GPS maps and route out a few times to find out way. It is however funny when you cruise by in one of the most remote sections, and see a sticker from your Local Bike Shop in Phoenix.

We explored some amazing rock formations, found our water stash, crossed the Colorado River, and climbed climbed climbed… All the way until we were done for the day, and decided to setup camp.

Next day we biked some steep roads, rocks, mountains, and more breathtaking scenery was absorbed.

This was also the day we’d start traversing the La Sal mountains; we had seen the snow from the distance, and this was slowly getting closer. Lunch with adult beverage was consumed in the light rain and clouds at this altitude.

We kept climbing and got some great overlooks of the valley below, and the pretty fall colors that we don’t typically see too much of in Phoenix.

After a false summit (or 3?) we finally hit our decent into Moab. We rode along Porcupine Rim on some fun fast swoopy single track with a ledge 3 ft next to you dropping a few hundred vertical feet down. Kept you on your toes, especially when riding a bike that is loaded with gear!

We started the Sand Flats Road decent into Moab just as the sun was setting, and made it to downtown Moab where we had left the car, just in time for darkness to settle in. Found our camp site for the night at the local campground, enjoyed a shower for the first time in 3 days, and went onwards to a local establishment to over-consume in calories, including an order of adult beverages that our friend Tim had called in for us (thanks!) and a customized Sundae that I had been crawing on the trails.

156 miles of beautiful trails on a bike that weighs over twice of what it normally does, while traversing two states in rocky terrain and varying climates, camping for three days, with good friends was an amazing experience. This will surely not be my last bike packing trip.

For anyone looking to do the Kokopelli trail; I suggest to not underestimate the physical endurance level required, and the climbing part with a heavy bike. Storing 2 gallons of water per person by Dewey Bridge is a smart move, and with 2 x 100 Ounce Camelbak Bladders and a 1 liter emergency Platypus, you should be OK on water and wouldn’t need a filter as long as you load up before, and at West Water .

20151019_104110 — Driving back to Phoenix via Monument Valley

Preparing for Bikepacking

When one of your buddies loops you in on an email trail asking about any interest in:

Mountain biking
Friends
Camping
Awesome scenery

One simply says “yes” without too much further concern. Well, fast forward a few months and I am a few hundred dollars deep on bikepacking equipment and bike tuneups, and some training miles in the bank (but enough?)

As the ride is self supported with no access to external aid, food and gear is important. Along with whiskey of course.

Bikepacking trial setup in Papago (my backyard)

We are now driving 400 miles towards Moab in Utah where we will have a shuttle driver pick us up at 5am and drop us and gear off in Loma Colorado by the beginning of the Kokopelli Trail. If all goes well, we should finish the 142 miles / 228 km by Sunday night.

I am sure this will be an epic weekend full of all of the above.