Telemark Chute - Kachina Peaks (near Flagstaff, AZ)

Maad likes to celebrate his birthday this time of year. I don't know why??? But he does, so he organized a little trip into the Kachina Peaks (near Flagstaff) via Lockett Meadow. We started off our approach on our mountain bikes around 8:30. We had our skis and boots attached to our packs. Well Maad had it easy, as he stashed his skis in the Inner Basin beforehand.

I believe it was 10:00 by the time we got to point on the Inner Basin Trail where we had to abandon our two-wheelers and start hoofing it up the hill. And it was 11:00 by the time picked our way up to Weatherford trail, at the base of Telemark Chute.

We then boot packed up about 500 vf to top of the strip of snow, and then strapped on the skis for the slide down the way we came. There weren't to many options for coming down, as the strip of snow was no wider than 40'. It was actually a fun little slip down. Once we got back on to Weatherford Trail, we walk up the trail about 100 yards and found the another gully with a strip of snow to ride back down on. After I filmed Maad and Jmoney heading down I slipped on my fourth turn and went into an uncontrolled slide and couldn't arrest. Well not until sliding about 20 feet and bowling over Maad who was positioned right in my path. He worked as a pretty good break.

We then pick out islands of snow back down the hill, and then it came to pulling off our skis. The walk back to the bikes was took about 15 minutes, and then another 30 minutes of biking back down road, we were back at the car.

Yeah, it was pretty boney, but we still skied in June in the beautiful state of Arizona.






Here's a vid of the day:





And here is a higher quality (Quicktime) version (note: it will take a few minutes to download):

Click to play

If you have the Google Earth on your computer, here is an interactive map of our tour route.

Canyon Lake Scoot

I fired up the Vespa for an early morning roll out to Canyon Lake/Tortilla Flats this morning with a crew of doods from the Scooter Club of Metro Phoenix & Prescott Area Scooter Club.

I met up with Glen, Jeremy, Steve, Necro23 at 6:00 at Joe's Farm Grill in Gilbert, AZ and we proceed to roll north to the Superstition Highway (US 60). From There we rolled through Apache Junction to the tie into Apache Trail (US 88) for the schweet, schweet curviness out to Canyon Lake. Par for the course, we had followed a boat slowly being hauled to the lake on our trip out to the lake, but our return home was smooth going.

The intention was to get a little breakfast at the Lakeside Restaurant and Cantina, but we showed about about 20 minutes before they opened (8:00 on Saturdays), so we jumped on our machines and cruised up the road to dink around Tortilla Flats to kill some time. We took some pics and shot some vid, then proceed back to the restaurant for some sustenance.

Par for the course, we had followed a boat slowly being hauled to the lake on our trip out to the lake, but our return home was smooth going.

Super fun little excursion.

If you have the Google Earth on your computer, here is an interactive map of our tour route. Google Earth Canyon Lake Scoot Tour

Here is a dorky little vid of the ride:



And here is a higher quality (Quicktime) version (note: it will take a few minutes to download):

Click to play

Sorry Jeremy, I didn't realized I dropped Steve's name in a second time instead of yours in the credits.



And here is a link to some blog entries of my last kayak trip on Canyon Lake.

Pinal Mountain Shuttle Day

Did a little shuttle day on Pinal Mt. (Globe, AZ) today with some peeps for MTBR.

We met up in Globe at 7:30 and were basically bombing down the trail at around 9:00.

We had something like 12 riders with us, and I did three trails with 'em. First we did Ice House, then Freight Train, then finished up with Six Shooter.



Here is the shuttle pick up spot for Ice Canyon Trail and Freight Train: Kellner Canyon Rd


And here is the shuttle pick up spot for Six Shooter Ice House Canyon Road - CCC

Here is a short vid of the day (sorry the colors are kinda blown out):



And here is a slightly better quality quicktime version (note it'll take a minute or two to load up):

Click to play

Tom's Thumb - McDowell Mtns May 16, 2010

Here is a little video of I put together Chollaball rolling on Tom's Thumb in the McDowells:



Here is another rather recent post of Tom's Thumb.

Mingus Downhilling

I've been wanting to ride Mingus Mt. (between Prescott Valley, Jerome, and Cottonwood) for a while now, and thanks to the invitation Helimech and others I jumped on the opportunity.

Some how we packed ten bikes and ten riders into the truck and rolled just about everything up there. Helimech did a great job of linking up several different runs together so shuttle progressed easily. Being my first time up there, it was just a blur of fun. From what I recall, we did 28th street, 110 to 533, Madness, and finished up with Maverick.

110 and 533 had a couple short uphill sections, but was probably my favorite runs. Madness was super steep and sketchy, due to the loose rock (like riding on marbles). Then Maverick was a super long run that took us from the hang glider launch had into the town of Cottonwood, and it had elements of all the the trails we road earlier.

Fun stuff, and it was nice to be in the trees again.

Here is a vid fo the day:



A higher quality Quicktime version can be found here (it'll take a few minutes to load up):

Click to play

We wrapped the day with riding some 'skinnies' and here is a short video of that:



A higher quality Quicktime version can be found here (it'll take a few minutes to load up):

Click to play

Black Canyon - Colorado River: April 29th and 30th, 2010

I've been meaning to get up to the Black Canyon section of the Colorado River, since I flew over Lake Mead last fall. I took a couple of mental health days, and coordinated this little excursion into the canyon with fellow adventurer, Maad Jurguer (check out his blog).

Maad hadn't been in a kayak before, but I knew he would have no problem settling in and digging up the river. I also knew his fitness level and endurance would come in handy as we battled the river current and wind heading up the river. Well done, Maad!

We split from Phoenix at about 6:45 am (4/29/2010) and blasted through Wickenburg and Kingman, and ending up at Willow Beach, AZ (our launch site) a little before noon.

As for the weather, well I was a tad bit concerned. Ya see, AZ had some very high winds, the day/night before, and we actually had some some snow flakes hit the windshield about 10 miles before Kingman (4,200 vf). The clouds that was spitting snow wasn't very big, and we would be paddling about 3,500 vf lower (the river level is about 700 vf). As we loaded up our kayaks, there was a rather dark cloud sitting over us, that kicked out 17 rain drops. Yes, I counted each and every one. I knew this cloud would pass, and once it passed, I also knew the gusty winds that were kicking up white caps (20+ mph winds) would also subside. The cloud was still over us as we launched (about 1:00 pm), and we were getting a little bit beat up, so I instructed Maad to follow me over the Nevada side of the river where it was little more calm, and to hug the shore. About 10 minutes later the cloud moved off, and the winds died dramatically. We still had a rather strong breeze we had to paddle against for most of the day, but also had nice moments where the waters were calm. Event though the wind was in our face, the canyon is narrow enough that water never had a chance to get choppy.

Launching From Willow Beach:




Oh yeah, what was our destination? Well, my goal was to head the 11.5 miles up to the Hoover Dam. And I also wanted to explore the features likes the numerous volcanic hot springs. Here is a high resolution/interactive Google Earth Tour I put together of our trip (once you have the Google Earth Plugin, just hit the play button in the upper right hand corner): Black Canyon Google Earth Tour

Our first feature we spent some time checking out was Emerald Cave (about 2 miles up from Willow Beach - Arizona Side of the river). It is important to hit this cave at the right time, because proper lighting is crucial to catching the brilliant emerald green water at its best. Since it was in the afternoon when we arrived, the sun was positioned optimally so the super green and clear water was glowing. It was awesome. I'm glad we hit it up when we did, cuz the next morning (a little before 10:00), it wasn't nearly as stunning.

Emerald Cave:



Thanks for the pic of me, Maad:


Also in the area was a plank trail built into the cliffs above, used for accessing the cable cart necessary for maintaining the channel marker/meter station on the Nevada side of the river.

Maad and I trudge up the river, and it became apparent that although we were paddling really, really hard, we weren't moving up the river fast enough. It was a tad bit demoralizing not seeing the shoreline pass by, compared to effort we put into paddling. The swirls coming off the the rocks in the water really showed that the current was a lot stronger than I had anticipated. Couple the river current with the headwind, there were spots that would drift us backwards at 4 knots if we stopped paddling. We were only gaining about 2 miles per hour.

We only stopped a couple of times to crawl out of the kayaks, and really limited our time out of the boats. So although we stopped at Arizona Hot Springs (about 8 miles up/ marker # 60), we didn't spend much time exploring,because it was already 5:00 and we had further to go. We chatted it up for a couple of minutes with a small canoeist group that was bivying there for the night, and then we proceed up to Palm Tree Hot Spring (nearly 11 miles up/ almost a mile past marker #62 - Arizona side). Just before we got to Palm Tree Hot Spring we save about 8 or 9 desert Bighorn Sheep hanging high up on the cliffs (Arizona side). Neato! Back at Willow Beach, there was a bald eagle getting buzzed by some pesky ravens. Other than some vulturs and obligatory osprey, that was the only wildlife we say.

Thanks for pic, Maad - Bighorn Sheep:


I was kinda hoping to stay at the Palm Tree Hot Spring, but once we got there it was pretty in hospitable. While Maad explored the area on foot, I continued up river for a place to stay. I made it nearly to the new Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge, before concluding there was any place up there I would choose to stay. The cliffs were pretty rugged. By this time, it was after 6:00 pm, and I knew it was pretty important to find a nice campsite.


Thanks for the pic of me, Maad (notice the bridge?:


We turned the boats around, and headed back down the headed down past marker # 62, and noticed a nice sandy wash on the Nevada side. We investigated further, and it looked primo. This was in the Boy Scout Canyon Hot Spring wash. This was a perfect single tent area about 5' up on the bank. This 5' became really important, because as we were warned that the river level will go up an down dramatically during the night, I knew we wouldn't want to be in the wash itself. Actually, we had to carry the kayaks up the sandy wash about 100' from from the river, which I felt was a safe distance. We got settled in, and ate some food and guzzled a half case of beer, and around 9:00 pm we looked down at the wash, and low and behold the river was nearly to the kayaks. OMG! The river had silently come up way higher than I had expected. We had scraped our feet through the sand only to see wet sand under it, and we did on the bank we sitting until we had scratched in a dry dirt water line. Our tent/camp was at no risk, so we pulled the kayaks up to the site. Phew! No Worries, now. Mental note #74: don't count on any firewood on the river.

Thanks for the Camp pic, Maad:


After a demanding day heading up river, I was excited head back down river the next day. The night was calm and peaceful, and the temps were perfect. Before we split from our site, Maad and I explored the Boy Scout Canyon Hot Spring. We could feel that the water trickling down the was was warm, and it got warmer as we headed up the canyon. We walked up a couple hundred yards and found some really warm pools. Although clean (except for signs warning of harmful amoebaes) and inviting, we actually skipped the soak.

Maad in the Boy Scout Canyon Wash/Hot Spring:





We left our camp at about 7:30 am, and absolutely flat water. Which made for a perfect mirror of the canyon walls. Sweet! Soaking up in the peaceful water while it lasted was nice, because I new as soon as the sun warmed up, the morning breeze would pick up. And it did, but just as it was in our face the day before, it was now perfectly at our backs. I guess our wager for river and wind was an absolute push, which is all I could ask for.

Maad loading the kayak back up:


Serenity Now!!!




We flew down the river, paddling the 10 or so miles back to Willow Beach in 2.5 hours. We barely paddled. We pulled back into 10:00 am. I must admit, we should have spent the day exploring, but had to get back into town.

Here is a Joshua Tree:


Here is a nice little map that notes the features on this route: NPS Black Canyon Map

This was an excellent trip, and I am excited to spent more time in the Black Canyon. My one and only disappointment, other than spending more time here, was my 'go to' video camera had a dead battery. I must have clicked on when I loaded up the car, and it was in a mode that wouldn't allow it to auto shut off. boo hiss. So I was relegated to using my Palm Pre mobile phone, Go Pro helment-cam, and stealing photos from Maad for documenting this trip.

Here is a quick play vid of the day:


And here is a High Quality (Quicktime) vid (it will take a few minutes to load up):

Click to play

If you happen to have Google Earth, here is an interactive tour of our route:


Thanks to Desert River Outfitters for the beta on this trip

Alta/ Bee Knees

Did little pedal last Sunday, no video but here is little Google Earth Tour of the route.

Go ahead play the tour on up in the right hand corner:


Alta Bees Knees Gnar Tour