Prescott...the land of many uses

The land of many uses… is how I describe this area. It is vastly underestimated by many Arizonans as exploring it takes a little adventure and a good map.

I headed up with my school, all 300+ students to do a camp up in Prescott during the weekday. Students were not really surprised to see a bike underneath the bus. During the camp, I rode with the cross country team in the morning and ventured out thereafter to trail 396 in the White Spar area.


Subsequently, the Morris Family came up and accompanied me after our school camp was over for a weekend of riding in the Prescott area. Also joining them was a new, strong bikepacker, Dave Jones (shown here on 105).



After a quick stop at Safeway, we headed up to Mingus Mountain, our basecamp for the weekend.

We headed off to explore some of the trails north of Highway 89A, most notably Coyote Springs and Martin Canyon. We found some much needed water for the Coconino Loop at Coyote Springs, just a little of course. Someone had also written Man watchin you on the lid, so be careful if you drink from this spring.



The next day we went down 108, up 9037, down 110 and up 111 head back up to towers to ride down 105 to Jerome. This little loop had all the makings of a sweet, technical epic.

Some of the trails were a little overgrown


But on the whole, it was a great day of scenic riding


Some of these shots you may see if you decide to ride the Coconino Loop








The next day we rode down to figure out the power line dilemma that we ran into during our Coconino Loop Tour last June.





This is one of my favorite trails on the Coconino Loop, plenty of switchbacks with a touch of technical descending.





Did I mention the view?


And of course the missing link of the entire route was in this sign and its keyword. It’s underlined, do you see it?


One little wave of the hand and the gate opens; you simply have to ride over to the power line road and continue on toward the Verde Valley….Therein lies the final answer to completing the loop.

The race seems to be gathering some interest. I anticipate having from 5-10 racers, perhaps more as the start date nears.