Went on a little trip last weekend 12/1-12/4. I had an old classmate invite me to ride with him sometime kind of in his backyard. Little did I know what his "backyard" consisted of. My mom of 74 years wanted to see her brother who lives in Arizona, Cottonwood, and asked me if I would take her out. So being the great son that I am I told her sure why not. So I called up my friend from school and told him my plans and he was hot on it.So off I went to AZ to ride in the "desert". He lent me his YZ450WR and he used a friends DRZ400. I took a new set of gear ,TLD, and had a new pair of boots sent to his office in Phoenix. Little did I know what I was in for. I landed in Phoenix on Friday, and took my mom to Cottonwood. Met up with my friend on Saturday morning in Mayer. He told me that he wanted to see me ride before meeting up with a few of his riding buddies. I guess he didn't want me to embarrass him in front of his buddies. Man what an experience!!! Little did I guess the difference between desert and HIGH desert. We rode for an hour or so until we ended up in the ghost town of CROWN KING. If any of you who think that they are a good rider PLEASE ride these "trails". You will learn a great deal of finesse and grow some extremely large huevos. Coming into the road near Crown King I think we were somewhere near 6000 feet. Then comes the decent into town. But this isn't anything compared to the ride after Crown King. Well anyway we stopped for lunch and a quick refill of the fuel and off we went to pick a few cactus needles out of one of our "guides" rear tire.
Back on the way to ride, we left his place and went up the road to the top of the mountain, somewhere around 7000 feet. Seeing that they were to show us the trail I assumed I was to follow from the back. Little did I know that I was to be in the middle. (3rd out of 5) After a few hundred feet down the hill(?) I was now running 2nd, pushing the leader. Now mind you I am a flatlander,(After seeing these hills that is what Michigan is!!!) you ride on a 4 to 5 INCH trail with a 200 to 300 foot ledge only a sneeze away. Basically the way down the mountain is lock up the brakes and slide all the way down. Anyway there is a ledge about halfway down that is a really tight 180 separated by about 5 feet of cactus and assorted arm rippers. There is a small platform to turn around on (approximately 7ft by 5ft. If you have talent you can spin around and continue on your merry(?) way. I must not have talent, I had it balanced for a couple of minutes when the bike decided to fall. I inturn went along with its decision. When I got back on my feet there was a 200 foot crevice staring at me. There is bush to keep you somewhere near the top but just remember that most of it is cactus and juniper bushes. Not a place you really want to set you rearend. We took a small break there to get our nerves back in our skin and then descended into the "washes". Again being from Michigan I had no clue what I was about to embark upon. For the uninformed , these are the nastiest dry creek beds that you will ever see. The ROCKS are about 2 to 4 foot in diameter, EVERYWHERE!!!![/B] A little further up the trail there was a spot that spooked me more that the cactus grazing by my boots earlier. There was a washout next to a tree at least 25 foot to the bottom. The tree was on my left, the wash on my right, and 2 repeat 2 inches of rock to ride on to get by this tree. You talk about scary. By this time I am 3rd and no one in sight. The 2 leaders are 500 feet ahead and the 2 in the rear couldn't be heard. Well I stalled the bike trying to keep it in the same plane of decent. Thank god for electric starters!!!
I continued on my way until I caught up with the guy on the CRF450X who just flipped his bike on a rock. He was laughing that it still ran upside down... :laugh: We took a short break until everyone caught up and continued until the trail split. Determining which way to go we left our guides and headed back to the truck. Trying to find our trail which we lost several times we finally got back at 5:30. We spent 6 hours of riding and only covered 40 miles! On the way back "home" my arms and legs were so sore, I felt like I rode at least 125 miles of Jack Pine.
If you want to have a riding experience second to none head to Arizona and ride the "202 JEEP trail to the 202 single line" and head to Crown King . Go into the saloon and ask for the BULL Run or the BULL gap trail. Ride this trail . Just make sure you have a GOOD map and more gas than you can put into your camelbak. You will have one of the most awesome rides of your life.
Back on the way to ride, we left his place and went up the road to the top of the mountain, somewhere around 7000 feet. Seeing that they were to show us the trail I assumed I was to follow from the back. Little did I know that I was to be in the middle. (3rd out of 5) After a few hundred feet down the hill(?) I was now running 2nd, pushing the leader. Now mind you I am a flatlander,(After seeing these hills that is what Michigan is!!!) you ride on a 4 to 5 INCH trail with a 200 to 300 foot ledge only a sneeze away. Basically the way down the mountain is lock up the brakes and slide all the way down. Anyway there is a ledge about halfway down that is a really tight 180 separated by about 5 feet of cactus and assorted arm rippers. There is a small platform to turn around on (approximately 7ft by 5ft. If you have talent you can spin around and continue on your merry(?) way. I must not have talent, I had it balanced for a couple of minutes when the bike decided to fall. I inturn went along with its decision. When I got back on my feet there was a 200 foot crevice staring at me. There is bush to keep you somewhere near the top but just remember that most of it is cactus and juniper bushes. Not a place you really want to set you rearend. We took a small break there to get our nerves back in our skin and then descended into the "washes". Again being from Michigan I had no clue what I was about to embark upon. For the uninformed , these are the nastiest dry creek beds that you will ever see. The ROCKS are about 2 to 4 foot in diameter, EVERYWHERE!!!![/B] A little further up the trail there was a spot that spooked me more that the cactus grazing by my boots earlier. There was a washout next to a tree at least 25 foot to the bottom. The tree was on my left, the wash on my right, and 2 repeat 2 inches of rock to ride on to get by this tree. You talk about scary. By this time I am 3rd and no one in sight. The 2 leaders are 500 feet ahead and the 2 in the rear couldn't be heard. Well I stalled the bike trying to keep it in the same plane of decent. Thank god for electric starters!!!
I continued on my way until I caught up with the guy on the CRF450X who just flipped his bike on a rock. He was laughing that it still ran upside down... :laugh: We took a short break until everyone caught up and continued until the trail split. Determining which way to go we left our guides and headed back to the truck. Trying to find our trail which we lost several times we finally got back at 5:30. We spent 6 hours of riding and only covered 40 miles! On the way back "home" my arms and legs were so sore, I felt like I rode at least 125 miles of Jack Pine.
If you want to have a riding experience second to none head to Arizona and ride the "202 JEEP trail to the 202 single line" and head to Crown King . Go into the saloon and ask for the BULL Run or the BULL gap trail. Ride this trail . Just make sure you have a GOOD map and more gas than you can put into your camelbak. You will have one of the most awesome rides of your life.
