We wanted to make sure we got a ride in up in Flagstaff on this trip. We weren't sure we would have time once Pat & Larry, and Kris/Len/Jim arrive. Plus today was the hottest day of the week, at 80 degrees in Sedona. We usually go near the end of our 2 weeks in Sedona, as even though all the rocks in Sedona are great, we do look forward to more "dirt" riding that we find in Flagstaff.
Only 67 degrees for a high in Flagstaff. 7,150 elevation at the parking lot. We are riding at the Fort Valley Trail System, at Mt. Elden. This area had a severe fire in 2020. Combine that with the thinning project in the area, the once smooth and shaded trails are now sun exposed, and much drier.
We rode up Schultz Creek to a left onto Chimney Trail to Lower Moto to Twisted Sister to Secret trail to its end at the upper Schultz Creek trailhead at Schultz tank at 11miles (8,000 ft). Umph - our legs are tired, and that is a lot of climbing. We reached just over 8,400 feet twice, on Secret trail . Did we say all these trails were quite dry.
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| Kevin taking a break on Secret trail |
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| Fran finding shade on Secret trail |
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| Fran's bike |
From here, we started climbing again. Climbed the road to Weenies Walk to Upper Brookbank. On this side of the mountain, the trails were more like what we remembered. Narrow, smoother, and damper. Of course, Upper Brookbank suffered from the fire last year. With no shade, it was quick to melt out. Our high point today was 8,463 feet, at 12.86 miles.
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| Burn on Upper Brookbank - means trail melted out sooner |
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| Francine in the burn on Upper Brookbank |
We decided to take a new descent to us - on Jedi trail. This trail also burned last year.
Trailforks says over 2500 feet of climbing today. 19.7 miles. We were tired. Maybe we need to remember that we are over 50, and can't ride like we did in our 30s & 40s.
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| Jedi Trail |
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| more Jedi trail |
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| the narrow singletrack we like |
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