Sun 10/9/2016
Sedona AZ area
~70  miles

Next morning: clear blue desert skies, sunrise hitting the red rock, and hot air balloons accenting the scene (pretty common on clear mornings here).

I was already jonesing to be back on the bike after yesterdays caged crawl through town, so I woke up early, had coffee and geared up for a twisty out-n-back ride up 89A through Oak Creek Canyon to the top of the Mogollon rim near Flagstaff.

Traffic was still light at that hour on a Sunday morning with most shops still closed. Stopped for a pic at the alien-themed Red Planet Diner. I’d eaten there on the last trip years ago, but we didn’t have time this week.

Made it through town quickly and headed north up into the canyon, with the sun still casting long shadows. The lower portions of the canyon road have nice sweeping curves, forested areas, and campgrounds.

There was just enough morning traffic to slow things down a bit more than I liked and passing zones were few and far in between. One RV causes lines of many cars to build up. I wanted to get out ahead of the cages before the hairpin section and was able to (finally) do so just as it started.

I made a fun brisk run up the plateau on the 15mph turns, squinting when the road kept pointing me east around the bends. Had to pass one or two tourists enjoying the scenic road at a slower pace, but enjoyed the ride thoroughly.

The really hairy ascending section is pretty short and at the top I blasted along on a hilly straightaway for a few miles towards Flagstaff to make sure there were no more curves. Then I rode back down and up the twisties again, this time a bit slower to get some photos.

Pulled in at the scenic overlook at the top, where local vendors were just setting up what looked like stalls to sell kitsch to passing tourists. Looking down on part of the canyon:

Then back down and out the canyon toward Sedona. 89A in Oak Creek Canyon is an great ride, big on scenery with a super, albeit short, section of twisties!

Here’s downtown Sedona on my way back through. I felt recharged upon my arrival back at the hotel, great roads, scenery, weather and no traffic!

Later in the day, some of us decided to see some native ruins. Remember I mentioned the lack of roads…well that doesn’t account for the many (red) dirt roads crisscrossing the landscape. There is a lot of tourism in Sedona for jeep tours, ATV rentals, and that sort of thing. We took the Nissan rental SUV off-pavement for 10 miles of jouncing dirt road to get to the Honanki Ruins, managed by the National Park Service. We eyed the open-cab four-wheel ATVs that passed us with envy at their long suspensions.

We were one of the last vehicles to arrive before they closed the gates. The friendly docent (an employee of a local jeep tour outfit) briefly explained the site, which consisted of around 100 yards of ruined walls along the base of a rock cliff.

There were many wall paintings made at various times in history by inhabitants, travelers and mujch more recent European settlers.

Some of the local flora and fauna.

A few miles of dirt road takes a while at 5-10 mph, but the scenery was distracting enough to take our minds off the jouncing around (somewhat). This is the kind of area that would make me want a dual sport bike to explore it all.

Ended the day with a delicious Italian family dinner at the Cucina Rustica in the nearby village of Oak Creek, to celebrate an anniversary, recent marriage, and a birthday. Awesome pesto and the “Smokin Ritas” (made with mescal) were tasty!