Mountain Biking in Flagstaff

Jeff and Will

We weren't sure where we were going when we set forth on this one, but we figured that starting out up Schultz wasn't a bad beginning. Even upper Schultz is mostly dry. Here is one of the semi-catwalky sections just below the Gnarly intersection, with Schultz Pass Road visible at right.

Gnarly is a short and beautiful trail that climbs from Schultz (at about 7850') to the Dry Lake Hills (about 8200'). It's an almost totally nontechnical spin on the way up.

One the night before this ride, my wife and I went to Revenge of the Sith, so it was perhaps appropriate that we ended up on Jedi for this ride. Up on top, the trail gets off to an innocuous start, with some log crossings nicely stacked with stiles, and a breathtaking aspen-lined meadow.

But then, the trail drops off the edge of the Dry Lake Hills, and all heck breaks loose. There's a very steep but rideable switchbacking descent, but then the trail starts rolling along a technical, off-camber, rocky stretch with some moderate exposure, with the occasional log crossing to spice it up. Will's a better descender than I am, so he got ahead of me on the switchbacks, and the most technical bits of this trail are just way out of my league. I expect it will be a long time, if ever, before I clean this stretch! But that's OK; I'm out here to enjoy myself, not kill myself.

Up at top, the score was Will 7, Jedi 0:

But farther down, Jedi 7, Will 0:

A little bit of trailside first aid later, this little puncture was cleaned up and band-aided, and we bombed back down Schultz and home. Apart from our Sith being no match for this particular Jedi, it was a great ride.

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