March 27, 2012

Hittin' AZ Trails

Last week, flew by so quickly I never got here. Better late than never, as they say. Friday we loaded the RZR onto the trailer, and packed up the Avalanche then hit the road to Phoenix, about 5 o'clock. We arrived at, our friend, Shane's house five hours later. Pulling the trailer makes for a long drive. We wanted an early start on Saturday so we got settled and called it night fairly early.

Saturday we were up and out by 7:00. We met a large group at Shane's brother's house, we drove up to Lake Pleasant and rode 26 miles to Crown King, an old gold mining town. The first half of the ride was so dusty I had to keep my eyes closed. We've never needed goggles before, our trails are far more rocky. We are not used to dirt. Fortunately, Shane's sister-in-law lent me a pair and Frank was able to use those. Crown King is a small town with a few conveniences. We stopped for lunch at the Saloon, and I ran over to the general store and bought a pair of goggles. The ride back was so much nicer. Had my eyes not been burning from the ride there it would've been perfect. The trail is great, though, it takes you from the Sonoran desert laced with saguaros over rock gardens and through water crossings and the elevation climb has you in pine forests with snow in no time. On the way back we had a scare, one of the guys in our group was on a quad and took a turn too fast, he lost control and bailed before the quad jumped off the trail into the ravine beside it. When we came around the bend we only saw tires up toward the sky. We quickly parked and raced over. We didn't know he bailed so it was a relief to see him unscathed. We worked quickly to get the quad out and fortunately a RZR came by with a winch. What could've taken hours took a few minutes and we were on our way. Add a winch to the neverending list of handy accessories we could use. We packed up and headed for home, well, Shane's home. I couldn't wait to shower so Frank let me go first. I havent' been so dirty since the Color Run. This time, though, I was covered in dirt, dust and mud. Instead of an array of colors.

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I cannot begin to express how great it is to explore trails away from home. Arizona is the third state we brought the RZR to ride trails. It reminds me that there are more trails than I have time. And it makes me want to just get out there ride.

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