The mountain biking club went off to explore the upper Verde River. The first surprise was that the dirt forest road turned out to be an old railroad bed. There was no mistaking a road cut like this:
Thus we had little climbing to do. In order to stay on an isocline the old railroad bed had to zig in to the mountain for a third of a mile on the declivities, and zag outwards on the ridges, giving it an exaggerated sinuous look from the air.
The old railroad brought lumber from WoodChute Mountain for the mines of Jerome, AZ, which is how the mountain got that name.
Going through this road cut I was pleasantly surprised to get a view of the famous red rock canyons of Sedona and the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff. But they were too far away to make a good photo.
We continued on our way to the old mining town of Jerome until we went over the top of a ridge and got the first look at the old town, a couple miles away. It was far enough below us that it made sense to turn around here. There was boondocking here, with a Verizon signal. I looked forward to returning to this spot, with the trailer.
There is a beauty unique to situations like this--when you approach a special spot, give it a little nose kiss, and back off, to finish the experience some other day.
I didn't think that the new club member, Coffee Girl, would learn how to cross cattle guards (gates) so well, but she is quite the whizz kid. This is an essential skill in her new career.
We ran into several of these bushes that had gone seriously to seed. I wish I knew its name.
The Peripatetic Poodle ran all the way out, and got to ride back home in the bike/poodle fifth wheel trailer. Coffee Girl, being three times his size and eleven years younger, had to run both ways. The poodle is up to his old tricks again, posing nobly on this sandstone lamella.
