The Arizona Adventure Experience
Welcome to Arizona, a land of contrast!
From the Saguaro forests of the Phoenix foothills to the grandeur of Sedona, and the alpine like quality of the mountains near Flagstaff this program will highlight the geographic diversity of Arizona as well as some darn nice adventure riding.
Here is what you can expect of the Arizona Adventure experience.
- A structured rider training experience with lots of "trail situations" to be used as object lessons.
- An intensive GPS component involving the use of Routes, Tracks, and waypoints to navigate on days 3 and 4.
- Use of maps in conjunction with the GPS
- Seminars on technology that is useful to the adventure rider
- 3 hotel nights, one camping nite.
- Support truck following route with beverages, and all necessary trail support.
Here is what you can expect from participation in the program.
Day one: (Friday PM)
We will all meet in the late afternoon 5 - 6 PM at the Saguaro Lake Ranch which is located about an hour east of Phoenix. The Ranch is a very cool turn of the century ranch style motel. Its rustic funky, but very clean and a perfect base for the beginning of the Arizona Adventure.
- 6:00 PM. Everything kicks off over a beer with an orientation and Q&A session which will answer all your questions about how we will be spending the next 3 days.
- 7:30 PM we will have a ranch style bar BQ dinner and a campfire till its time for bed, (which will be fairly early, for we have a BIG day tomorrow.
Day 2: (Saturday)
Today is a off road skill building day. We will leave the Saguaro Ranch early and spend a couple of hours at the nearby 4 peaks OHV area brushing up on our off road skills. The balance of the day will be used as a "on the trail classroom" using the obstacles that we come across as "lessons"
- 9:00 AM. We will practice some balance and control work, do some skids, and steep climbs and descents before we take off on our trail ride for the day.
- 11:00 AM. We leave for our 117 mile loop of the lake district via 4 peaks. This off road ride starts with smooth desert roads, but quickly gains altitude, and becomes a little more rugged as we climb.
- 12:30 trail lunch
- 1:30 we hit the trail again for a variety of terrains as we head back to the ranch. We return to the ranch via the Apache Trail which is one of the most scenic drives near the Phoenix area. This road is historic, fun and affords an incredible view of canyons, geologic formations, desert plants and trees, desert and lake views etc. In other words its just plain beautiful.
- 3:00 possible detour - depending on the pace the group is able to set we may choose to visit Tonto National Monument. The monument is a set of shallow caves overlooking the Tonto Basin. Once there you can find many masonry ruins nearly 700 years old. This was home to the prehistoric Salado people, named in the early 20th century after the life-giving Rio Salado, or Salt River. For three centuries, they made their living from what nature provided in mountainous desert terrain. Today their culture lives on in two enormous ruins, one containing 40 rooms, clinging precariously to the cliff hundreds of feet overhead" Its worth a visit, and is very cool.
- 5:00 while we have a beer and relax from the rigors of the day our GPS guru Dagley Reeves will provide some insights into the world of GPS. We will have about an hour lecture on "how" GPS works, then we will load everyone's GPS with the routes, waypoints and tracks that we will be using to navigate with for the next two days. (Note- we will have all the GPS tracks on laptops - but sure to bring the upload cable for your Garmin GPS)
Day 3 (Sunday)
Today is a "travelin' day" with a real treat at the end!" Today's ride is not difficult, because we know that you will be working with your GPS a lot today and will perhaps be a bit distracted by it. We will be following an easy but very scenic "route" in the GPS. The ride today will be half street … and half dirt. We end the day on a pretty rugged Jeep trail that leads down into Sedona off of the "Rim rock". Nearly one hundred percent of motorcyclists who visit this area never see the sight of Sedona from the Rim rock. It's a challenging ride and it is breathtaking.
- 9 AM we will leave the Saguaro Ranch, and head for Sedona via a stint on the pavement then we take off for the Mogollon rim. This is some more of Arizona's majestic countryside. The Mogollon rim is constantly mentioned in Louis L'amours books about the American west, and is considered some of the most rugged country from the days of the old west.
- 12:30 PM We will stop for a "trail lunch along the way at some point that is convenient, and today we will se arch out a "Geo-Cache" that has been stashed along our route. Details will be given out with the morning briefing.
- 4:30 PM Late in the afternoon we tackle "Schnebly hill road" which takes us the back way into Sedona. Most folks never see what we are about to see… it's a tough road with an intimidating sign at the point of embarkation warning about "the rough road ahead". The reward for the hard work will be the views… and Sedona awaits.
- 5:30 Hotel check in… and Margaritas at the support truck.
- 7:30 Dinner in town - location to be announced.
Day 4 - (Monday)
Here is the story for the day. Its all about NAVIGATION !
- 9 AM. Depart from the hotel. Expect quite a riding treat! We begin with a wonderful 24 mile long road trip up Oak Creek Canyon. Don't forget your Camera! Take your time and don't "rush through the museum."
- 10:30 AM. We take to the"dirt" and lesser used roads in a test of navigation and off road ability. Things start off easy enough but you may find it a challenge to stay on track. There are a multitude of unmarked roads in the area that we will be riding and a wrong turn could be very disorientating. Listen closely to the pre-ride briefing and make sure you know how to get a position from your g.p.s, how to plot it on a map and how to input waypoints. We will provide you with the maps you need to find your way.
- 12:30 PM. We will have a "trail lunch" high in the pines, then after lunch the riding starts off easy enough but rapidly gets tougher, you'll need to remember some of the things you have learned in the past few days. Don't worry it's not that challenging, just keeps you on your toes and it doesn't last long. For those who want more, we have some side routes that will test your mettle.
- 5:30 PM. We end in Williams and de-brief at Sultana's at sunset. For those who wish to ride more, try the road up to the Bill Williams look out and check out the train that goes to the Grand Canyon.
