Riding in Quartzsite, Arizona

[CID]

We will be there tomorrow-Thursday. With your 1000 mile week there, maybe you could suggest some better places to ride. Most of us like challenging areas, without broken parts. The wives tend to scream at us sometimes.

The most challenging section I rode was west from Brenda along the north side of the highway. If you ride it east bound, from Quartzsite to Brenda, your wives will scream; the loose, rocky uphills are STEEP and barely trails.

Another fun, but less ‘scary’ and much shorter is the AZPT section that takes off of the power line road to the west. It’s clearly marked with a sign on the left side as you approach, headed west. It takes off about 8 miles west of hwy 95 (just a guess). The only really challenging section is at 7/10ths - 8/10ths of a mile from the power line road. Once past that, yer good. But you will be dragging bottom in a couple of places.

One more, not so easy to locate but here’s a topo screenshot. The loop in the lower right, marked UP and DOWN was quite memorable. 😲 Up isn’t a problem, it runs up a narrow ridge, watch for incoming, there are few places to pass. You get there through La Posa South. If you want a real challenge IMO, go up the down section (but that might cause you a divorce 🤔). No worse, even easier than the ups ‘n downs to Brenda. The down section isn’t on my GAIA topo but I could clearly see it riding up the ridge.

Have fun, sorry we missed contact.

 

[Doogle]

Have fun, sorry we missed contact.

We rode north of I-10. The others rode south last year, without me. Normally I ride without other machines, or with like style riders. Yesterday I almost broke off from the larger group after an hour. If I'd gone alone, I probably would have lost my spare tire. Here's part of my FaceBook post:
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This morning we met at 10 am and waited till after noon for the rain to subside. When we started riding it was still some light cold rain, off and on. After about an hour the group of 7 machines split up. Now the relaxed riders and the more spirited riders. We didn't have any technical center of gravity balancing experiences or half tire on narrow ledge drop offs. But Lynn Laymon led at a pace that didn't allow me time to check my speedometer. We stopped at a memorial marker for Mark Williams-high up in the mountains. I don't know who he is, but there is a river named after him also.

We stopped at a cafe in Brenda, then headed back towards the camp site. I'm guessing the high speed spirited riding, and multiple rock hits contributed to my spare tire carrier breaking. I didn't know it was gone until we got a phone call from Mel, who was following me. If he hadn't seen it brake off, I would never have been able to find it.
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Do you winter in the Arizona area? Maybe catch up with you next year. I'm leaving for a 3 week solo Japan motorcycle trip April 2. Then we drive back to Ohio mid May.

 

[CID]

I particularly liked the Mark Williams trail simply because is wasn’t on my topo and I found it by luck. I was riding west at that fork and happened to look in my rear view mirror and saw the trail running up the ridge, I went back the next day and rode it eastbound into Brenda and then west, paralleling hwy 10 on the north side where the steep, rocky downhills were. I was staying at the Plomosa Road camping area, 6 miles north of Quartzsite.

I’m in Ajo now, it’s been cloudy for 3 days now but no rain thankfully. That may happen today … and it just started raining. 😢 Weather says sunny tomorrow.

Where are you staying in QS? If you’re right there, and you like challenging climbs, head east along hwy 10, north side. It’s close to QS, so worth a look; a short out and back if it’s too rowdy. It’s the toughest section I saw in 1000 miles fer shur and that was going down the worst parts. Going up would be a whole nuther experience. 😲

Glad you didn’t lose your spare.

Normally, I winter in Denver because I run myself ragged all summer and look forward to the rest. The only reason I’m down here this early this year is that I decided to go to King of the Hammers in Johnson Valley, Kalif. It was 2-3 thru 2-12 this year. I headed to QS from there.

 

[Doogle]

I particularly liked the Mark Williams trail simply because is wasn’t on my topo and I found it by luck. I was riding west at that fork and happened to look in my rear view mirror and saw the trail running up the ridge, I went back the next day and rode it eastbound into Brenda and then west, paralleling hwy 10 on the north side where the steep, rocky downhills were. I was staying at the Plomosa Road camping area, 6 miles north of Quartzsite.

Where are you staying in QS? If you’re right there, and you like challenging climbs, head east along hwy 10, north side. It’s close to QS, so worth a look; a short out and back if it’s too rowdy. It’s the toughest section I saw in 1000 miles fer shur and that was going down the worst parts. Going up would be a whole nuther experience. 😲

We rented a park model just north and west of I-10 and 95. Nice, roomy, and much open space around it. Most of our group are on Plomosa Road near 95.