Exploring Arizona Forest Route 300

[beemerdons]

More Exploring of Arizona Forest Route 300, from AZ Beemers Club Member Jo "azgsgirl" Smee:

Apparently, once I find a good place to ride I keep returning to it until every last bit is explored and ridden. There are plenty of roads off FR300 that I haven't found yet! Yesterday, Hal and I rode some of the forest roads that radiate from FR300 south, to explore and get them mapped in our heads. As always, the full story is on the blog, but here are the highlights in photos:

The somewhat elusive band of horses on FR300:



On FR487:



On one part of FR86:



The ferns of FR86:



Black Canyon Lake:

All-important stop:

Cloud art on the way home:

We didn't ride in any rain, but encountered a few drops as we came down off the Rim on the way home.

As usual, it was a perfect day for riding, especially dirt bikes.

- Jo

P.S. GS not home yet; I am hoping for next weekend (maybe?).

 

[beemerdons]

Yesterday Hal and I rode the south part of FR300 on the Rim. This is the part that is across the 260 and east of where we usually come out at Woods Canyon Lake. We turned into it at MM291, and rode the 300 all the way to the outskirts of Show Low.

The road was easy, like a superhighway at first, then around 20 miles in there were a few more curves and changes in elevation. The surface changed to clay, too, and would have been impassable during a rainstorm. With 20 miles to go, the surface changed again to golfball-size cinder gravel. We came out at US60, south of Show Low. The road crosses the highway and becomes single lane, but we only went a short distance down that segment. There was a sign there that said it was "closed and not driveable" when it is wet. According to the map, it goes to Pinetop-Lakeside, but we decided to explore that part another day. We turned around and rode back the way we came. The total mileage on the day was 106 miles of dirt, and our ride time was about 4-1/2 hours with many stops for photos.

Here are some of the highlights:

View from just east of Gentry Lookout:



The fun part starts!





Near Show Low, which is on the right in the photo:






Not driveable during rain!




The rutted clay part of the road (this was a "gently rutted" part):





Rainstorm in the distance:



At least we didn't get caught in any giant thunderstorms (this time):




On the way home:



It was a super-fun day, and we will go back soon to explore the many forest roads that take off from FR300 south! The longer story can be found on my blog, here:

https://azgsgirl.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/the-other-300/

- Jo