Rain fell just after 4AM. Intermittent lightly, intervals w/ less rest till solid I am going to soak you rain. After bfast I drove the driven over desert dirt to get on the all weather gravel road. The driven over packed the dirt. Un packed stuff gets really gummy. Bought propane in the rain. I waited for a slight clearing for the attendant. I bought 2 weed forks that I will use to kill goathead plants. I gave one to Dave @ Fat Tire because I saw him dig plants out w/ 2 screw drivers. Participate in your local eradication effort. darn right nasty day w/ rain and occaisional wet snow falling. Chilly and damp. Hung @ BnB.
To those of you who have ridden Sedona: you prolly have ridden some biker built non FS recognized trails. Hiline for example is now a system trail, when it was created it was called a social trail. Hikers are hiking on some of these miles of trails as seen by seeing just shoe prints in the dirt. The local Ranger has responsibility to manage and care for the land. The position the local FS is taking is mtn bikes are making all kinds of new trails that are not approved and possibly environmentally destructive. Local riders whom I have spoken with do not know of these trails. In order for the FS to prevent these renegade trails is to issue a temporary closure order. This order will ban bikes from any trails that are not officially recognized by the FS. The FS says there are 211 miles of system trails. Bikers claim that another 200 miles will be lost. However, other heart propelled activities will still be allowed to use the biker built trails that, per the FS characterization, are destructive. Blatant discrimination to 1 user group. Below is the link to a petition to make our all trails open to mtn bikers voice.
https://www.change.org/petitions/u-s-forest-service-stop-discriminating-against-mountain-bikers-2
Fri eve I drove out to Beaverhead. Windy and wet snow that melted on contact w/ the ground or whitened colder objects.
Sat AM the weather was still wet. Another rest day. Tonight GU plays LMU in semi finals staring @ 7. Going to watch it @ PJs. Today I just let the day slip by. Plan is have dinner @ PJs and finish b4 game start, watch the game, then drive down to Black Canyon City for the night.
Scrappy LMU team that hung around till end of first half. GU tighten the screws and increased their efficiency for the 2nd half to win, next game is Mon championship against St Marys.
Drove I-17 in the dark down to BCT TH. Early arrivals shared my morning.
Today I needed to be @ Gold Creek TH which is just East of Apache Junction @ 9:00. Made it.
Consternation: I wear non prescription sunglasses while driving. But I need correction to read close up. Driving into the sun but needing glasses to read the GPS data.
TH already has numerous rigs parked. The Tuscon riders start arriving. Abe is the leader whom I met and rode w/ back in early ’10. Setting is pure Sonoran desert. My GPS battery lost its charge and collected no data. Trails are pedal. Twisty using vegeation to create turns. Keeping single track single is the only choice to stay out of contact w/ cholla, those glistening stalks seen below. I ran a spine into my left hand and toe of my shoe. I enjoyed someone else navigating. There were spots of wet mud that created a flat tire steering sensation. So many sharp things to puncture your tires. Stans is prolly the item that is most common to all bikers.
Next effort was to drive to McDowell Park for camping and a shower. Campground was full. Overflow camping was a gravel parking lot. But the water was hot. Clear skies, chilly.
Tomorrow I am meeting Graham, friend of Tomas from Flag, @ Phat Tire bike shop in Cave Creek for a ride.
AZ does not do daylight savings which makes us Pacific time zn vs mtn.