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.