We met at the Emery Henderson trail head at 10:00 am for a spin on the Black Canyon Trail. Last time I had been on this trail was probably 3 or more years ago and the heinous memories were still lingering. But local groups have expended much time on trail building and maintenance so we were anxious to check it out. We ended up riding a bit over 6 miles to get to the 2.4 mile loop.
Dropping on to the trail we began with a sharp dip and a long climb up loose rocks about the size of your head. The trail is marked with signs but there are so many intersections and cross trails it is difficult to distinguish where the actual trail is. We just kept veering off in what we thought was the correct direction and looked for the occasional sign. During the trek we encountered some old appliances dumped in the desert that were of an antique vintage and several mine entrances. We eventually happened on to the loop we were searching for. We started up the East Loop which had a few hike a bike sections and was fairly technical. It was a tough ride even though apparent that much work had been done on this section of the trail. We completed the 1.2 miles up and started back down the 1.2 miles back down the West Loop. This was all downhill and extremely fast.
We started back and at the top of one hills we climbed on the way out there were some large caliber weapons being discharged. We shouted out which was answered with more gunfire so we opted for a bit of freeriding across the open (or not so open as the case was) desert. After a check of the GPS and we ended up in a wash and rode for over a mile until it intersected one of the roads we had previously traveled. From there it was easy to navigate back to the trail head.
All present and accounted for.
Pondering one of the 1000's of trail intersections we encountered during the ride.
Exploring an old mine.
One of the lighter rocky sections.
We are here.
One of the sections of rocky "goodness".
A few feet further down the trail.
Which emptied out here where the climbing began to the left.
Heading up.
A brief intermission after a slight detour through the bushes.
More rocks.
More up.
A little better view of this section.
The freeride portion of the day.
Dropping on to the trail we began with a sharp dip and a long climb up loose rocks about the size of your head. The trail is marked with signs but there are so many intersections and cross trails it is difficult to distinguish where the actual trail is. We just kept veering off in what we thought was the correct direction and looked for the occasional sign. During the trek we encountered some old appliances dumped in the desert that were of an antique vintage and several mine entrances. We eventually happened on to the loop we were searching for. We started up the East Loop which had a few hike a bike sections and was fairly technical. It was a tough ride even though apparent that much work had been done on this section of the trail. We completed the 1.2 miles up and started back down the 1.2 miles back down the West Loop. This was all downhill and extremely fast.
We started back and at the top of one hills we climbed on the way out there were some large caliber weapons being discharged. We shouted out which was answered with more gunfire so we opted for a bit of freeriding across the open (or not so open as the case was) desert. After a check of the GPS and we ended up in a wash and rode for over a mile until it intersected one of the roads we had previously traveled. From there it was easy to navigate back to the trail head.
All present and accounted for.
Pondering one of the 1000's of trail intersections we encountered during the ride.
Exploring an old mine.
One of the lighter rocky sections.
We are here.
One of the sections of rocky "goodness".
A few feet further down the trail.
Which emptied out here where the climbing began to the left.
Heading up.
A brief intermission after a slight detour through the bushes.
More rocks.
More up.
A little better view of this section.
The freeride portion of the day.
oster_oops: 