The Waterline Road in the San Francisco Peaks reopened in October. It had been closed for more than two years in the aftermath of the Pipeline Fire. That fire occurred in the same area as the Schultz Fire (2010) and managed to burn what had been spared by the earlier fire. After two years of work, the Waterline Road was safe for the general public to use again.
View of the burned mountainside along Waterline Road in the San Francisco Peaks. New growth is already sprouting.Riding on Waterline Road in the San Francisco Peaks. We’ve finally left the burn scar and have entered the aspen groves.Aspen trees starting to show autumn colors along Waterline Road.One of the few gaps in trees along the road allows a view down into Lockett Meadow. The hill on the far right was burned by the Pipeline Fire but is beginning to recover.
We rode our mountain bikes up the road and were saddened–but not surprised–by the destruction of the fire. There had been a lot of new growth after the 2010 fire–especially with new aspen trees already attaining heights of 10 to 20 feet. All this burned in 2022. Once again, new growth is taking place but most of it is still quite small.
A view into the Inner Basin from above shows colorful aspens.A stand of aspen along Waterline Road with the high peaks surrounding the Inner Basin visible in the distance.Biking back down the Waterline Road. It’s about 9 miles of downhill. Easy!
The Inner Basin, however, was mostly spared by the 2022 fire and here were many aspen trees in full autumn colors. Along the road there are a few locations where you can get a wider view of the trees and the mountains but mostly the only view along the road…is the road.
Some years it’s easy to get great photographs of the changing colors of aspen leaves in northern Arizona. The weather is good, the timing is right, you’re in the perfect place. It all comes together.
That wasn’t this year.
We set out several times on the mountain bikes to see and enjoy the color. First we were too early; then we were too late. We were out of town on a long-planned trip and the peak color season occurred while we were gone. It happens.
Not that I’m complaining. I’ve been able to get good photographs many times in the past and there will be opportunities again in coming years.
So here is a collection of pre-season photos, post-season photos, and a few from several years ago comparing colors in the Inner Basin on similar dates but different years.
Early season colors seen along Waterline Road (09/25/2017)Early season colors seen along Waterline Road (09/25/2017)Early season colors along the Arizona Trail near Bismarck Lake (09/29/2017)Late-season aspen along Waterline Road (10/17/2017)Late-season aspen along Waterline Road (10/17/2017)Mountain biking on Inner Basin Trail (10/17/2017)Mountain biking on Inner Basin Trail (10/17/2017)Mountain biking on Inner Basin Trail in 2014 (10/14/2014).
Based on previous years, I thought we might still find some great color in the Inner Basin this late in the season. We certainly did in 2014—but not 2017.
And here are a couple from 2015—another good year for aspen photography.
Inner Basin Trail (10/07/2015).Lockett Meadow and Inner Basin (10/08/2015).
An early snowfall on the higher summits juxtaposed with the aspen almost at their peak made an interesting composition. Getting this view required more hiking and climbing that anticipated—but ultimately worth it.
It has been a wet December and January with rainfall amounts running well above average across much of Arizona—including Sedona. So we haven’t been riding quite as much as we would like as trail etiquette is to not ride wet and muddy trails because of the potential trail damage.
Still, we’ve managed to get in a few good days with only a bit of mud and snow on the trails.
View of the Cockscomb from Western Civilization Trail.Narrow tread on Last Frontier.Soldiers Wash trails.Courthouse Butte trails.Aerie Trail on Doe Mountain.Aerie Trail.
Another round of wet weather has arrived and trails will be getting rain and snow over the next few days. It may take awhile before we have dry trails again!
The weather has been pretty dry across northern Arizona this fall and, as a result, we have done all of our mountain biking in Flagstaff.
But the good and dry weather finally ended and we have found ourselves down in Sedona riding several times since Thanksgiving week. The rain that fell in late November resulted in the trails being in great condition. The dry and dusty trails are now perfectly damp and tacky providing great traction and grip (“gription”). Some folks call it Hero dirt.
A few photos from those days of riding…
Stair step drops on Chuckwagon Trail.An alternate line on Chuckwagon Trail.Mescal Trail.Action sequence on Canyon of Fools Trail.Scorpion Trail.Secret Slickrock Trail.Easy Breezy Trail.Adobe Jack Trail.
After an early start to the summer rainy season, the pattern reverted back to hot and dry across the southwest. And not just for a day or two but for more than a week. Two weeks, even.
With continued warm and dry weather expected we headed to Durango, Colorado, for a few days of mountain biking and hiking. We already had a few ideas for trails and we figured we’d get more while in town.
On our first day of riding we did the Dry Fork–Colorado Trail–Hoffheins loop with an extension on the Colorado Trail to the local “high point” giving us a total of about 17 miles. There were plenty of wildflowers along the Colorado Trail section along with occasional views of distant peaks. We also saw a family of wild turkey but, as usual, they were easier to see than to photograph.
The start of Dry Fork Trail under a stand of oak trees.Dry Fork and Colorado Trail intersection. The map says this is “unmarked” and “easy to miss.” Need to update the map!The wildflowers were fabulous!Climbing through the ferns and aspen on the Colorado Trail.Love those cattle guard crossings!
Our next ride was Lower Hermosa Creek trail. We opted to hire a shuttle to drop us off at the high point. From here, it was a 5-mile downhill cruise on well-maintained Forest Service roads along East Hermosa Creek (and within sight of Purgatory Ski Resort) before hitting the actual trail head for Lower Hermosa Creek. From the trail head it’s about 19 miles to the trail terminus.
An easy cruise above East Hermosa Creek.Smooth and flowy double-track along Lower Hermosa Creek trail.Single track along Lower Hermosa Creek.
Wildflowers were in abundance and water was flowing down the creek. The first third of the trail was a double-track and open to motorized vehicles although we saw none. We stopped often to enjoy the scenery and I took many photos along this section. The middle third was narrow single track with the creek far below us. And the final third may have had more uphill than downhill resulting a lot of HAB (i.e., Hike-a-Bike). Alas, there are no photos from this section—we were too busy trying to ride!
And the final stretch was a fast downhill on gravel and paved roads from the trail terminus to where we had parked our car earlier that morning.
Larkspur along the Engineer Mountain trail.Engineer Mountain from the meadows.Wildflowers and mountain.
For our final day we decided to put the bikes away and hike up Engineer Mountain from Molas Pass. Our goal was fairly modest; we were not seeking to hike to the summit but only to the wildflower-filled meadows. We were not disappointed with the wildflowers. No, not at all!
