Guess where we’re going to Airstream this summer???!!! I have secured six weeks remote travel and we’re heading to Crested Butte in July and Silverton in August!
Think we’re excited?
Um… Y E S!
So seriously, I’m losing my mind with excitement. If y’all have any ideas for things you want us to post/vlog/record please comment on this post. One of the ideas we’ve got brewing is a scenic tour covering Colorado 92. We’re going to make a weekend drive through some of the best country the Rockies has to offer.
Obviously since I do enjoy this tiny little thing called mountain biking, I’ll also be bringing you plenty of content about the Evolution Bike Park. Plus I’m planning a ride on Teocalli Ridge, which is going to be bonkers.
In the meantime, if you’re from Colorado or you’ve been there and there’s something you really think we should do around Crested Butte and/or Silverton please comment on this post!
As promised, here’s the last of the St. George edits from 2018. For this segment we rode the Mellow Jem route out at the Hurricane Cliffs. This route is a blend of Jem, Dead Ringer and Connector back to Jem.
The trail overview didn’t mention the real possibility of a horrible death falling off the trail, which is stupidly close to the cliff edge, as you’ll see. But we survived.
I released a new video and forgot to tell you about it.
Back in December ’18 I blogged about the Red Reef East trail and I finally got around to editing up the video. It’s only a few minutes so you too can enjoy this ride!
The last of these St. George videos is coming in a couple days, so until then peace out!
Way back in December we went up to St. George to do some winter Airstreaming and of course some mountain biking too.
Now behold, my very first video documenting the experience. I mean “mine” as in I edited this video.
Not Fred.
Me.
The editing experience has given me a whole new appreciation for Fred’s work, and this was a quick video! Anyway, we call these “Snack Bars” because the video’s only a couple minutes – about as long as YouTube analytics tell us people watch our videos anyway.
My silent Partner bailed early on due to the face-freezing wind but not me, no siree bob, I was on a mission!
White Reef Trail
White Reef doesn’t offer much in the way of views, but it does offer a nice easy warm up. All trails were easy blues, nothing technical just a bit of fitness. Courtesy of our GoPro 7 you can see my POV.
For me there’s no such thing as a bad day mountain biking, even when my face is frozen in place.
Tipple Trail
Next up, Tipple Trail offered a sweeping view of the surrounding terrain. By this point I was warmed up and the intense wind was at my back offering a nice little assist up the climbs.
If you’ve ever been to Sedona or Moab this area very much has ‘that’ feel. Replete even with unexpected water crossings.
Red Reef East Trail
Next in line, the Red Reef East trail takes you directly up against the red cliffs of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area.
Prospector Trail
The Red Reef East dumps you out into a campground so I took the road from the campground to Prospector Trail just to see what’s there.
I found some hard climbs.
And some sweet single track.
I only rode Prospector for 45min or so, but it was a great trail with some pretty intense fitness.
A Followup On My Wölvhammer Boa Winter Cycling Boots
You may be wondering, how’d my winter MTB boots review in a previous post hold up in this cold?
Absolutely fantastic. Warm and lush. In short – perfect!
Tomorrow…
Tomorrow’s our last day here. The weather isn’t supposed to blow, at least not so hard, so I hope to bring back some great pics.
Sometimes Airstreaming is just about not being home. The destination doesn’t have to be exotic, though you could do a lot worse than the St. George KOA in Southwest Utah.
We’re here more or less on a whim – had some vacation time and a handy Airstream so we headed out of town the day after Christmas seeking mountain biking and, well … not home.
Temperatures are hovering well below freezing and a winter storm is passing through but wow is it cool to watch the snow fall on the mountains while you’re mountain biking. Today we rode several trails in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area.
Please join us on our final ride in the White Mountains, this time on the Lake Mountain Spur Trail.
This ride is interesting because that thumbnail above is where we rode in the caldera of an extinct volcano! It looks innocent enough until you realize it’s also at 8500′ (2590m) and the site of former magma flows.
As promised, we’re pumping out more content than political ads in October so please enjoy our next trail review for Land of the Pioneers. As before we’re experimenting with ways to make these videos more interesting including a preview during the cold open and split-screen riding.
With that, enjoy the format, see Fred endo and watch us get eaten alive by mosquitoes.
I’ve been remiss – career and life have gotten away from me and the blog has gotten very little love. But fear not, Fred has been busy and we’ve put together a most excellent set of videos reviewing the Los Burros trail, which we rode on our firs day Airstreaming the White Mountains.
We’re having some fun experimenting with format so here’s a long-cut video in our usual style.
And a second video in a more contemporaneous form.
Enjoy our review and please punch the like button on your preferred version of this video!
I mentioned in my last woefully old post that we were planning an adventure to the White Mountains in eastern Arizona. Why go there? Because the White Mountains is on my list of “special places”. In this post, we live up to that promise with a lovely diary of our adventures including Airstreaming, mountain biking and camping.
The Plan
I’m sure by now it’s come through I deeply miss traveling full-time in the silver tube, but there is one benefit to living in sticks & bricks – those brief opportunities to escape the bonds of careerdom are even sweeter when the diesel motor is roaring and the horizon is ahead.
And so it is.
As the kiddos head back to school, the sun sits lower in the sky and mother nature is about to release her triple-digit grip on the valley Fred and I embarked on a multi-day adventure to the high country.
We were equipped with a gaggle of new technology, including a GoPro Hero 6 and more suction cup camera mounts than an octopus. We made our way into the wilderness to do some serious dispersed camping and to review no less than three mountain bike trails.
To get there we pass through Payson, up the Mogollon Rim, though Show Low, then Pinetop and finally to Los Burros Campground.
See It! Live It! YouTube It!
For the visually oriented you can see part one of our adventure at our YouTube channel here! And then continue reading on below for a written account of how Fred almost got eaten by a bear.
Ok, Fred wasn’t almost eaten by a bear, but you will see some nice pictures and a dachshund in the woods, what could be better than that?
Phoenix to Payson
Our stop in Payson usually includes a quick bite at Sonic.
And a quick adjustment of the GoPro hanging off the back of the Doxi Bus.
The Mogollon Rim
Immediately outside Payson the drive then takes us up “the wall”, or more correctly the Mogollon Rim. This rift is a violent uplift that runs east to west splitting Arizona essentially in north and south halves. Any drive north in Arizona, therefore, ultimately climbs up this jaw-dropping terrain.
At the Mogollon Rim visitors center you can look out over the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. When I think of Arizona this is where my mind goes.
Safe Travels Senator John McCain
Booking Los Burros
After gorging ourselves on photos we moved on, passing through Show Low then Pinetop and ultimately into the far eastern arm of the national forest’s Los Burros Campground. As for booking reservations at Los Burros, I’m kidding. Where we’re going we don’t need reservations – Los Burros is free!
For amenities, this campground has a vault toilet.
That’s it.
Really.
In exchange for this sparsity, though, you get unbelievable views of flower filled meadows, giant trees and blue sky.
Sites are first-come-first-served and there isn’t any running water or trash pickup. You pack everything in and pack everything out. It also happens Los Burros forms the trailhead for the Los Burros Loop, one of the best trails we rode up there.
Finding Los Burros completely full is uncommon but we arrived close to Labor Day and the campground was full, so we were forced (aka thrilled) to do some dispersed camping along one of the many fire roads in the area. We landed only a quarter mile away in a lovely aspen grove.
Does it get any better than this?
Ginger doesn’t think so.
Amenities & Activities
Stuff Not Mountain Biking
Close to Los Burros there are a number of small towns, a casino and an interesting watch tower used by the forest service during high risk months for spotting smoke.
You can even pop into New Mexico with a fairly short drive. But make no mistake, Fred and I were here to mountain bike so that’s what we did!
Mountain Biking
I’m going to come at you soon with more detailed reviews of each of these trails but Fred and I rode three different loops over three days and here’s a primer.
Los Burros Loop
The Los Burros Loop was the most aggressive ride of the trip topping out at 1,900′ (580m) climbing and 13 miles (21km) distance.
This trail consists of highly volcanic sharp single track…
Some mud…
And epic stretches of aspen and pine.
Land of the Pioneers
Land of the Pioneers was less aggressive at 688′ (209m) 9 miles (14.5km). There’s a story to tell about this ride but I shall hold that until my next post.
Lake Mountain Loop
The Lake Mountain Loop was a ‘make your own adventure’ ride as I call them but lets just say to get up there it involved some walking.
Ahem.
Anyhoo, how many time do you get to go into an old volcano caldera? Well that’s what the loop is, a trail around a volcano!
No smoke or lava here, though – just lush greenery.
Flowers
Ok, you knew it was coming. Flower time! With all the rain this season there were more flowers and greenery that I’ve ever seen here so I must share.
Ok not flowers, but mushroom can be kinda cute?
And … fern type things…
And berries…
What Could Go Wrong
It had to happen I suppose. After a pretty good run with the Airstream she decided to get a little grumpy. Maybe she’s telling me she doesn’t get to go out enough?
Furious Furnace
The first night at our sweet sweet location we discovered the furnace wasn’t working. This wasn’t entirely fatal as we did have the generator and the heat pumps worked fine, but that’s only when the generator was running which usually isn’t overnight. That made for a couple of mildly uncomfortable sleeps but not unbearable. The ultimate diagnosis? A failed limit switch.
Cost $400.
Bad Bed Mojo
The first night at our sweet sweet location I went to roll out the guest bed which cleverly lies under the front sofa and literally ripped the decorative fascia off with my hands. Examining the wreckage I could see the stupidity of the design: The panel is held on by three small wood screws that are a) too shallow so as to prevent poking though the decorative laminate and b) prone to self-releasing in the continuous shock and vibration environment the trailer offers.
The obvious solution was to draw three #8 machine screws through the front of the fascia and affix them to the aluminum bed frame with lock washers and nuts then cap the machine screw heads with the same white button covers as are used in ten thousand other places in the trailer.
Cost: $30
To Be Continued…
Fred and I kind of lost our mind on this trip, we have three more videos on the way as we review each trail we rode. It sure wore Ginger out.
In the meantime take this away with you, the White Mountains are awesome, and should you have the opportunity go there!
Airstream MTB 