Arizona Trail Part 3: Roosevelt Lake to North Rim
Arizona Trail Part 2: Sky Island Scenic Byway to Apache Lake
Tuesday May 20
Biked Hwy 188 along Roosevelt Lake.
Roosevelt Lake & Bridge
Biking along Roosevelt Lake
I stopped after 6 miles to drive to Tonto National Monument. Once there, Mom and I walked up to the Salado people's cliff dwellings. I was surprised that we were allowed to walk around in the former living spaces.
Cliff dwellings at Tonto National Monument
Cliff dwellings of the Salado people
After touring the area we went back to where I stopped biking and I restarted from there. Next stop, Punkin Center for a snack. Then on the road to Jacob's Corner where I turned off on a forest road for 8 miles. Then back on the highway to Rye Bar. The remaining ten miles to Payson, I rode in the car. Then once in Payson I rode through town and down Houston Mesa Road for about 7 miles. After completing 48 miles total I called it a day and we stayed at a hotel in Payson that night.
Wednesday May 21
I got a late start due to adjusting from a bad dream, settling my stomach and caring for my wrist (it had started hurting of late). I continued down Houston Mesa Road toward Washington Park TH. Once at the trailhead I put my bike up because I wanted to hike the two miles up the Mogollon Rim. My mom had to drive two hours to meet me on Rim Road, whereas it took me one hour to hike up the rim. I started following an old track under powerlines and then started worrying that I had missed the trail (the trail is not marked as well as the AT), but luckily I finally saw an arrow that pointed me into a forest where it was difficult to notice a trail. Hiking up the rim was not as hard as I thought it would be and it was nice to get off the bike and experience the trail on foot.
At Washington Park TH, before going up the Mogollon Rim
Hiking up the Mogollon Rim
Once mom found me on rim road I got my bike and road about 4 miles down a forest service road that paralleled the trail. Then we drove to Lake Mary Rd and I started again by Gooseberry Spring TH. I biked about 8 miles just shy of Navajo Springs by Mormon Lake. During the ride I had decided that we should head back to Flagstaff for the night and in the morning drive to the North Rim so I could complete the sections up there. I just figured it would be easier to have my mom drive me up there rather than having to ask a friend to drive the four hours to drop me off. SO after mom picked me up we headed to Flagstaff about 30 miles away. We stopped to take pictures of the smoke from the Slide Fire (a wildfire that had started in Oak Creek Canyon the day before).
Smoke from the Slide Fire, Mormon Lake
Slide Fire Smoke & Sun
It was weird to be back at my apartment in Flagstaff without my roommates there. It had been the longest time I had been away from there since arriving in August.
Thursday May 22
We departed around 7 for the North Rim, four hours away. Along the way we stopped at Navajo Bridge to take a look at the Colorado River.
Panorama
The drive was nice and it was neat to see an area I had not seen before. Just before reaching the park boundary we turned left onto a forest service road so I could start at the trailhead at the Kaibab National Forest boundary with the national park. The ride started out nice biking through meadows; however, the trail was narrow and most of the time I was just riding in the grass. Also, I had to get off my bike often and pick it up and over downed trees.
Meadows, Kaibab NF
Aspens blooming
I met mom twice along the 21 mile passage before finishing at Telephone Hill. Mom had a mini panic attack and was glad to see me because she was not able to go down the road we planned on meeting at because of a downed tree so she had to backtrack and go down a different road and she did not know if I had passed through the area already because if I had we would have had no way of knowing where each other was because we did not have cell service. So after calming down we drove to the North Rim on park land. We checked out some trails and took some pictures of the Grand Canyon
The haze from the fire cleared in the evening so we could see the outline of the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff in the distance
We relaxed, got a drink from the saloon, sat in the lodge's lounge area, had pizza at the deli, attended a ranger presentation, and then camped out in the car.
The next day it started hailing on us as we drove back to Jacob Lake. I was not sure if I could bike since it was supposed to storm all day and you really should not bike on trails when they are wet because you can erode and destroy the trails. So after waiting around for hours and making a pro/con list, I decided to call it and I would have to finish up the sections on my own later. So we drove through Fredonia up to Kanab, Utah, and then over to Page. Mom got to check out Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam (I had been there earlier in the year in January). Then we drove back to smoky Flagstaff.
Rain in the distance, back toward the North Rim
Saturday May 24
Mom's last full day in AZ and we decided to go horseback riding on the Arizona Trail back at Mormon Lake. I had really wanted to go horseback riding on the trail so I could traverse the trail in all the possible ways: hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Plus mom grew up with horses so this was something that she would be able to do with me. I rode on Zane, a white Percheron/Clydesdale for the two hour trip. We started in Mormon Lake Village and rode up Navajo Springs Trail to the Arizona Trail. We headed South and got off the trail exactly where I had stopped two days before. It rained for about 30 minutes but overall it was a great time.
Me & Zane
Mom & the guide
Mom & I, Zane & Traveler
Afterwards we had lunch in the cute Mormon Lake Lodge Steakhouse. Then back to Flagstaff to clean out the dirty rental car. I treated mom to pizza that night at Picazzo's. She left the next day, but I will see her when I go to Alabama mid June.
All in all, it was a challenging trip, but now that it has been over a week since riding I can say now that I miss it. It was hell and lots of work while I was doing it and I didn't enjoy it as much as I should because I was rushing it and worrying about meeting people for interviews and skipping sections. Now I miss the desert and the saguaros. So throughout the rest of the summer I plan on finishing from where I left off at Mormon Lake and go through Flagstaff to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Then finish the last 44 miles from where I stopped at the North Rim to the Utah border. If I can finish that then I will be happy and satisfied with my Arizona Trail adventure, even though I will not have completed the whole thing.
In conclusion, I have compiled a list of lessons learned from the entirety of the journey.
Lessons learned
-Everyone should have to hitch hike at least once in their life (so they know how it feels to not be picked up)
-Wear sunscreen
-Fall on hot rocks rather than cactus
-Riding in 90 degree weather makes you drink more water.
-You can always get more bruises and scratches
-I can mountain bike a section twice as fast as hike (if the trail is okay)
-Hiking would have been easier (and sometimes faster)
-Train in technical skill before setting off for a long distance mountain bike trip
-Invest in a full suspension bike
-Pushing a bike up a rocky hill is not fun
-If you fall once you will fall again
-Fallen cactus or trees on the trail make for a difficult crossing
And that's just a short list of many lessons I learned on the trail
Got a ride to this exit but couldn't get another so I had to wait for my mom to pick me up
Who would fall here but me. Just after the prickly pear and before the Saguaro.
Barrel cactus on the trail
I'm supposed to pick my bike up over that?
Now you can check out that TheTrek.co article I wrote in 2017 about my experiences on the Arizona Trail. Find that article here or on my Portfolio & Press page.
Up next: Update from Portland trip!
