Alta Trail - South Mountain Park (Phoenix)

This was my second go around on this trail. Here is a little TR of my first ride last December My First Go Around on Alta. After that ride, I had pretty much written Alta Trail off as a hiking trail. But after talking with several people, I learned that heading from West to East is the wrong way to go.

We all met up around 5:00 am, this Saturday at the San Juan Gate. I think our group totaled about 13 very solid riders. It was about 5:45, by the time we hit the trail.

Today's ride did the the East To West method, and the trail redeemed itself very well. The climb up wasn't too bad, and the views were very rewarding. The condition of the trail was little loose, but it flowed so much better in this direction. Exposure on this trail is way high, and mistakes are not allowed.

Here are a few Vids and Pics

Here are waves 1 and 2 off the first saddle:


Here is a clip of DirtGurl's aftermath:


Here are waves 1 and 2 off the second saddle:


 
 
 
 

Flagstaff July, 2007

Schultz to Weathford to Ricochet to Secret to Super-moto and Exit Stage Left (I don't know what the real name of the trail is).

Oh yeah, today was a good day. Elevation had my lungs bleeding, but that was the only blood all day. Jayem and Ross roared up the trail, while Jrock and I took our time. The trails were an absolute hoot. At the bottom, I was joking about wanting to head back up, but Ross actually did head back up.

Here are a few clips.

Canyon Lake, AZ – June 2007

Canyon Lake, AZ – June 2007

Jrock and I put our kayaks in at Acacia Picnic site on Canyon Lake at around 7:30 am. It was warm, and traffic on the lake was already crazy. We ended up paddling across the lake, and made a quick stop to extend the steering pedals a little bit.

We paddled from the main pool of the lake into the narrow canyon that snakes for several miles up to Horse Mesa Dam (Apache Lake). The tall, sheer cliffs are an amazing sight. They make you feel really small, especially sitting in a kayak. Just past Mushroom Point, we made another little pit stop, so Jrock could stretch his legs out. From there we continued on the south side of the narrow lake up to the inlet before Crucifix Canyon. This was a pretty kewl short canyon with green and clean water. Two mallards were hanging out at the end.

From here, we decided, it was getting much to hot and crazy out on the lake, so we decided to head on back. But not before stopping off at Beer Can Point for little lunch and to wade in the lake to cool off. This site has covered picnic tables and fire pits, along with an outhouse.

Our return home was less than serene, as the traffic on the lake had significantly picked up. I’m really glad there was no wind, cuz the chop was bad enough already.

Jrock and I battled our way across the lake, as we dodged tons of jet ski’s and speedboats. We got back to the car around 11:30, and at that point the parking lot was screaming hot, and crowded with picnickers.

I gotta say, this is a really kewl lake, but this is the last time I head up there on hot day on the weekend.

Schultz Creek-Eldon-Flagstaff: May 2007

Schultz Creek-Eldon-Flagstaff: May 2007
Getting some wheelies in up at Flagstaff. Jrock and I split from Scottsdale around 7:00 am on 5/20/07 and rolled into the Schultz Creek Trailhead around 9:30. Where Jayem was waiting for us. This was my first Flagstaff trip, where the trade-off from the heat is riding at elevation. The trailhead starts off around 7,500' and tops out at around 9,000'. We headed up Schultz Creek for about 3.5 miles then took a right at the fence, and bombed down to the Mt. Eldon Rd. Which We rode up to the top of the Ridge to Sunrise Trail. We ripped down Sunrise through some really kewl techy section to Little Bear. Little Bear was a nice long downhill run. At the Bottom of the hill we climb back up to the top of Schultz Creek trail for our exit out.

Abineau Canyon - Crossfire Chutes: May 2007

Abineau Canyon - Crossfire Chutes: May 2007

My thermoregulatory system is getting a little confused. When temperatures hit 101, weekend before last, JrockFeltaz and I got thoroughly cooked while riding on Dixie Mine. And then this last weekend (5/5/07) JrockFeltaz suggested we headed up to Flagstaff to cool off. I should’ve take a closer look the first time around at his PM, cuz he was talking about hitting the slopes for a little boarding/skiing.

I didn’t realize that the peaks up there would still have stashes of snow, but the chutes off the Abineau Canyon trail had plenty of white stuff. In fact there was 1-2 inches of fresh snow at the trailhead. Neither Jrock or I were familiar with the Abineau Canyon trail, and it took us a while to pick our way around the debris from a gi-huge-o avalanche from 2005(?). We topped out at around 10,000’, before we had to turnaround due to some other time constraints. We didn’t achieve our goal of getting to the top of the ridge, figuring we better save it for another day.

Today (5/7/07) was that day for me. Under bluebird skies, the climb up went fast. And the decent was heavenly corn.

TR – Humphrey (almost) 3/3/07

TR – Humphrey (almost) 3/3/07



Jrock and I headed out from the parking lot at Snowbowl w/ backcountry permit in hand at around 10:00 am as the lift area was shut down due to wind. Our goal was to get some turns in the inner volcanic basin of the San Francisco Peaks. We marched up the groomers via Wild Turkey/Logjam to the lower bowl. We then bushwacked a direct line up to the top of the ridge. The wind was honking, and throwing snow up there. The views into the basin were amazing, as the bowl was packed with snow. We then headed north along the ridge towards Humphreys Peak (12,637’), The I don’t think we made it all the way out to the true summit , as we topped out at around 12.5K above an amazing couloir. It musta been around 2:00 by the time we strapped in for the decent into the bowl. Jason wisely took a lower approach into the couloir, because where I put in was WAY, WAY ICY! I actually took a little tumble and slide down a 40-45 degree pitch, before arresting. Ice turned into wind blown crust, and crust turned into dreamy powder as we ripped turns into the basin. Plenty fatigued already, we traversed across the base bowl to just below the low point of the ridge and boot packed/ snowshoed up the and over the ridge. Sitting back on top of the ridge, the elements of cold and wind were bearing down on us, as we snapped a few more pics and prepared for the decent down throw the glades back to the resort. Today, was a good day!

Camp Muir - Mt. Rainier: August 2004

The ski decent from Camp Muir can be done year round. The slog up the Muir snowfield from Paradise to Camp Muir is a little strenuous. Camp Muir is a base-camp for parties setting out on summit climbs.


The first picture looks into the serac of the Nisqually glacier.








Camp Muir tops out around 10,000'. From here, you will see Mt. Adam's due south, and Mt. Saint Helens to the southwest.