230 mile loop to Flagstaff and home

Everything came together today for a gorgeous ride:  sunny skies, warm temperatures, and the pollen count was down. After a colder and snowier winter than usual, we've been waiting for a day like this! We were hungry for long stretches of road with no traffic in sight, winding our way through the mountains, twisting through canyons, and enjoying the sunshine on our faces.

We decided on a familiar and favorite route for our first day-long trip of 2019 to Flagstaff for lunch and then home. We started northeast from Prescott to Camp Verde, then east on AZ 260 through the pine forests.

Even though it was a beautiful Sunday, we had the road basically to ourselves as we climbed up into the cooler mountains.

We were hoping to see elk, but only spied the occasional hawk floating on the updrafts.

We turned onto Lake Mary Road, excited to see the higher water levels in the Upper Lake due to the heavier snowfall this winter. A dam built on Walnut Creek in 1905 led to the development of Upper Lake Mary, used as a water reservoir for Flagstaff.

You can see the snowy peaks of Mt. Humphrey's in the far distance, and as we road north toward Flagstaff the mountains loomed larger.

Lower Lake Mary often has less water than it's larger sister, but today the lake was a beautiful blue color due to the higher water levels.

We stopped at The Tourist Home Cafe in Flagstaff, a favorite lunch spot for the homemade bread and huge dessert display. Skip the chain restaurants and fast food places, and check out the funky south side of the train tracks in Flagstaff for great food.

Our route home led us through the 12 mile long scenic drive on 89A through Oak Creek Canyon, a 2-lane paved road that twists, turns, and snakes around hair-pin turns with steep red rocks on both sides on the way to Sedona.

Oak Creek Canyon is 2000' deep, and the popular Slide Rock State Park. This land was once an apple orchard homesteaded by the Pendley family in the early 1900's and became a state park in 1987. In the summer hundreds of people come here to slide through the water on the slick rocks.

We enjoyed sweeping through the canyon without much traffic until we came to an abrupt stop. For the next mile into Sedona it was stop and go traffic, giving us time to look out over the canyon and search for the elusive wildflowers that bloom in the desert. Sedona is always crowded, and what seems like hundreds of roundabouts and the slow moving traffic make us anxious to get through town as quickly as possible.

We continued south on 89A through Cottonwood into the historic old copper mining town of Jerome, perched high on the mountain ahead of us. We were lucky that there wasn't much traffic on the steep and narrow streets in Jerome, and we quickly left the quirky town behind us.

Coming down 89A from Jerome toward Prescott we got stuck behind a few slow-moving cars, and once they pulled over Mike took advantage of the open space, leaning into the twisties and zooming our way down the mountain.

Our 230 mile ride over 5 1/2 hours today made us hungry for more motorcycle riding and the opportunity to savor familiar routes plus explore new territory on the BMW.

Here's a map of our ride today. Have fun!

A BMW ride in search of aspens

It's the end of September and we thought we might see the changing leaf colors of the aspen trees in Flagstaff. No Fall colors yet, but we had a beautiful ride through the ponderosa pine forests along the Mogollon Rim.

One of our favorite rides is on Lake Mary Road into Flagstaff, and today didn't disappoint. A dam on Walnut Creek forms Lake Mary, named after Mary Riordan, a daughter of wealthy lumber barons who built the lake in 1905 as a water supply for Flagstaff. There wasn't much water today in the reservoir, and no water at all in Mormon Lake. Unfortunately, Mormon Lake is the largest natural lake in Arizona, and the fact that it has no water today, at the end of the rainy monsoon season, says a lot about the drought in the Southwest.

As we rode closer to Flagstaff the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountains in Arizona, started to come into view.

Our goal today in search of changing aspen leaf colors was the Flagstaff ski area, the Snowbowl. Skiing started here in 1938 at 9,200' elevation at the base lodge with chair lifts taking skiers to 11,500'.

We saw plenty of aspen trees on the climbing, twisting 7 mile road to the base lodge.

The view from the highest point of the road to the ski area is incredible, and a perfect spot for a photo of the BMW.

Today was the first time I wore the new Viking Cycle Ironborn women's textile motorcycle jacket on a ride, and overall I liked the comfortable fit and all the pockets. On the trip home from Flagstaff the temperatures rose to 98 degrees and even with the jacket vents open I was hot and sweating. However, in those temperatures I most likely would have been just as hot wearing my old Olympia jacket with mesh panels for ventilation. Thanks to Viking Cycle for sending me the jacket to review!

We spent 5 hours on the road and covered 267 miles in a large circle in north-central Arizona. Check out our route here. Even in this relatively small area we experienced a wide range of terrain as we traveled from the high desert in Prescott, through ponderosa pine forests, climbed to the higher elevation in Flagstaff, wound our way up to the Snowbowl in the San Francisco Peaks, then descended 6,000' into the green Verde River valley until we finally climbed back to Prescott. What a fun way to spend a Sunday!

Local, familiar rides

We spent 5 days riding a BMW in Ireland last month, and while we thoroughly enjoy riding and exploring new places, this weekend we decided to ride a familiar loop near home. The summer monsoons have ended, and while a few puffy white clouds gathered over the Mogollon Rim, we had clear weather for the afternoon. The end of summer monsoons also means cooler temperatures, so instead of wearing my vented light-gray motorcycle pants and a cooling neck wrap, I opted for standard black motorcycle pants and both warm layers to my motorcycle jacket.

We rode a favorite loop:  north on I-17 for a few short miles to the General Crook Trail exit, where we hooked up with Arizona 260 heading west. General George Crook fought for the Union Army during the Civil War, and after that war, like so many career soldiers, was stationed in the southwest. In 1871 he established a supply route that connected forts Verde (Camp Verde today, where we exited the interstate), Apache, and Whipple (now home to the VA Hospital in our town of Prescott).

When we exit I-17 and turn onto 260 West we're treated to views of the Mogollon Rim, an escarpment of limestone and sandstone that rises 4,000 feet over the landscape to the south. Route 260 winds and climbs onto the Rim, with the temperature dropping 20 degrees as we gained elevation. We sometimes see bighorn sheep on the hills alongside the road, but today our primary company were several groups of motorcycles heading to an event in nearby Cottonwood.

We turned northwest onto 87 for a short distance, and then headed more directly north onto Lake Mary Road. We passed several trucks carrying quads used in hunting, and even saw a couple of elk in the back of pick-up trucks. Mostly we rode through forests with open meadows carpeted with green grass from the summer rains.

One of the grassy meadows is technically Mormon Lake, but the only water today was a large puddle perhaps the size of our house's footprint surrounded by boggy grass. Mormon Lake is the largest natural lake in Arizona, which says a lot about the water supply in our high-desert home.

Lake Mary, on the other hand, always has enough water for fishing and boating. That's because it's a reservoir, actually two reservoirs, built in the early 1900's for drinking water to supply Flagstaff.

We didn't realize that there is a significant paving project on Lake Mary Road, and passed the time while we were stopped on the now one-lane road talking with another motorcycle rider. We swapped stories about the amount of time we've spent stopped for construction, riding in the rain and hail, and favorite local roads.

Lake Mary road eventually became a busy road when we reached Flagstaff, where we stopped at Tourist Home Urban Market for a fantastic lunch which included wild blueberry pie and a large loaf of pizza bread that we brought home.

The best part of the trip over, we chose the fast way home, riding south on I-17. At least the scenery is some of Arizona's finest - the red rock formations of Sedona framed by the white sandstone and limestone cliffs that I-17 climbs and winds through.

We've ridden this way several times, and each time I'm awed by the wide-open views, hawks lazily circling on the updrafts in the sunny blue sky, and the winding highway that leads us through scrubby high desert into the ponderosa-covered mountains. Every day we're on the BMW is a day to be treasured, even a familiar ride close to home.

Ride north along Lake Mary Road

It was 82 degrees at home Sunday morning at 10am when we decided to escape the heat and head north - sort of. Riding north typically means the weather will be a bit cooler, but then we also have the changes in elevation that actually make the temperatures go UP in some spots even when heading north.

We rode north on I-17 to 260 East (one of the warm spots is Camp Verde until we start climbing up on the Mogollon Rim) past scrubby bushes and trees and looming rock formations that make the road twisty and fun.

We headed northeast on 87 for a short few miles until we turned left onto Lake Mary Road at Clint's Well in the Coconino National Forest. Lake Mary Road winds and twists through Ponderosa pine forests, periodically opening up for a small meadow.

Lake Mary Road is a two-lane paved road used primarily by motorcycles out for a fun day and campers heading to one of a variety of different campgrounds.

There are two lakes along Lake Mary Road. We first came to Mormon Lake, the largest natural lake in Arizona. It was more a shallow puddle than a lake, because the water comes only from snow melt and rain. Sometimes it even dries up completely, which says a lot about the moisture in Arizona, where typically the rivers are dusty sand until the monsoon season.

A few miles down the road we came to Lake Mary - and this is a real lake or more accurately, two reservoirs:  Upper and Lower Lake Mary, complete with speed boats and a sailboat.

Lake Mary Road ends up in Flagstaff at 7000' elevation, where the temperature was in the mid-70's. As we ate burritos sitting outside, the puffy white clouds turned dark and grey. We took I-17 home, riding south through a short rain squall and cool weather until the temperature reached 105 degrees around Camp Verde.

As we rode the final few miles toward home, we saw dark rain clouds all around us. Sometimes when it's hot and dry like today, the rain almost completely evaporates before it hits the ground.

We rode 230 miles over 5 hours, enjoying the wide variety of landscape and weather that Arizona offers.