Coconino loop April 18th ?

[gosurfariver]

I am making final preparations for the Coconino Loop, and looking for some advice.

Where can I expect to refill water? How much should I plan to carry between?  Filter, or will pills/iodine work?

Where can I park my car?

Snow? Mud?  How much should I expect at high elevations?

Thanks

[rhino]

we will be on the loop April 15.  I will post the mud report when we return, but most likely you will already be on the tracks before posting.  Follow our prints, don't follow our prints if we are lost. The water waypoints are marked on the gpx file, and also listed on the 2010 cue sheets. Good luck, have fun.

[gosurfariver]

Thanks!  Enjoy the ride. 

[ScottM]

Parking -- neighborhoods just west of downtown area (near the end of the bike path) are good, lots of room on the streets.

Mud -- unless this storm drops significant snow I would expect everything but Williams Mtn to be dry, or dry enough to be passable w/o too much issue.  This current storm is a little worrisome though.

I'd vote filter based on the fact that coyote spring lots its top and is now growing lots of green.  Filtering the Verde is a good idea too.

Let us know how it goes and share some pics if you can!

[rhino]

Quick report. Full trail report in near future.

Sticky mud south of Flag. Felt like dragging anchor.
Mesa near Lake Mary is beat up by animals pretty bad.
Lots of down trees going into Minds.
Down trees in Sycamore Canyon area.
Hundreds of down trees on Wind Mtbkidd west of Flag. Looks like tornado hit. Very bizarre with trees just snapped and laying everywhere.

Pics and info soon.

[rhino]

That was just the bad stuff. Didn't think I had to mention that the trip was amazing and everything else was perfect. No regrets riding it this past weekend. Temps are getting warm If you are thinking about it.

[AZTtripper]

That section west of Flag got hit by a tornado just before last years race.

The FS had cleared some of them by the time we got there.

It was pretty cool to see.

[rhino]

That section west of Flag got hit by a tornado just before last years race.

The FS had cleared some of them by the time we got there.

It was pretty cool to see.

It was crazy.  Trees were snapped and twisted everywhere.  We could hardly even figure out where the trail was.  We just wandered around and followed the GPS track.  I will post some pics this week.

[gosurfariver]

Just returned from the Coconino Loop!  Definitely a full-on adventure. 

The good:  My highlights

Adventure biking
-Lots of Dirt!!!!
-Awesome views
-Super singletrack
-Beautiful climb through several bioregions
-Perfect weather
-Super guy picked me up in front of "open seasame gate" when I was stranded with a flat and no spares, drove me to      Prescott Valley where super bike shop owner offered to hook me up with new tubes for free (I couldn't accept the gift...I paid),  Then same super guy who picked me up drove me back to gate after I took him to lunch at Subway.

The Bad:  To be expected with such a big and varied route.  (In some cases bad can be good, just tilt your head)

-Hoof trodden single track across Anderson Mesa (it would be so sweet if it were smooth)
-Sandy beach like sand on Lime Kiln. (the bright side this plus the flats made climbing Mingus a relief.  But I like climbing)
-Lots of trees down on Benham Trail climbing Bill Williams. (seemed like at least 3 big honkin' trunks per switchback)

The Ugly:  Things I wish had gone differently!

-7 flats in only 15 miles!  I know about goatheads, thought I was prepared with slime, and lots of spares/patches....NOPE!
-Bike fell or was knocked over at Cottonwood Circle K and bent the derail. hanger badly.
-Another flat just after fixing hanger
-GPS kept turning off unexpectedly
-Bike computer cable broke (So much for technology)
-And drum roll please ... post holing up to my knees all the way down what I can only imagine is a sweet trail on North side of Bill Williams mountain (this truly added to the epic factor)!

More formal report to come and pics, but for now it's off to Fruita!

[Sean Allan]

Funny, there were a bunch of us out there, but none of us ran into each other. The wife and I set out on Sat morn.  Sometimes I only saw one track, other times two, both identical tires. No tracks on the push over Mingus, perhaps detours were taken

Loved the first day, although had I had a gun I might of killed some cattle on Anderson Mesa! It was super soft out past Lake Mary, it felt like we were getting killed by the elevation until I got off and walked a bit and felt my feet sink ever so slightly. Nicely built trail though.

Sedona rocked as usual. 
 
My wife had fork problems that plagued us out through Sedona, lost about three hours to that and never really made it up, we did not take lights to ride with.
 Ended up pushing all the way from Cotonwood over Mingus and on to Williams on the third day.

We were filtering at Coyote Spring(Thank you guys for that!)when my brand new filter broke. Lesson from this trip, take all your 5 year old stuff that's been through hell instead of over thinking everything. Luckily we had Iodine tabs, although neither of us had used them in years and our stomachs weren't real happy with them.

That was a tough day for Mary, she definitely fought some demons out there. We did not do Bill Williams, we stopped on the drive out at the Ranger Station and caught a guy who had just been to the top, he said 2 feet on the N. face, no way was I making Mary posthole down that
We had some inside info. on the Wing Mountain portion and blew that off as well, no sense in making it not fun on her first trip. We also had some hard deadlines to make on Tues. afternoon that sealed the deal.

All in all a very nice epic. I would change a few things if I did it again, likely do the Mingus detour, the push up to the top adds no value to a touring route in my view. It's probably the reason I wouldn't do the race either, it is just so out of character with the rest of the route and the output to reward factor is pretty low. Absolutely great views though, as someone who likes to suffer, I'm glad we did it.

Thanks to all who put the route together, I hope to return the favor soon.

It was interesting to see the route from a first timer. My wife's a pretty tough cookie, but the push up Lime Kiln and Mingus had her asking WTF? My response to her was that some people like that aspect of racing, that HAB is a badge of honor and to be celebrated, I think she thought I was full of shit, but it sounded good at the time. Got me to thinking, sometimes I don't understand the pushing either......and I'm O.K. with it.

 It did make me re-evaluate my Trans Sierra route though. Was I adding stuff just for me, to say to everyone, look at me, I know every goat track there is. I can make you suffer like no other.  Or did it add value to my route. These are things that go through ones mind while pushing up ridcusteep pitches

 Once again, all in all a great route and thanks to all who make these things possible!

[ScottM]

Thanks for the trip summaries you guys.  Post-holing down the north side of Williams Mtn sounds pretty epic indeed.  I've always guessed it would hold snow late into the year, good to have some confirmation.

Sean - great sounding trip.  We have debated about the Mingus push, for sure.  For an "enjoyable" tour it does sort of make sense to skip it.  We tried very hard to find a more rideable (but still singletrack) route to the top -- exploring several different options.  In the end I think it's well worth the effort and adds a nice flavor to the ride.  Getting the big view from the hang glider launch, looking back to the rim (stage stop 1) and all the terrain you just covered is pretty neat. 

I do hear what you're saying WRT the character of the rest of the route -- it's so rideable otherwise that the Mingus push is a little out of place... which is why we provide the bypass route.  It's not about proving anything, we really do think it's a cool part of the route/race.  Compared to some of the hike-a-bikes on the AZT and CTR, Mingus is actually pretty tame, and given that everything else on Coco is so rideable well.... it's also justification for having one hard part!

The down trees on Wing Mtn really aren't that big of a deal, and the moto trail that results is well worth it, IMO.  But, there are definitely varying degrees of "worth it" for people!  I'm all for new bikepacking routes trying to stay as rideable as possible.  There are always the traditional routes in case people feel like they aren't getting enough 'foot' time...

[Sean Allan]

Scott,
Don't get me wrong, we loved the route and the push was fine. I've got two fairly severely broken legs from a previous life on motorcycles so I prefer to ride my bike if it all possible, plus I'm 46, things that were fun at 30 have a way of changing, you'll see Even if we had done the bypass, we would have made the summit. If we do it again we would camp right at the top either way.

My route comments were purely self reflection about how routes get chosen, I didn't mean to project or imply that they were your reasons for choosing your routes. I agree that compared to other routes the pushing is negligible, perhaps that's why it seems out of place. I expect to push on other routes, they are an inherent and expected part of the route. I think had there been MORE HAB on the CLR the push up Mingus would have seemed more compatible with the rest of the route , I'm NOT advocating for more pushing though .

We debated at the turn for Wing Mountain, we had to pick our dog up at a kennel in Flag so we were kinda in a tough spot, we didn't want to risk missing our deadline.

Probably a good thing we didn't. I rode the Sedona BFL on Thurs and started out on a ride in Prescott on Fri and promptly blew up my DT 240 rear hub, would have sucked to be out in the middle of nowhere when that happened.

All in all a great route, thanks for your time and effort, we really do appreciate your passion!

[ScottM]

Great shots!  Awesome.

Yep, just trying to describe a bit of the thought process that went along with CLR.  To be honest I was on the fence about including the Mingus push, but when slower/older racers argued strongly to keep it in the route, that tipped the balance for me.  (They may have been arguing from a position of "we did it, everyone else should have to too!" ).  I do still kinda feel that we are missing an opportunity to put together a largely rideable and still ST heavy route... but that's what the bypass is for I guess.

Anyway, thanks for the thoughts and very glad to see you got out there!

[AZTtripper]

Yep I did it so every one has to as well, and I am 47! That said I was pretty shot that first time reaching the top I was like why in the hell if there's an easier way. The one thing is that though there are easier ways they don't really put you at the summit as cleanly. And the sunsets I have experienced while nearing the summit have been quite exceptional. As for he actual hiking/scrambling it really is pretty stiff, likely a 7-8 in the 1-10 HAB scale. I just dreamed this up, HAB scale with 1 being walk a bike that's stuff that you could likely ride on a light bike at the start of a one day ride, but you walk it when you get there on the second day on a loaded bike. 10 being full on bikeneering this is the kind of thing where you start having to have someone hand your bike up to you, full on rock scrambling stuff.

Ether way I do think the Mingus climb is a good thing for the CLR for the race. I know the first year it was that second day that really tested your will to finish. A good friend of mine who is 57 but quite fit said it was one of the hardest things he has ever done. Granted he had a long day with some mech issues as well that put him and two others on the summit around 11 pm. So in some ways even though it's a bitch it's satisfying as an accomplishment to be proud of a badge of honor if that's what you want to call. So it's not just that we did it and so you have to too, its more that you deserve that badge also.

[6thElement]

Great shots.

I love doing the kind of HAB stuff where hikers see you coming and wonder what the hell you're doing trying to drag a bike up the "trail" with you