So Friday I drove to the Red Mesa trail system outside of Page. Another brand new trailhead and trails. Many trail miles crammed into a small area. Perimeter loop trail was machine scraped. Single tracks went off hither and yon. Most places paint dashes told the route. Some signage.

I was not whole heartedly involved for this ride. The blue color ability trails were technical, and as much as I wanted to stay on top of my bike, I feared the blacks would be really black for me to avoid.

BLM, different jurisdictions, spending $ to build new trail systems.

Changed form bike rider to van driver then pointed S down RT 89 to Flag to an interstate jog to exit onto 89A down Oak Creek canyon. Spectacular geology and colors. Today the sun was at late afternoon height casting the E facing canyon walls in shadow plus it was in my eyes. Sedona traffic backed up just short of uptown mass of vehicles and just 1 lane instead of 2. Sheesh, driving up Cook’s hill solid backup to get down  to Y. Yes, back in Sedona, recall traffic flow. This is like a spring break. Familiarity.

Destination was Doug and Leia’s rental. Made their driveway. Warm greetings shared. Swift, their dog, and I have an established relationship so she nosed in for greeting.  Comfortable evening somewhat lubricated by Scotch. Warm evening in their driveway, the furnace actually reached the lower thermostat setting and turned off eliminating the blower noise. I slid out of bed pleasantly warm.

Doug and I ride together. We both know trails here. Again, I become a follower as Doug figures a ride. Sat we met out at Cultural park which is now a signed city facility, closed from 10PM to 5 AM. Today at the beginning Doug routed us in a new way to me. Variation to get to the same place. System trails till we crossed dry Dry Creek connecting bunches of social trails to rejoin system trails up the way. Beautiful day

Doug, being faster, led and would stop when he wanted. I would catch up then we would visit for minutes. The riding gave us the opportunity to soak up being outside Dec 30th in light weight jerseys. Welcome to Sedona ride. I am recalibrating my reflexes to match Sedona tread. I pedaled for 2 hr 2 mins covering 14 miles climbing 1198′; by the clock, elapsed time was 4 1/2 hours. Towards then end I developed strong hunger pains from light lunch energy uptake and I failed to prepare for a long day from all the gab stops. Finale was climb up Axis.

Back at D & L’s place to continue friendship and to refuel on Leia’s home fixins’.

Back in my house parked in their driveway for the night. Pleasant temp evening. Sunday breakfast is my scratch blueberry pancakes. I ate entire batch to not even save several for later snack. I cleaned up kitchen and was just staring to gather the makings of my skillet cornbread. The skillet was on the propane fueled stove burner preheating for only a short moment when the burned faded: Ran out of propane. I retuned the cornmeal fixings back to storage. A short morning visit with Doug then I headed out. Hardware store for propane, full fill-up, fridge fired back up. Visited at Thunder Mountain with past connections. I bought a pair of their shop socks as they are a Revel dealer. Then down to VOC for reconnects. Spent time at Absolute for only 1 new guy to meet, others were known and reconnects.

D & L drove down. I met them here. Our group finally agreed on a hike out Turkey Creek area. I rode with then to a turnout on Verde Valley School road. Our hike was on trails that Doug and I have ridden. We well traveled when we heard a woman’s voice we answered back, she joined us. She asked for directions as she and her sister were lost and she was on 911 asking for help. We learned where they needed to go then acted as their guide as we were going in their direction. The trail is on FS land with private built up against the boundary. We saw a social trail heading in their desired direction so we hiked it to fence line of private property. It was now up to them to figure out the streets to get back to their car. Us 3 did a good deed.

New Year’s eve sleep spot is behind outlet mall in VOC. Might walk over to PJs to expose myself to revelry. Tomorrow Ian invited  me on a ride. Grocery store ran out of broccoli that I wanted for my dinner. Run on other groceries also.

Zags lost as did Ohio State. I have allowed their misfortune to adversely affect me.

And that is all he created.

 

 

 

Yesterday was last day in Hurkin. Started day with laundry, coffee at River Rock, $40 of diesel, picked up new Grip shifter at OTE. Then steered towards Kanab to ride a new system on Tilt mesa.

SW desert land.

BLM developed this trail system for mtn bikes and class 1 M-bikes. Parking lot size sim to what a grocery store would have. Trail runs the perimeter of mesa with other trails inside. Just finished earlier this year. Place to stop and ride on the way to somewhere. Well laid out and built.

Prolly shortest ride lasting 36 mins riding 3.31 miles. System has more miles that necessitate descending then climbing back up to repeat.

Some patches of slick rock

All alone there.

Late afternoon ride. Transitioned from riding to sitting behind wheel for drive to Cottonwood Canyon outside the Escalante National monument. I found this spot on a previous pass thru. 21 degrees in morning.

This morning after oatmeal, coffee, and toast breakfast I continued to Page, now in AZ to ride Red Mesa, another brand new system of mesa riding on slick rock. Presently 32 degrees full sunshine but not moving the temp.

Stopped at Glen Canyon dam overlook.

Ride here shortly then continue to Sedona and city riding.

Yesterday I rode from the corral spot out the road then up Dead Ringer to JEM TH where about 5 rigs were parked, one was occupied by an older couple in hiking boots. Hmm, Seems I need to refine my definition of older. Crossed the empty highway onto Goulds then the spin around the mesa reconnecting to Goulds back to corral. Wonderful condition day:

OK, slight chill that was abated by sufficient protection. 10.5 miles pedaling for 1 hr 22 mins. All alone.

Solitude for me is an outcome of my lifestyle as I live out of town and ride out of town trails by myself. I seek aloneness. Curmudgeon, ornery old man. I eschew crowds of more than 5 people. I hear or read people saying that they seek out of doors activity because they live around lots of people and civilization. They escape to the outdoors then return to civilization. Me, I live and play out in the outdoors and only join humanity for provisions and social interaction. The desert above Hurkin is spacious and no night people. Contrast to next stop Sedona that the trails are on US public lands but up against private land. Hard to separate from the mass.

Two large glasses of wine introduced into my body as I am emptying the box wine, what (?) a box. Spell check fixes the spelling, no check on the thoughts.

Wide open desert and naked geology here.

Tonight I am staying nearby.

I finished my last book creating need for next book. I googled book reviews and picked 3. Short story today I called local big box book seller who said she had those 3 in her hand for my pick up down in St George. And today was 33% savings on hardcovers on those books. Drove down to ST George to pick up books. Reason to sleep out at Santa Clara  staging for a ride here tomorrow.

I stayed at the corral for 3 nights and days. I relied on 1 solar panel to capture sufficient energy to charge my camper batteries. This summer a new controller was installed which is bluetooth for me to see the batteries capacity. one night I neglected to read the charge wishing enough juice to power the heater and fridge. I woke chilly and the heater flashing red LEDs. I cleared the fault and the heater lit for few seconds then quit and flashed codes. The fridge joined in with its fault code. I surmised no electric, solution was to start the cold diesel and allow to run for 30 mins. Fridge restarted telling me low voltage. I left to propex off as the blower sucks energy. Outside temp is in 20s, inside maybe low fifties. Back up is cat heater that I commanded to send warmth. Only  the pilot light would light but not open the valve for heat. I applied percussive persuasion to no avail, valve would not open. I shock out my down sleeping bag and covered my bed with it. I gave the heater another go, this time the valve opened and I set it on high. Doesn’t use electricity. The forced hot air heater produces more enjoyable heat. In the morning I checked battery voltage that was sufficient, Batteries seem to take charge so they are not toast. The next 2 nights the batteries remained strong meet the needs of full time consumption of fridge and maker of heated air.

I mix the tech trail pieces with more pedaling pieces for rides, 1 ride pedal, next a bit more upper body effort. The Hurricane Cliffs trails offer that mix.

Tomorrow is the chunk of Santa Clara trails of Barrel Roll.

Next stop is Sedona. On the way there I plan on riding the trails outside of Kanab that I passed on my way here. OTE guy told me of new trails outside Page similar to Church Rocks fossilized sand dunes that I will ride. Two new to me trails. Then Sedona for New Years.