Subject: 4 day ride to the Grand Canyon Fri Jul 09, 2010 4:52 pm
It will take me a while to get all the videos uploaded, the pics cropped, & a report written, so i'll just post a couple of pics for now.
We left the verde valley on 7/5/10 & came home on 7/8/10.. a total of 4 days, and about 600 miles, mostly off road. The first 3 days we had maybe 50 miles of pavement.
How about a nice climb of casner mountain from the verde valley to right below flagstaff.. a total of about 4k ft.. here's a thousand or so of that climb:
The view from above.. not quite halfway up:
The bikes that went on the ride.. Tom couldn't carry all his luggage on his wr.. no racks yet, so he brought the xrl.. he's very sorry he didn't have the wr.
I'll post more later.. in a few days or so.. have a lot to catch up on. scotty
rydnseek
Subject: Grand Canyon, July 2010. Day 1 Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:06 pm
The Climb, the Canyon, the Cows. Grand Canyon, July 2010
Every year I try to take at least one ride to the Grand Canyon.. it's close, it's amazing, it's a wonder of the world, for crying out loud! So this is a must do ride for me.. the highlight of my year.. probably the only reason i haven't despaired of living altogether.. well, maybe not the only reason.
So anyway, this year we got a little later ride in than usual, but it was fairly cool & we were mostly in higher elevations. We had 4 or 5 riders who were going to come, but things came up for everyone except Tom & I. So we met in Cottonwood, Az at Bill Gray road about 7am on 7/5, & began another epic ride to the Grand Canyon. I had rooms reserved at the maswik lodge & Tom always liked going there for the long island iced teas.
Bill Gray road turns to dirt almost immediately, & meanders in the foothills until we hit the powerline road going up Casner Mountain. This is a great ride by itself, & the first time we've done it at the start of the Grand Canyon ride.
The staging area.. just the bikes with the big church in the background.
We went up Bill Gray road for a while, then started up the powerline road, through the gate (no 4 wheeled vehicles!), & climbed the mountain. It is steeper than it looks in the video.. but when i look back, you can see how high we came. This part wasn't a particularly hard switchback.. i just was slowing to look at the views, & lost my momentum, then my balance.. my only drop of the ride, & we got into much nastier terrain. Perhaps i could suggest that i 'stopped' on purpose to take some pictures?
The view from where i 'stopped' in the above video..
More climbing up Casner..
The view toward Sedona.. it was a little hazy early in the morning from the fires on the north rim, & the ones that are mostly under control to the north east of Flagstaff.
..still more of the casner climb..
Here's Tom taking on one of the switchbacks..
The view to the northwest. It's getting some morning sun. We're still only about halfway up. We started at about 3k ft, & will climb to over 7k in the pines.
The riders.. Scotty & Tom.. hiding our faces under our helmets so as to travel incognito.
Once you get to the top of casner, there is still more climbing & following a ridge or saddle with spectacular views on either side. In the morning light, the green hills to the east overlap each other with great shadows.
Southeast toward Sedona..
Climbing again from the saddle..
Once on top, we got into the pines. The vegetation changes & the air gets cooler.. we're probably about 6500' in this area.
more later..
Boondocker
Subject: video context Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:40 pm
In the first video, you were doing great, right up until you fell down. Oops. Is your camera mounted on the lower, left side of your helmet? (that you in the blue jacket/silver helmet?) I like the fact that the helmet is not in the picture. Many people mount it on top and you can see the visor in the bottom of the frame. The visor never moves in relation to the camera, which gives a false sense of stability. Your videos convey a greater sense of motion. There were a few frames that caught your shadow (rider's shadow). That was almost an out of body experience. I'm used to watching motorcycle racing on TV, so seeing the rider on the bike is an important context.
As a fashion note, I have the same Fieldsheer Mach 4 jacket, but in yellow...which doesn't match my blue bike, or red/silver helmet, or orange backpack, or...the fashion nightmare list goes on.
Before I forget, I must say that I love your rides, ride reports, and equally excellent photo/video-graphy.
Best regards
Mr. Fisherman
Subject: Re: 4 day ride to the Grand Canyon Fri Jul 09, 2010 11:11 pm
Great stuff Scottie!
Hey, those mirrors don't look stock... And what kind of camera are you using... It sure transitions from shadows to sun nicely.
Thanks for sharing....
Jersey Devil
Subject: Re: 4 day ride to the Grand Canyon Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:31 am
Thanks for posting pictures for us. A lot of that country I didnt have time to stop and enjoy as I was changing duty stations and drove from NC to Cali via I-40. Stopped in Ft. Defiance to see a friend of mine that lives on the Navajo Res. Got a picture of a Grand Canyon Railroad sign at about 1 or 2am and somewhere along the way I stopped and checked out the giant meteor crater. Then headed onto Cali to report in. I would sure like to fit that 4.5 gallon tank and a new seat and motor on out there with y'all to see everything I missed. Keep on posting hose awesome pics!!
rydnseek
Subject: Re: 4 day ride to the Grand Canyon Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:22 am
Boondocker wrote:
In the first video, you were doing great, right up until you fell down. Oops. Is your camera mounted on the lower, left side of your helmet? (that you in the blue jacket/silver helmet?) I like the fact that the helmet is not in the picture. Many people mount it on top and you can see the visor in the bottom of the frame. The visor never moves in relation to the camera, which gives a false sense of stability. Your videos convey a greater sense of motion. There were a few frames that caught your shadow (rider's shadow). That was almost an out of body experience. I'm used to watching motorcycle racing on TV, so seeing the rider on the bike is an important context.
As a fashion note, I have the same Fieldsheer Mach 4 jacket, but in yellow...which doesn't match my blue bike, or red/silver helmet, or orange backpack, or...the fashion nightmare list goes on.
Before I forget, I must say that I love your rides, ride reports, and equally excellent photo/video-graphy.
Best regards
I have the camera on the left side of my helmet. I've had it on the top before, but i like it better on the side.. less in the way, down lower for more visibility, & it's protected a little better.
This is my favorite adventure riding jacket.. it has a rain jacket that goes over the mesh jacket.. makes it much warmer, easier to put on if the rain starts, & stores in a zippered pouch in the back.
I thought i was the only one who did the fashion faux pas! I knew on this ride i'd better match up with the nattily attired Tom, so i took extra care in picking out my riding gear.
Mr. Fisherman wrote:
Great stuff Scottie!
Hey, those mirrors don't look stock... And what kind of camera are you using... It sure transitions from shadows to sun nicely.
Thanks for sharing....
It's a different mirror.. only on the left. I got it on ebay & it was supposed to be a left mirror, but turned out to be a left handed thread right mirror for a yamaha.. but now that i've used it a bit, it works better with my videos.. not in the way as much, & i can still see behind me.
The contour hd is the camera.. it does very well transitioning from light to dark.. very astute of you to notice.. that is one of the nicer features of this camera.
Jersey Devil wrote:
Thanks for posting pictures for us. A lot of that country I didnt have time to stop and enjoy as I was changing duty stations and drove from NC to Cali via I-40. Stopped in Ft. Defiance to see a friend of mine that lives on the Navajo Res. Got a picture of a Grand Canyon Railroad sign at about 1 or 2am and somewhere along the way I stopped and checked out the giant meteor crater. Then headed onto Cali to report in. I would sure like to fit that 4.5 gallon tank and a new seat and motor on out there with y'all to see everything I missed. Keep on posting hose awesome pics!!
Great riding out here for sure.. maybe next time you can spend more time to check it out! I'll be getting the bigger tank too, if and when it comes out.
rydnseek
Subject: day 1 continued.. Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:24 am
Once on top, we got into the pines. The vegetation changes & the air gets cooler.. we're probably about 6500' in this area.
There were still plenty of rocky roads, though..
We had some views of the burn in the area last year.. it looks like they have been harvesting some of the burnt timber, which removes future fire fuel, & gets at least something good from the fire. It still looks bad, & you can smell the smoke as you pass through, even though it hasnt' rained in a while.
we were heading for Park, an old route 66 stop near I-40. We got on some nice cool roads in the pines.
After we crossed I-40, we filled our tanks in Park, had an ice cream break, & continued our way north to the canyon. We had a short bit of pavement around the I-40 corridor. But the road turned back into dirt, & we got onto the old stagecoach roads that are common in the area.
There was a lot of wildlife along these roads.. they were pretty slow getting off the road sometimes.. But you should always approach cows very slowly.. you want to make sure they don't spook & jump into you or suddenly dart in front of you.
It was only about 10am, but we both had a sudden urge for a hamburger..
The terrain changed again & the pines slowly disappeared. We were now in open high prairie. There weren't too many trees, but some sage & a few grasses..
The road went on for miles.. long, flat & wide open.
We were on the coconino rim road for some of the ride, the Az trail for some, then got on grandview road as we got closer to The Canyon.
Soon we got off the dirt & turned onto hwy 64 that follows the canyon rim. We stopped here for our late lunch, enjoyed the views for a while, then turned to the village & our room for the night. It was now about 3pm. We had been riding for about 8 hrs in some pretty tough terrain. Plus we had to hit the tavern & sample the local brews, & get ready for some serious dinner fare.
No longer incognito.. posing for the paparazzi. Fortunately, there were mostly europeans & other foreigners at the GC & they didn't recognize us.
While staggering back from the tavern, we came upon a couple of these guys browsing along the railroad tracks.. There must have been a bright spotlight shining.. surely we weren't going home while it was still light..
We made it back to the room somehow, & fell asleep after catching some sportcenter for the pressing news. We had a big day planned for tomorrow.. a long ride to the east of the canyon & through the Navajo rez.
End of Day 1.
rydnseek
Subject: Day 2 Sat Jul 10, 2010 10:35 am
Day 2. Switchbacks, travertine & solitude.
I got up to catch some early morning views while Tom went through his morning routine.
We were heading for the east side of the canyon & knew we'd be in for a long day. So we got an early start & gassed up in desert view at the east entrance. We went down the rocky switchbacks that came out in the Navajo rez. It was very rocky, steep, rutted & required all our concentration, riding skill, & dumb luck to navigate.
We left desert view about 7am & started down the rocky switchbacks.. they were even more washed out this year, & had deep loose ruts added to the steep decline. That made the descent a little tricky, especially being distracted with the awesome views.
There were a couple of pretty gnarly sections on this road.. we had to roll along a narrow ridge to miss some deep ruts, & some of the turns were in steep, loose rocks. But we made it through, & weren't planning on coming back this way for the ride back.
Some of the next few pictures have a small tower in the upper left corner.. this is the desert view tower.
Eventually, we made it down the steepest switchbacks, & began heading east into the Navajo rez.
The road continued to be very rocky, had lots of ups & downs, some loose steps, & occasional ruts. We would get a workout today, & have to be very alert for the whole ride.
Along this road there were several ruins.. some smaller hogan foundations, some old wooden remnants, & lots of rock stacks of unknown function. Some were fairly new, others were very old.
The road continued, becoming more open & arid. Junipers disappeared & sage, low shrubs & small cactus dotted the countryside.
Along here we had our only mechanical mishap.. a bolt had vibrated out of Tom's rack somewhere, & was now flopping uselessly on the side of his bike. Finding it seemed impossible, & we couldn't find a spare that would work. So we pushed some zip ties through the hole until we could get a replacement bolt.
Our problems temporarily solved, we continued along the long & winding road.. miles & miles of open road with plenty of surprises to keep us awake.
Somewhere along here, Tom remembered he used to be a racer, & got tired of my plodding pace.. he flew by & increased our speed for a while, but the long road takes it's toll with the constant concentration, & he eventually slowed down to a more leisurely pace.
There were no breaks.. no flat stretches of easy riding, but rocks, hills, ruts & off camber riding for hours.
We didn't stop because we thought we'd need all the time to get to our destination & back.. but we could have stopped a few times to refresh & recharge.. next time we will.
When the rocks thinned out some, the ruts replace them.. i got tossed off the road a couple of times by the ruts.. no spectacular crashes, but i did have to regain control & get back on the road.
We kept hoping the next hill would afford us a view of our destination.. but for miles we only saw open spaces & rocky grades.. the road endlessly stretching out before us.
xcel
Subject: Re: 4 day ride to the Grand Canyon Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:16 pm
Hi Scott:
That is some nasty rough Adventure riding you posted! Great views to go along with the excellent Ride Report too.
There is something about sitting on the edge of the rim and just staring out over the vastness for an indetrminate amount of time. At least it appears that way in the second from the last self portrait shot. It clears the head and cleanses the soul... And I have only been there twice. The second time to propose to my wife.
So when are you going to start a Canyon Adventure Riding Company to help others explore the Canyon as it was ment to be explored? With a trailer full load of WR250R rentals for those lacking bikes of course
As for being a Fashionista, that floral shirt and hat you wore for the night time festivities speaks volumes
Good Luck and I really did enjoy your ride!
Wayne
Last edited by xcel on Sat Jul 10, 2010 10:38 pm; edited 3 times in total
rydnseek
Subject: Re: 4 day ride to the Grand Canyon Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:15 pm
xcel wrote:
Hi Scott:
That is some nasty rough Adventure riding you posted! Great views to go along with the excellent Ride Report too.
There is something about sitting on the edge of the rim and just staring out over the vista for an indetrminate amount of time. At least it appears that way in the second from the last self portrait shot. It clears the head and cleanses the soul... And I have only been there twice. The second time to propose to my wife.
So when are you going to start a Canyon Adventure Riding Company to help others explore the Canyon as it was ment to be explored? With a trailer full load of WR250R rentals for those lacking bikes of course
As for being a Fashionista, that floral shirt and hat you worse for the nighttime festivities speaks volumes
Good Luck and I really did enjoy your ride!
Wayne
Thanks, Wayne..
the best is yet to come! i'll be posting the rest of day 2 next.. the views there were awesome. I am very comfortable looking into the vastness of the Canyon.. it is a mystical place & being there & being immersed in it is very soul cleansing.. not to get too sedona-weird about it.
I can not imagine the logistical problems of running a tour company.. no thanks! I'm sure my fashion tastes have improved with Tom being such a good role model.
Later! scotty
rydnseek
Subject: Day 2 continued.. Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:20 pm
Finally we made it to our destination: The confluence of the Little Colorado & the Colorado rivers: Cape Solitude.
We were not disappointed. The views were spectacular. The sun was high.. it was nearly noon. The visibility was pretty good, even with the smoke from the north rim fire. We had a pretty good breeze blowing to the west, so it kept the smoke away, & it kept the temps down. We were in the 5-6k ft range, so it was hotter than on the rim, but not too bad. The sun was pretty intense, though.
We were also a little closer to the river from here, & could see rafts on the river.. they were tiny specks, but we could see them.
We stopped & had our lunch here.. looking out across the vast expanse. Cape Solitude was aptly named. We didn't see another person along the entire road. No hikers. No jeeps. No bicycles. ..just an occasional bright green lizard & a chipmunk scurrying across the road.
To the north, the river was a bit straighter as it came to the rivers confluence..
The bikes were tired, too, and seemed to enjoy the views.
As we started to walk down to get a better view of the little colorado river, i noticed this guy under my jacket on the bike.. he snapped his jaws at me & made a funny chirping noise. I thought he wouldn't be any happier than I if he got under my jacket on my person, so i got a stick & relocated him to a nearby bush.
The confluence. Tom & i both wondered why the water was blue from the Little Co. river. I looked it up later & found it was because of travertine & limestone in the canyon above, which turns the water blue. It dissapates when it hits the main river. During high water, it is muddy. It was kind of cool seeing it bright blue. You can see a group of rafts right above the blue water. There were several more coming down river. I'm zoomed in 5x in this pic.. you can't see any better detail with the naked eye.
Here's the view to the east along the little colorado river canyon.. the river is blue all the way.
Back north along the Colorado..
More pics of the area..
This was definitely a primo destination spot. we oohed & ahhed at the views for a while, took lots of pics, & finally decided we should head back.. we had to backtrack for about 30 miles of pretty tough terrain before we got to a different way out.
I didn't take many more pics, since we'd been this way before. It was still pretty fresh in our memory.
We eventually came to where we had come down, but we didn't go back via the rocky switchbacks.. we thought we'd take the 'easier' way of going up the gray mt. truck trail to hwy 64, then return on the pavement. I didn't take any pics or vids, but i had forgotten how long & steep & gnarly the climb is from the Little Colorado river plateau. It went up for nearly 2k ft, & was almost as tough as the casner mt climb, but with more steps. But we finally made it through, & got on the pavement. We went through the east entrance & got back to our room. Too tired to go out, we crashed & napped for about an hour before heading over to the pizza joint at Maswik for pizza & beer. We were too tired to walk over to the tavern for our usual rounds before dinner.
Tom said this was the toughest ride he'd ever been on. But remember, Tom forgets anything more than a few days old, so it probably wasn't really the toughest. But you get the idea. It was a rugged, gnarly, challenging, & long ride. Would i do it again? In a heartbeat.
End of Day 2.
xcel
Subject: Re: 4 day ride to the Grand Canyon Sun Jul 11, 2010 12:30 am
Hi Scott:
I just watched all but the final 3 vids in the final post in backward succession. It appears as if you were slowing down and being a more cautious rider as the hours and days wore on which looked like the smart thing to do given the terrain looked really rough out there! Probably more worn out too?
Also, I saw you had to go around yellow gates three times. Are those only to keep 4x4's out of a utility right of way or something?
Dueto the HD Hero camera perspective, the only way I could tell you were climbing was hearing the engine Revs pick up some. It grabbed my attention as you began to get bounced around a lot in some of those segments! At least I think that is what was happening in some sections of the various vids?
TIA
Wayne
rydnseek
Subject: Re: 4 day ride to the Grand Canyon Sat Jul 17, 2010 7:40 am
xcel wrote:
Hi Scott:
I just watched all but the final 3 vids in the final post in backward succession. It appears as if you were slowing down and being a more cautious rider as the hours and days wore on which looked like the smart thing to do given the terrain looked really rough out there! Probably more worn out too?
Also, I saw you had to go around yellow gates three times. Are those only to keep 4x4's out of a utility right of way or something?
Dueto the HD Hero camera perspective, the only way I could tell you were climbing was hearing the engine Revs pick up some. It grabbed my attention as you began to get bounced around a lot in some of those segments! At least I think that is what was happening in some sections of the various vids?
TIA
Wayne
Hi Wayne.
No doubt we slowed as the day wore on.. but we'd get a second wind every now & then.
The gates were at day 1 on the casner mountain trail.. it is one of those rare trails that is open to motorcycles, but not to jeeps or quads. Bicycles & hikers are ok, of course.
You are right in that the camera doesn't pick up the steepness due to the angle or depth of view, & the way you notice it is to hear the engine rpm's go up. My camera is the contour hd, & it does a decent job of getting the light contrast changes, but to get the steepness of the hill, i'd have to be further back with other reference points. It does show a little, though.
I was out of town for a few days, & didn't get to finish the report.. hopefully i'll have the last couple of days done in a bit..
rokka
Subject: Arizona & Grand canyon Sun Jul 18, 2010 10:44 am
Fantastic ! The are you ride in is the most beuatifull place on earth that i have visit ! It wakes a dream that one day i will ride over there.
rydnseek
Subject: Day 3. Sat Jul 24, 2010 9:22 am
Day 3. Viva España! Renaldo's bolt shop.
We slept in a bit (7am!) & decided our plan for the day. We were still pretty tired from the previous day's ride, & were also thinking of taking in the semi's of the world cup.. España vs. Deutchland. But we had to get Tom's bolt for his rack so he could take his panniers home. The only hope for a bolt was the general store in Tusyan. We rode into town the back way, down Rowe Well road (dirt). Then we stopped for breakfast at Wendy's.. fair but reasonably fast. Next we hit all the stores.. only one general store, & no bolt. Next door to it was an rv park. I know they have to have a lot of maintenance & repairs, so we headed over there & i went inside to ask if they had a bolt in some junk box somewhere. They referred us to Renaldo, the maintenance guy, who was very helpful. We not only got the right size bolt, but some spacers & a nylon lock nut. Tom generously gave the guy $9, which was a lot for $1 worth of bolts.. but we didn't have a lot of places to shop. Rebolted, we headed back to Maswik, where we could catch the World Cup in the pizza/beer bar.
We got there just in time.. after the game started, there would be standing room only. Lots of Europeans go to the grand canyon.. Asians, too. They say there are more visitors from Tokyo to the GC than from Phoenix..
Anyway, it was packed.. seemed like mostly a Germany biased crowd. I asked a young couple behind us to snap the above pic, then asked who they were for, España or Deutchland. 'Deutchland', was the young woman's immediate reply. Every time the German goalie made a stop, the place burst into polite applause. Tom thought it would be fun to get beat up by a mob of angry Germans, so decided to root for Spain. We didn't see or hear any overt Spanish fans in the room. But when the goal was scored late in the second half, the room burst into cheers.. there were a lot of Spanish fans there! Tom's enthusiasm for Spain diminished somewhat, but Germany couldn't overcome their 1 goal deficit, & as you know, Spain went on to win the World Cup. It was fun watching the game with fans who were enthusiastic about the outcome. Some even had little flags painted on their cheeks.
After the game, we decided we had time for another ride to the west. Tom wanted to go along the railroad tracks for a bit, so we headed back down Rowe Well road, then into the NF & followed the Grand Canyon railway tracks for a few miles. Then we came back down the old 'brush' road, & returned to the lodge. I didn't take any video, & only stopped for this pic of the lodge..
Rustic accomodations at their finest! The ride was only 2-3 hrs, but one nice thing about summer is the longer days. We cleaned up after the ride & walked over to the famous El Tovar hotel to check out the bar.. it had a better view of the canyon than the one inside of the main Bright Angel lodge. We had a couple of drinks, split an appetizer, then returned to the room to get updated on where Lebron would go, and an early retirement.
End of Day 3.
taoshum
Subject: location questionq Mon Jul 26, 2010 1:31 am
where were you relative to Toroweap? I know it's on the north side...
I rode to Toroweap in April... it's 65 miles or so from Colorado City, Az and supposedly the site of 25 volcano eruptions that created a dam on the river for a long time. It's also a very narrow part of the GC.
I could post some pics if I knew how.
rydnseek
Subject: Re: 4 day ride to the Grand Canyon Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:44 am
taoshum wrote:
where were you relative to Toroweap? I know it's on the north side...
I rode to Toroweap in April... it's 65 miles or so from Colorado City, Az and supposedly the site of 25 volcano eruptions that created a dam on the river for a long time. It's also a very narrow part of the GC.
I could post some pics if I knew how.
We were on the south rim. The Cape is east.. where the little Co. & the big Co rivers come together.
I'll get day 4 up soon.. but going out today for yet another ride!