Heard through the grapevine about an 18 mile AZT re-route in the works on the Coconino NF between the 82 road crossing north to the Allen Lake Tank area. Riding through that area recently, they've got pin flags in the ground and it looks like they're wanting to get the trail off of the rocky 2-tracks that are the highlight of that section, no doubt. Breaking ground this week, but looking at a 3 year time frame for the whole project. Anyone else have any more details on this exciting news?

Yes. They are rerouting the fustercluck of Happy Jack. There should be much rejoicing.
From the ATA newsletter:

Last week, 14 volunteers traveled from all over the United States to help build a new segment of the Arizona National Scenic Trail as a part of the American Hiking Society's Volunteer Vacation program. Many of these volunteers had never visited Arizona before, and most of them had not even heard of the Arizona National Scenic Trail before registering for the event. They spent one week focused on trail construction of the first part of the new Happy Jack Singletrack Project on the Coconino National Forest. Ultimately, this project will result in almost 18 miles of new trail to get the AZT off of the long road walks of the Happy Jack Passage southeast of Mormon Lake.
 
The crew created 1.4 miles of new trail, nearly completing the northernmost reroute of the project. They hacked through oak thickets, dug out pine stumps and chopped through tedious grass flats to open up the corridor — even building some impressive stone retaining structures to finish the final climbs.

Would a "plus" size tyre bike be an advantage from a ride quality point of view or would the tyres be too succeptible to punctures? I understand the trail is very hard on tyres. Do many AZ locals roll plus tyres in their general riding?

I personally went with gears and front suspension.

However, Rhino finished this on a full rigid single speed - with a "regular" sized front tire. I think he is crazy, and he wasn't the only one. It is all about what works for you.

Oh, and I hear that Rhino's grandma did the 750 on a fixie...

wow a train along the Gila...   

makes me thing not doing the train tunnel was smart. 

Bah. No guts no glory.

My race report is up.

http://joep-az.blogspot.com/2017/04/arizona-trail-300-2017-big-one.html

 

Solid Joe.

It's been fun watching you sink deeper and deeper into the endurance riding scene. With a 300 under your belt you can start mentoring other newbs.

Mike's almost in!  Jeff and Rhino got out early from Phantom and are making good time towards the big climb.

Jeff and Rhino may have been the first to get permits to camp.  It was good to hear that they were granted permits (instead of being told 'NO').  At the last minute a ranger ran out to tell them about the road closure and that they would have to *walk* their bikes out of the park (!).   This is all per Nancy, so third hand, at best.

Still, at least there's a fully legal option. 

In an excess of caution we got permits for bright angel, cottonwood, and the north rim. Ended up only using bright angel. Nancy's story is accurate. However, we did not have any issues riding the road. Did notice  "no bikes" sign on the gate at the park boundry.

Looking forward to a big breakfast and a nice roll on the final segment tomorrow.

I took Evan's track for the Molino bypass and drew in the gasline shortcut. No idea if that shortcut is passable, but figured it would be good to have the track, just in case. I'd guess it is just like the old APC gasline - meaning not much fun.

https://www.hightail.com/download/dDZHZEUzTmE4Q1JOeDhUQw

So, Scott, if we have to do a go around is the gasline in play?

Hopefully this is all moot.

MVMorten - definitely check in before crossing Redington going north on the AZT.

Plan B:  Redington, Haul Road to Control Road, back UP to Oracle Ridge #1, then down.

Plan C:  Redington, River Road to San Manuel, Webb Rd to where the AZT crosses it.

Right now I'd lean towards Plan B, because to take Oracle Ridge out of it would be sad indeed.  I don't think I could withstand the volume of hate mail if people didn't get to sample its particular brand of hike-a-bike goodness.

Let's hope this fire goes out quickly... and the AZT is open in the aftermath.  It is cool, and it's not summer/dry, so perhaps it'll just be a small one.

Hate to say this, but AZTR without Oracle Ridge would feel like cheating.

Dudes.  Just talked to Kurt Harris who is the maintenance engineer for the AZDOT northcental district.  SR67 is completely clear from NR to JL according to him.  He also noted that foot and bicycle traffic IS NOT restricted while the road is closed for the winter, only vehicular traffic.

Good contact info here for future reference: http://www.azdot.gov/business/district-contacts/northcentral


We talked for about 20 minutes and he thinks we are crazy AF but is really stoked to hear that a race/route like this exists.  He is an avid mountain biker and had ridden a good bit of the AZT.

See you suckers soon!

Jason

AWESOME!

Thank you for finding that out. I was one bit of stress I so did not need. See you at the start.

Hey.  Anyone that has run water bottles on their fork legs on this route, was it a big problem in any spots?  I'm wondering if it would just be a huge pain on Oracle Ridge with all the bushwacking.

Thanks

Ask me at the end of April.

I've been running bottles on the fork legs all this year to make sure it will work for the 750. Haven't found it to be an issue - even when bushwhacking. Pedals cause more problems (getting hooked on stuff) than the bottle cages.

I have gotten a backcountry permit on the morning of the start of a weekend hike. They would not let us get it for the area we wanted, since that area was "full", but we got a permit to stay elsewhere in the canyon.

What I've heard is that permits for Phantom Ranch can be tough to get, but I'm pretty sure John got one for Cottonwood on a walk in basis last year. I'd assume that there would be little to no demand for permits on the North Rim at that time, so should be easy. But that's just me guessing.

It's very reliable. When my great grandmother did the AZT that how she did it, she mailed stuff because she wasn't tough enough to carry it from the border. But she's frail, so nobody thought any less of her accomplishments.

lol

I prefer to have one less set of circumstances out of my control. So I'll be schlepping hiking poles and shoes all the way across AZ - just so I can take a nice little hike. Hopefully Rhino's great grandma will come walk with me for a while.

Scott has said this every year, "don't rely on the cache's".

I would add that he used to not tell anyone about the cache at Freeman. Better to have plenty and only take a little, leaving some for the next guy, then to be selfish so you can go light. Skipping a known source and then needing to take water from a hiker is not self support.

In 2013 I left Tucson with insufficient water. I had been up in the mountains two weeks prior and there was a little stream running at that time - so I could always filter from there. Of course it was bone dry when I go there - and so was I. Since then I always carry too much water and depend on NO cache or source.

You can tell people this stuff over and over, but nothing teaches you like making a bad mistake.

Sure but there will be numerous thru hikers in the month before the race.

Of course. I would not 100% rely on ANY water cache. But it is nice to see that they have stocked the heck out of it now. Hopefully that continues.

The cache you are referring to is at 33.18107° N 111.13720° W. As of this last weekend it was chock full of water.

Re: Trail Magic
Here's some examples of trail magic I witnessed in the 2012 CTR. Some obvious black and white issues, but some might be considered a wee bit gray...
1) Person-A called ahead to have a meal ready and waiting in Bailey.
2) Person-A drafted me most of the way up 285 to Kenosha, in the rain. Funny, because at 55 I wasn't that fast. More of a draft to stay drier than escape the wind.
3) Person-A called friends and knew exactly where a cooler full of trail magic would be right after we crested Georgia Pass.
4) Person-B calling to arrange a meet with his girlfriend in Silverton/Molas where he would give her surplus gear, including the bike's rear rack, to make the bike faster and lighter to the finish. BTW: Person-B's finish photo clearly shows a bike sans rear rack.
5) I accepted a freeze-dried meal from Person-B because he was going to pitch it and I probably wasn't going to finish without it... I didn't finish anyway, but with the luxury of now looking back and given the opportunity to rewind and replay, I'd not accept the meal... I'd also probably eat a little bit less at Apple's camp... I sleep better when things are obvious black and white.
Anyone know of a person who always bums a beer and never offers you one? The person who always borrows your tools... and returns them dirty... and had to be reminded too many times to return them? The person who always bully's at a traffic merge? Those are the types which trail magic is good karma wasted...

I have my opinions on those, but I'm no expert.

1. Not magical
2. Not magical - just lame.
3. Not magical
4. I'd say that is not even self-supported - forget trail magic. Now if person B went to a Post Office (which everyone else has access to) and mailed stuff home (which everyone else can do), then that seems cool to me.
5. To me this is the only one I'd consider trail magic. As long as you weren't Yogi'ing (see what I did there?) I'd say it is good.

Regarding Trail Magic.

I think it would be helpful for someone to define trail magic so that everyone is on the same page. Is it receiving something unsolicited? Or, as someone earlier mentioned, does it matter as to what you receive?

I get, and support, the whole "no cache, self supported" thing. But if someone that you come upon offers you a coke because  you just look pitiful, I can't see the harm in that. To me that is trail magic because it is unexpected and welcome. So, what is wrong with it? Why discourage something that makes the trip more memorable?

Maybe what we are talking about is when you solicit someone else for food/supplies? Even with that I'm not sure I see it as being so awful. If you can get someone you don't know on the trail to help you out when you are in need, what is the harm? You are still relying on the kindness of strangers, so it is totally unreliable and random.

However, if you have someone you know bringing you food/supplies or drop a cache somewhere - that is no longer self supported.

Certainly, there are degrees of nuance to this, but putting some definitions around it might be helpful. I probably broke this rule when I did the 300 - because I didn't realize that asking a stranger for water was not permitted. Guess I'll have to give back my prize money. 



Not sure I even get what "Trail Stalking" is, but I suspect it is something that would not happen to me anyhow.

I know that Jeff Z character!! We've done a few silly rides over the years. Sounds like you're about on my pacing, finished the 300 in '13 just a couple hours over 4 days. What part of the Valley do you reside? I'm down in Queen Creek - closer to the AZT!! I'm game for any pre-rides for April. I have a bunch on the to-do list already, just waiting for things to cool off. I'll PM you my contact info. Cheers!

-John

Be really careful with this guy. He'll have you talked into the 750 before you know it.

As one of those who started earlier in the past, I'm all for that change. Any extra daylight is helpful. Seems like a waste not to roll out when the sun comes up. 

4 days seems reasonable for tour pace and no night riding - but I wouldn't pin hopes for an easyish final day too tightly. The final ~20 miles have challenging terrain.

If you did any night riding the section to do it is from the bottom of Thunder Mtn to near Panguitch Lake. Camping near Panguitch Lake would set you up for a *shortish* final day.

yeah, my hope is that we can do 55-60 miles a day. That would get s to Panguitch.

On a slightly related note. Any singlespeeders out there? Starting to think about gearing. Thinking 32x21 and possibly even 32x22.

My wife and I are looking at doing this at a touring pace. We will pretty much keep moving all day, but don't want to ride in the dark unless we have to. I want to see the country we are riding through.  Does 4 days seem reasonable for that? I'm thinking 55 miles a day would leave us with an easyish last day.For context, we finished the AZT300 in a little over 4 days, but we rode in the dark some. Don't really want to do that on this trip.

The only part of this area we've ridden is Thunder Mountain, so we aren't quite sure what to expect in terms of making time over the course. Then there is the elevation...