With the Labor Day weekend approaching and with summer still
having a firm grip on the valley of the sun, a few of our endurance biking pals
conspired to escape the heat and kick start our fitness to get ready for riding
season. With summer being what it is here, none of us had many miles on our
legs and we were itching to get out and go big. So the plan that came together
for the long weekend was to go up to the Kaibab Plateau and do a big loop. This would take us to the western rim of the Grand Canyon (with the possibility of an optional out and back to Point Sublime), the North Rim, and a view off of the east side of the plateau.
Not everyone who wanted to was able to make the trip, but the final crew broke down like this. Ray and Bart planned to do the 150 mile route in 2 days - tough, but possible if you are strong. John, Steve, Nancy and I decided to do a “flower sniffing” pace of 3 days. This gave us more time to see the sights. And, really, I don’t think any of us had a two day pace in our legs after a summer of not doing much.
For those that don’t know, the Kaibab is an area just
north of the Grand Canyon. It ranges from around 7000 to around 9000 feet above
sea level. We spent most of our time above 8000 feet. That means the temps are quite pleasant this time of year and the
terrain is forest - lots of pine and aspen. A nice change for us desert dwellers.
We met off a forest road near Jacob Lake on Friday night. Nancy and I were first to arrive. So we had time to get our gear sorted out...
Next morning the rest of the crew was prepping gear and getting psyched for the ride. 39 degrees! We hadn't seen 60s since early spring. Brrrrr.
Bart and Ray headed out a little before us – they had many
miles to go that day. Then we sauntered out of camp and up the dirt road.
The first hundred miles or so of this loop gets you to the north rim of the Grand Canyon and it is almost all on forest roads. There is an 18 mile section of single track in the middle of that called Rainbow Rim. The name will make sense when you see the pictures. Despite the large amount of dirt road riding, this is a worthy trip.
We headed down...
...and down.
Stopped to look at some petroglyphs.
And started going back up.
Grinding it out on the SS.
Nancy and Steve made this guy quite irritated.
We could see some western parts of the Grand Canyon in the distance.
The trail went up and down for a while – nothing too difficult. This helped keep the pace up.
We arrived at a junction in the trail (at Big Saddle Tank) where we had found a trail on the map that would cut out a significant amount of miles and shortcut us to Rainbow Rim. The problem was that we had found it ONLY on the map. No one seemed to be aware of this trail. We decided to see if it was really a thing. After a bit of bushwhacking and consulting of maps and GPS – we found a carsonite sign with some letters and numbers on what appeared to have once been a trail. If this was our trail, it hadn't been used for a few years and was totally overgrown. So, we decided to bag that and headed out the long way.
Love the Aspen.
Wildflowers were everywhere.
Finally, we hit the Rainbow Rim trail. I really enjoy this trail. It winds around a few big drainages –which makes for some great downhills, but then you have to climb back out. The sections back in the wood are just beautiful, then it dumps you right out to the rim of the western part of the GC – right up to the edge.
Excellent views.
This looks like a good spot for lunch.
John was feeling the summer of NOT riding. Even a burrito failed to revive him.
But Steve was feeling fine.
Lunch over, out on the Rainbow Rim singletrack.
Steve ripping down one of the fun downhills. Unfortunately he sliced his tire on the next uphill. Put in a (non slime) tube. That tube ended up getting a small puncture that would slowly leak for the remainder of the trip.
Fantastic views from the rim.
Beautiful forest trails
We were getting a little concerned about water at this point. The next LIKELY spot (not guaranteed) was at Quaking Aspen Spring – which we hoped to reach that night. However, I was thinking I was going to run out before we got there and I think everyone else was a little unsure as well.
Fortunately, we came upon these big barrels of water right off the trail on Rainbow Rim. Was someone looking out for us? Why were these here? Who cares. The water looked relatively clean and we had filters – so it was time to stock up. Packs which had become relatively light were suddenly heavy again. We found out later that there was a big horse event going through there – so this was water that horses had slobbered in. But it sure tasted good.
Living the good life with my favorite riding partner.
We continued on to some new singletrack at the end of the Rainbow Rim trail. Unfortunately, it was not “done” yet, so we had to do a little bit of bushwhacking up to the road.
The road continued on through pine and aspen. At a point where we were about 1 mile from our stopping point for the night (Quaking Aspen Spring) this sign appeared,
and shortly the smoke that it referred to appeared as well. Oh darn, hope we don’t have to camp in that.
A little further down the road we saw this sign in the road that we were supposed to take.
So what do you think when you see a sign like this? Turn back, you don’t want to break the law? Or goody, no cars – let’s go? Me, I’m the latter. We pushed on and found that there had been some trees fallen across the road, but they had been cleared. Also, by the time we got to the spring, the smoke was a distant memory. So being a lawbreaker paid off.
Our camping spot for the night was uber secluded and a little eerie. One of the quietest places I've camped – not even the sound of wind.
The spring looked black, but the water was clear and tasty. More filtering got us plenty of water for meals and for the next day’s push to the North Rim.
Apparently this is what John brings for a pillow on a bikepacking trip. Whatever gets you through the night, friend.
John cooled his Yuengling in the spring. Gotta say, it tasted pretty good at the end of a nearly 12 hour day.
The structure that the spring water was in made for a nice cooking/eating area. Here are Nancy and John having some breakfast.
It was a bit cold the next morning, but the sun warmed us up quick. On we went with a goal to get outside of the park boundry and a stretch goal to get to the east canyon overlook.
Catching some rays while packing the rigs.
Catching some rays while packing the rigs.
And off we went...
Of course Steve went THROUGH the big puddle. But that's how he rolls.
We are now officially in the park.
Try as we could, we could not locate Kanabownits spring.
Steve pumping up his front tire. Something he'd do every couple of hours for the rest of the trip.
We got to a junction in the road where we had to make a decision. An option for the ride was an out and back to Point Sublime. It was about 5.5 miles each way – mostly down going out, but then climbing coming back. Since we were there to see the sights we decided to go to the point. It was quite sublime. This is the type of view that panorama cameras are made for. Worth the extra miles.
It was pretty windy on the point.
Bonus video of Point Sublime
Did our sight seeing and headed back. From here to the rim was some of the most, ummm, challenging riding of the trip. The road was in lousy shape and was long steep up and sketchy down. So much hike a bike. The expression on John's face and mine pretty much sums it up. I never want to ride that section again.
Although, there was this really cool meadow near the end of that section.
North Rim calorie load. Hand made, artisanal sandwiches and carefully cut pizza.
Yup, there we are.
We stocked up on water since we were not sure there would be any available for the rest of the trip. Out we rolled on the Arizona Trail, which we would take for the rest of the trip. This section of the trail is really pretty with the wildflowers and aspen – but was really grown over. Looks like no one uses it - which is a shame.
Due to the earlier side trip to Point Sublime, it was clear that we were not going to make our stretch goal for the day. We had a couple of good sized climbs before reaching the park boundary and none of us was interested in going any further.
So, we set up in the meadow right outside the park. Another chilly night, but I was pretty tired and slept well.
37 miles to our personal finish line.
The final day can be summed up by one word. Meadows. This section of the AZT was my favorite of the weekend. We’d go through a really cool meadow, then duck into the woods for a while then back into another meadow.
We made it to the east rim overlook fairly early. Turns out that camping is prohibited there anyway – but then we've already ascertained earlier that we are lawbreakers.
Back to the meadows. Some small, some were HUGE, and all were beautiful.
Hike a bike - because that's what we do. This meadow was pretty spectacular.
John having an avocado on a snack break. Yeah, he dragged that thing over 100 miles for this snack. He always has the most interesting food choices.
Steve had been running off the front all weekend – he was obviously much stronger than the rest of us. That gave him time to stop and pump up his front tire every couple of hours. Unfortunately we came upon him in a meadow right near the road with a destroyed derailleur. He tried a couple of options to make it work – none of which were happening. The best he could do was go singlespeed, but the ratio was bad and the chain was super tight. Combined with rear suspension, there was no way that was working on the trail. Since we were right near the road he opted to hitch out to Jacob Lake. Only 18 miles to go! That was a tough thing for him – especially since he was riding so strong.
Right after this was a nice hike a bike up a big hill. This brought us up to an area that had been burned some years ago. On the down side, the trees were gone, but on the up side, it gave us some great views of the Vermillion Cliffs in the distance. The riding on this section was pretty fast and fun – if a bit overgrown.
We enjoyed that for a while then came to a wicked down hill and matching hike a bike uphill. Ugh. You can see Nancy down there pushing her bike.
This sign marked 9 miles to go. Wooo hooo.
The riding here was up and down and pretty good. Then we headed down. The last 6 miles were downhill just about the whole way. Some of it was ripping fun, but then there was blow-down to get over as well.
Down, down, down and finally to the AZT sign near where we camped. Victory!!
Despite the 6 hour drive (and horrendous traffic on I-17)
that was ahead of us, I felt fantastic. What a great way to kick off the new
riding season. The Kaibab is a really beautiful place in so many different ways.
Even the burned area had something to recommend it. I’m sure we’ll be back…
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