Saturation Point

[rockychrysler]

I've lived in FLG a long time and have always loved riding in the springtime when all the arroyos and creeks are flowing. Today was a special treat, something I've never experienced before: Schultz and the surrounding drainages all flowing midsummer like they do, and in some cases even more than they do, in spring.

My kid and I shredded our saturated, thoroughly soaked trails together on the tandem this morning. Amazing day!







Stoked that tomorrow's another day off for riding.

[Raybum]

Awesome...so freAking awesome. Gettin me some early t

[Chalkpaw]

Yes, this is the most saturated the San Francisco Peaks and greater Grand Canyon area we may witness in our lives. In so many dry years prior I always envisioned trails washing away in the wet. I thought that plants would grow bigger than houses. I would think that many, many mushroom species would show their fruiting bodies, including ones who stain blue. But it has been surprising. My haunts have held their shape and no magic mushrooms have materialized. Trails have done the predictable things, and it has been a blessing to get out to ride and walk with dogs.

[Eazy_E]

Honestly, this is some crap up here. Might as well live in Seattle. The AZT from 164B east to Schultz was a complete mud pit. It was really bad in between Rocky Moto and Moto. I saw a couple of 100ft plus sections of just soup mud.

No thanks, Jeff.

[SuctionGoat]

Take advantage of it while you can, if for no other reason that the trail conditions are unique.

I have been coming home covered in mud and with a shit eating grin on my face.

The trails and forests in Flag are breath taking right now.... Come early summer next year you will be b****ing about how dry it is, and praying for some cloud cover.

Mountain bikers are a strange lot to me sometimes, myself included.

I don't have any interest in "magic" mushrooms, but if you harvest for the table then this is an amazing year for many species. I have enough dried, marinated, pickled or otherwise stored for at least a year and a half.

[raisingarizona]

Yes, this is the most saturated the San Francisco Peaks and greater Grand Canyon area we may witness in our lives. In so many dry years prior I always envisioned trails washing away in the wet. I thought that plants would grow bigger than houses. I would think that many, many mushroom species would show their fruiting bodies, including ones who stain blue. But it has been surprising. My haunts have held their shape and no magic mushrooms have materialized. Trails have done the predictable things, and it has been a blessing to get out to ride and walk with dogs.

Look for horse poop, I have seen tons of those funky shrooms all over the horse poop.

[coconinocycles]

Honestly, this is some crap up here. Might as well live in Seattle. The AZT from 164B east to Schultz was a complete mud pit. It was really bad in between Rocky Moto and Moto. I saw a couple of 100ft plus sections of just soup mud.

No thanks, Jeff.

It's so much better on fire.
- Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles.

[dbflg]

It is amazing! I did a trail run up Schultz Creek Trail yesterday and was impressed with the amount of water flowing down the creek. So much better than springtime "moon dust" and the threat of wildfire.

RC -- I thought that was you and your daughter that passed me while I was running down the trail.

-db-

[Eazy_E]

It's so much better on fire.
- Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles.

That's a pretty strong jump in logic. So, if I say the trails are better off without four inches of water mud on top and a few six inch ruts under that, than obviously, I'd rather it all be on fire. Okay...

I'll take that hero dirt over moon dust any day of the week and twice on Sunday, but the trails I rode yesterday are useless right now. Can't roll, takes too much effort to fight through it, nobody out here runs good mud tires, the trails are going to dry out with huge ruts and they won't roll good until they get smoothed out with a lot of traffic. These are just poor trail conditions. I, personally, will be completely fine with a few days of no rain.

[coconinocycles]

That's a pretty strong jump in logic. So, if I say the trails are better off without four inches of water mud on top and a few six inch ruts under that, than obviously, I'd rather it all be on fire. Okay...

I'll take that hero dirt over moon dust any day of the week and twice on Sunday, but the trails I rode yesterday are useless right now. Can't roll, takes too much effort to fight through it, nobody out here runs good mud tires, the trails are going to dry out with huge ruts and they won't roll good until they get smoothed out with a lot of traffic. These are just poor trail conditions. I, personally, will be completely fine with a few days of no rain.

Ahh......princess and the pea/1st world problems.......
Having lived my whole life in AZ and been a Hotshot I can say a true Arizonan never *****es about the rain.
The trails always get trashed, and they come back.
At least in my 29yrs of trail riding here so far.
YRMV
Paz, Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles

[motochick]

Honestly, this is some crap up here.
No thanks, Jeff.

Maybe you should ride the steep trails???? I bet they do not have this mud problem.

[longhairmike]

**searches for animated popcorn gif

[coconinocycles]

I remember when mountain bikers prided themselves on being tough.
Now people ***** how hard it is on a thread whose intro is pictures of a little girl enjoying what they consider to be too tough.
- Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles.

[rockman]

Ha Ha, good stuff!

I too was on a tandem with my 11 year old daughter yesterday and we had a hoot plowing through the puddles on AZ trail between Wild and Wooly and Shultz Tank. And Schultz was just a riot.

I do, however avoid the very top of AZ trail as you get close to Schultz Pass as that does have bad mud and poor drainage. It's better to cut down Rusty Pipe.

[dbflg]

Ha Ha, good stuff!

I too was on a tandem with my 11 year old daughter yesterday...

Wow! Two dads with daughters on tandems on Schultz on the same day. What are the odds of that?

-db-

[dbflg]

I do, however avoid the very top of AZ trail as you get close to Schultz Pass as that does have bad mud and poor drainage...

That's been my experience as well when we had all the rain in July. The flat areas atop the pass had lots of standing water and muddy trails. Anywhere with a slope was fine.

-db-

[rockychrysler]

These are just poor trail conditions. I, personally, will be completely fine with a few days of no rain.

No. They are unique and thrilling trail conditions such as we won't likely see again soon. And, as has been so eloquently observed above, come June we're all gonna be reminiscing pretty darn hard about all these flowing arroyos and muddy spots as we wait on the edge of our seat for fire-season to pass into monsoons without tragedy.

It's bad form to live in AZ and ever speak ill of the rain. Suck it up. Hold it in. And revel in the sensation. It's awesome!

(@dbflg: my kid said to me, moments after we passed you, "that guy said your name." sorry we didn't stop. it occurred to me after we'd blown thru the parking lot "Oh! That was DB and his wife." Hope to get a chance to chat you up about clouds and rain next time we pass.)

[coconinocycles]

Wow! Two dads with daughters on tandems on Schultz on the same day. What are the odds of that?

-db-

In Flag pretty good, but one may be Gibson - his Mrs could be mistaken for a child!
- Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles

[JoePAz]

Ahh......princess and the pea/1st world problems.......
Having lived my whole life in AZ and been a Hotshot I can say a true Arizonan never *****es about the rain.
The trails always get trashed, and they come back.
At least in my 29yrs of trail riding here so far.
YRMV
Paz, Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles

+1
I have lived in Arizona since 1980 and rain is always a good thing. As long as it does not come in big bunches that cause flooding, rain is good. Even in the forests we live in a desert and rain is life. No rain and everything dies including us people.

[RajunCajun44]

If the trail/road is not well traveled and the primary surface material is clay, then saturated conditions could be a nightmare for a mountain bike. All that clay will stick to your tires, frame, and brakes.... Other than that, wet conditions are much better than dust... But if you have clay that is not well compressed, don't go there...

[Tretta]

I'm hoping that Little Bear will recover in some way after the summer rains are over. It was completely destroyed. Huge canyons where a trail used to be. We enjoyed some extreme hike a bike. Major trail rebuilding to be done up there.

[raisingarizona]

I'm hoping that Little Bear will recover in some way after the summer rains are over. It was completely destroyed. Huge canyons where a trail used to be. We enjoyed some extreme hike a bike. Major trail rebuilding to be done up there.

Is it really that bad? That's a bummer, I was really enjoying that trail now that I have a xc bike and with all of the openness through the burn the line of sight was silly and you could go so fast.

[Eazy_E]

I'm hoping that Little Bear will recover in some way after the summer rains are over. It was completely destroyed. Huge canyons where a trail used to be. We enjoyed some extreme hike a bike. Major trail rebuilding to be done up there.

You just hate the rain. Please leave the state.

[Tretta]

There was a sign at the top of Little Wear warning us, but we figured 3.5 miles of some hike-a-bike we could handle. We had no idea how bad it really was. It had some patches along the way, but some sections were completely obliterated by boulders and trees. The trail would disappear into an abyss, and you could see the other half of it on the other side of an extreme canyon. We had 5 people, so did an assembly-line-pass to get the bikes down and up the canyon. Most of our scrapes and broozes were from hiking the steep holes. HUGE trees blocking other sections of it. Then we hit Schultz Pass loop and were in heaven, weeweeweeeeeing all the way home!

[Tretta]

You just hate the rain. Please leave the state.

Um, did you quote the wrong person??? Love the rain and love riding in it.