After our first taste of
Sedona and a great night of sleep at our first official boondocking campsite, we were eager to get back to the trails on Monday morning.
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| Prepping to ride at the Yavapai Vista. Even the parking lots had magnificent views! |
Our friends Rudy and Peter had been to Sedona in the past and were happy to play tour guide and show us around. After a short pedal from the Yavapai parking lot, Rudy led us down a trail called
Hiline while standing conveniently in front of the big sign warning riders that this trail is extremely dangerous and intended for experts only. After a slow, grueling climb over endless rock gardens, including a few sections with intimidating exposure, we finally reached a magnificent lookout.
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| Rewarding view at the top of Hiline. |
We took a much needed break to catch our breath, rehydrate, and eat, then took off down the first roller coaster downhill section. Rudy and Peter stopped in a few places to show us their favorite secret lines, with lots of big rock rolls and drops. This was Mike and my first time ever riding terrain like this, and it was such a treat to have some patient guides who were willing to show us all the fun challenges and help us figure out how to navigate them safely.
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| Scoping out the most challenging line options. |
After the first downhill section, the trail mellowed out until we arrived at a small sign labeled "The Chute", with a couple of black diamonds carved in as a warning that things were about to get rowdy. The trail suddenly became insanely steep and rocky. Some sections reached nearly a 45 degree angle and offered dire consequences for failure. We watched in awe as Rudy and Peter effortlessly picked their way down the challenging sections. We hoped that we might be able to work up to riding these features over the coming months. Today, however, we were perfectly happy walking.
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| The last beams of sunlight lit up the red rocks. |
On Tuesday, we again followed Rudy on what quickly became a ridiculous adventure ride. The fun started with a surprise creek crossing. We stuffed our socks, shoes, and knee pads into our packs and proceeded to slip and slide our way across a slimy rock hidden under a foot of fast moving water. One misstep and you're going down! Luckily everyone made it across with no incidents. We stood on the side of the creek letting our feet dry in the sun while watching other hikers laugh and slide their way across.
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| Carefully navigating the slimy rocks. |
On the other side of the creek we rode through a small park and followed a walking path to a dead end at a concrete drainage ditch. That didn't stop Rudy though. We jumped over the small ditch, then dragged our bikes up a crawl-on-all-fours steep deer path, stopping every few feet to dislodge thorny brambles from our clothes and packs. At the top of the hill, we noticed the proper hiking trail only a few feet to our left and cursed a little. We proceeded up what appeared to be a runoff chute full of loose round rocks. Every now and then someone would hit a rock just right and send a small avalanche of stones down towards the others. One by one we all lost momentum and had to jump off the bikes and walk to keep moving upward.
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| We found this field of cairn piles as we rode past a little beach along the creek. |
I was so happy to find the actual singletrack again, but the happiness quickly faded as we realized the trails were no easier than the bushwhacking. After feeling as though we must have ridden all the way around Sedona twice, we finally made it to the home stretch and enjoyed the smooth downhill back toward the parking lot. As a final f-u from the ride, Mike kicked a cactus that was leaning into the trail and we had to stop and pick the barbs out of his shoes and socks before we could continue. We slept well that night.
On Wednesday we were all in need of a rest day after our long adventure. We decided to check out a couple of the nearby historic sites,
Montezuma's Well and
Montezuma's Castle.
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| Montezuma's Well is a giant spring fed pond hidden in the middle of the desert. It supplied the entire area with water with a simple irrigation system dating back nearly 1000 years. |
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| Montezuma's Castle is an impressive cliff dwelling in the middle of a limestone cliff. |
Rudy, Peter, and Dennis invited us to join them in Prescott. They planned to drive through
Jerome, an iconic town built into the side of a mountain. After learning the roads were extremely tight with multiple switchbacks following the edge of a cliff, we decided it would be best to take the long way around. We made plans to meet back up with the group later that evening.
Read more about our favorite spots in Sedona.
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