Bucky goes to Prescott

You know that moment.  That very awkward moment when you’ve ask the ladies,  - Can I bring my bike on the girls non cycling weekend/music concert road trip?  And the conversation gets quiet and a tad uncomfortable while they try to come up with a reason to say no.  But the best they come up with is  " It's probably to big and won't fit but if you can cover it up so it doesn’t get my car dirty."  Well yippee!! Because my bike is very packable and I've spent way to much time researching trail routes close to the hotel to leave the bike at home now. 

Bucky's 29er wheels in a garment bag and a random blanket over the chain bits - gets him a ride in the car.

Iron King Trail

Getting into the trail proved to be a bit tricky. I blame the signs. They are building a nice new parking area and the signs have not caught up.  I thought I knew where I was going. 

My first attempt was to follow this path through the underpass

But that was just gross

 So I went back up the trail, across the road, over this dirt mound and along the trail behind the mound.  All the while ignoring the cyclist that were riding off in the other direct

All that work just got me back to this cement trail, the one that all the other cyclist had seem to taking.  

Finally,   I got into the trail and found what the big deal was about and why this trail came so highly recommended.  There were lots of cool stuff to see along the way.

They had several old rail cars parked along the way.  There was a sign that said don't climb on the car but  Bucky could not resist.

Fancy bridges...... 

These have to be some tough flowers to last this long into the summer! 

This is a complicated as the trail got.  Nice smooth gravel with big blue skies.  Except for a bit to much heat this was almost a perfect ride. 

 Suddenly the terrain changes and these impressive granite rock formations appear almost out of no where.

Usually in Arizona, anything this cool gets bought and maintained by the state.  Interesting to see that this trail runs right against privately owned property.   Bucky couldn't resist just "stepping into the cattle grazing zone

The lake!!!! I had been told there was a lake.  It took me two tries to find it.  Seems I did not go far enough on the first day.  Did I say that out loud? Day two I just kept going down the hill and this great view will pop up.   So pretty and peaceful early in the morning.  Worth coming back to find it. 

The ride included a nice history in geology. The pic is hard to read but it kinda of says these granite rocks are about 1.6 billion years old, give or take a few billion and were created from a buried molten mass called a batholith. Good to know

Don't know how I took this pictures...  Guess my phone likes taking different pictures. 

On the way back I stopped and took this picture.   Excited to see a bird sitting  in it's nest.  Um well  as I got closer It was just a prickly pear cactus on the side of a rock...  No bird.   If I had turned to the right I might have gotten the black birds all flying around something.  But no,  just this cactus for everyone to enjoy. 

This cute guy came running along as I was headed out. And seemed very curious about getting his picture taken...     

This is a great trail.  It may not have been very technical,  and the morning was very warm.  But I was still glad I made  the effort to get the bike out.