Riding Beneath the Bubble - Mountain Flyer Number 9

DEFINING THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN CYCLIST

mountainflyer

magazine

$5.95

Number 9 www.mountainflyer.com

THE ROMANCE OF LA RUTA ALUMINUM: THE MISUNDERSTOOD METAL FOUR ONIE’S AND ROADIE BUILD YOUR OWN LIGHT

102

Riding Beneath the Bubble in the White Mountains of Arizona

by James E. Rickman

T

James Rickman

here’s a certain strangeness to riding in Arizona’s White Mountains. While aspiring mountain biking Meccas clamor for attention, this place seems to prefer anonymity. It is the mountain biking destination that time and most everyone else it seems has forgotten.

The White Mountains stand quietly at eastern edge of the Grand Canyon State as an ocean of towering Ponderosa pines visible as far as the eye can see. Beneath this whispering green canopy, nearly 200 miles of superb, well-marked, non-motorized trails remain hidden in plain sight.

Within reach of the trails, the nearby community of Pinetop-Lakeside hugs the skirt of Highway 260, looking as if nothing beyond 1950 ever took root here. Rustic lakeside cabins and A-frames that might have been second homes for Ward and June Cleaver are tucked neatly into the trees. The region is an anachronism of sorts, as if it had been preserved beneath a bell jar of benign disinterest and stored in a forgotten attic somewhere.

Every day is a good one in the White Mountains.

THE EDGES OF THE BELL JAR END A FEW MILES AWAY To the north in Show Low, the noise and disorientation of modern society are palpable inside the discount stores and Taco Bells that have become monuments to American Progress. A few miles south, the Hon-Dah Casino, its parking lot brimming with RVs, provides a doorway to capitalist culture for the White Mountain Apache tribe and marks the edge of reservation land.

Yet in between, Pinetop-Lakeside clings to the ragged edge of days gone by on the Mogollon Rim—where the southernmost edge of the Colorado Plateau abdicates its majesty to the Basin and Range below. Sitting on the edge of the rim up here gives the impression that this fragile area could suddenly sheer off and careen into the valley below, colliding head on with the 103

The Panorama Trail offers some of the best views of any trail in the White Mountains Trail System.

unchecked commercialization and artificiality of Phoenix and Scottsdale 150 miles to the southwest.

As much as the pull of progress beckons tiny Pinetop-Lakeside into the abyss, sojourners from the mega-metropolis below make regular pilgrimages to the White Mountains to escape the oppressive desert heat, traffic jams and nonstop ambient noise of civilization.

People come here to savor the sticky darkness of the night sky or to bask under the brilliant blue ceiling of the day. Up here the vanilla essence of Ponderosa pine floats lazily on the temperate air. This is a world where solitude is easy to find and a person can hear himself think.

A CONNECTION WITH NATURE Back in 1987, an enlightened group comprised of the U.S. Forest Service, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the White Mountains Horsemen’s Association and the Audubon Society decided to embark on an initiative to create a network of trails that would connect the town and forest. The group called itself Pinetop-Lakeside TRACKS, a clumsy acronym paying homage to the multiple user groups involved. Thanks to a steady stream of public and private donations and an army of eager local volunteers, the group officially gave birth to the White Mountain Trail system by sculpting 10 miles of tight singletrack into the rocky soil.

Now, 20 years later, the White Mountain Trail System could 104

serve as model of success for modern communities seeking to capitalize on outdoor recreation. More than 180 miles of trail are officially part of the network, with more on the way. From Pinedale—15 miles northwest of Show Low—to the edges of the Apache reservation 10 miles southeast of Pinetop-Lakeside, the trail system meanders through the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest and now includes a dozen major loops, most of which are interconnected by fire roads or singletrack trails. The system is specifically designated only for hiking, biking and equestrian use.

Motorized vehicles are restricted to fire and forest roads that don’t conflict with non-motorized trails for the most part.

A contingent of 200 TRACKS volunteers and a progressive land manager—Ed Collins of the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest Lakeside Ranger District—are instrumental to the continuing success of the trail system, said Nick Lund, president of TRACKS. Members are constantly seeking to improve the network. Proposed routes go through formal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review, and the TRACKS group meets one day a week for trail construction and maintenance activities.

“This really is one of the most dedicated groups of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” said Lund.

UNEXPECTED PRAISE All of the hard work has paid off. Some heavy hitters have noticed the success of the network, and funding continues to roll

Some good rides in the White Mountains We had only planned to ride three days during our visit to the White Mountains. But because the trails were so great, we ended up riding five out of our six days there (even God rested…). During that time we saw exactly two riders on horseback and three on bikes. Here are some notes about some of the more notable trails we encountered: Los Burros Trail: If you had to choose one ride to do on your way through Pinetop-Lakeside, this might be the one. This 13-mile loop is listed as “moderate” but does include a couple of hairy sections. Like everything in the White Mountains, rocks are numerous and challenging. But this beauty of a trail also includes long, smooth stretches through alpine meadow and fern-dappled forest. The final downhill section will peg the fun meter.

James Rickman

Panorama Trail: While many trails in the White Mountains wind through endless stands of trees, Panorama, like the name suggests, is a trail with views. Only six miles in length, the entertainment value makes it seem much longer (or shorter, depending on your personal predilections). The climb near the end makes you work for the final breathtaking view, but the short, fast, final downhill will keep you giggling halfway through your beer back at the trailhead. Sultan of Spokes Keith Bontrager gives Panorama two enthusiastic thumbs up.

in. Arizona Sen. John McCain has dropped in on a TRACKS meeting for an impromptu trails briefing, while Hillary Rodham Clinton visited in 2000 as First Lady of the United States to bestow a Millennium Trail designation on the system’s Land of the Pioneers loop.

Legendary Wheelman Keith Bontrager discovered the White Mountains in 2006 while taking part in the annual Tour of the White Mountains event as a warm up for the 24 Hours of Moab.

He became an instant fan.

“The singletrack there is very good, well laid out, with the right mix of technical bits and flowing fast sections,” Bontrager said. “Almost all of it is in the trees, too. There are climbs but they are not killers like the Alps. And the system is so big, so there’s plenty of variety.”

The way the network is laid out, riders can enjoy a quick romp around one of the shorter singletrack loops such as the classic Country Club Trail or string together multiple loops for an epic like riders enjoy during the annual Tour that captivated Bontrager.

Navigation through the labyrinth of trails is easy thanks to regular markers along the way. Blue diamonds indicate main routes, green dots indicate trail connectors, yellow dots indicate a shortcut back to the trailhead and red dots denote a route to a vista. These colorful lucky charms stand out on the trees like colorful marshmallow treats in a box of monotonous oat bits.

The never-failing markers and an inexpensive trail guide available at the Lakeside Ranger District headquarters means

Country Club Trail: Who’d have thought you could pack so much fun into just three and a half miles? This trail is the smoothest of the bunch and astoundingly fast. We enjoyed it so much we kept stringing together routes that would let us ride it over and over again. You’ll kick yourself in the head if you don’t take the time to ride the spur to the top of Pat Mullen Mountain. Add on the nearby Springs Trail for a longer ride.

Springs Trail: The first mile of this relatively flat trail is so rocky that it’s nearly unrideable. What’s more, hungry clouds of mosquitoes near the soggy lowlands make the frustration factor climb like the nearby Blue Ridge Trail. But good things come to those who persevere: The last mile or so of this short ride will have you zigging and zagging through the trees as fast as your little legs can carry you as you gleefully move backward in time to your former childhood.

Blue Ridge Trail: Locals winced when we told them we rode this as our first ride. We did so to get an objective reading of what the “difficult” designation in the trail guide really meant. The term fit—underscoring the accuracy and usefulness of the guidebook. Nevertheless, Blue Ridge was fun in a kind of spooky, if-I-lose-my-concentration-I-could-getseriously-injured kind of way. This was the only trail that gave us some navigating difficulties.

Secret Trails: Rumor has it that some of the best trails in the White Mountains aren’t listed in the guides. Locals take to their secret trails for group rides at regular intervals. Sidle on up to a local rider to see if you can get hooked in or, even better, pay a visit to Cycle Mania in Show Low and strike up a conversation with owner Todd Fernau for the lowdown.

105

James Rickman C. Spaeth

Los Burros Trail is sometimes nothing more than a smooth skinny ribbon winding through the forest.

James Rickman

On a clear day on the Panorama Trail, you can see all the way to Flagstaff.

In some areas of the White Mountains, it’s easy to visualize what it would be like if reptiles lived on Mars. Wildlife is abundant in the White Mountains and several different species—including a thimble-sized vole—greeted us on our rides.

106

riders can spend more time enjoying the trails and less time scratching their heads over a trail map.

We logged a leisurely 70 miles of riding in our first three days in Pinetop-Lakeside. Some sections of the forest ravaged by fire years ago have been reborn into the kind of roomy forest that allows a generous amount of sunlight to pass through the tree canopies and energize the forest floor. The area radiates with inspiration that seemed to bring out the better parts of our stamina and balance.

Trails and forest roads are covered with pea-sized, rust-colored volcanic cinder that crunches under the tires. In other areas, sections of cruel pockmarked babyheads force you to keep hands and feet light on the bars and pedals and dance above the seat while the machine below bucks and heaves its way toward the next brief smooth section. The red cast of the soil and abundance of rock made me imagine how biking on Mars must feel.

Unlike the desert portion of Arizona, the White Mountains are blessed with life-giving moisture. The mosquitoes certainly had amassed for our late-fall visit, and we took to the trails only after basting ourselves with a chemical broth of SPF 30 sunscreen and 100 percent DEET. We tested this mixture for several days under the harshest conditions of sweat and dirt, and we can attest that neither chemical affects the performance of the other when used simultaneously. Were it not for sunscreen, we would fry like bacon during the long daily rides we enjoyed, and if we had not packed the DEET, our flesh would have been as raw and bumpy as some of the sections of trail we mastered. Any breather we took out in the wide-open expanses of trees brought clouds of mosquitoes that hovered just out of range of the DEET molecules we exuded.

THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE All our riding worked up a healthy appetite and a craving for trash talk over beers. Oddly enough, despite the abundance of excellent trails, there were few people of our ilk hanging out in Pinetop-Lakeside that we could regale with tales of our daily adventures. The parking lots of local lodging establishments were devoid of vehicles with bikes on the roofs or hitch racks. Instead, larger luxury vehicles dominated the terrain.

As we later found out, Pinetop-Lakeside exists in the farthest corner of the time-share universe. It is a default location for resort-goers who have procrastinated in their annual vacation planning and were unable to trade up to more desirable condominiums elsewhere. Older folks who’ve given up the gumption to wheel and deal for more exotic locations find themselves marooned here for weeklong jaunts away from the city.

People of this age demographic eat dinner early. Restaurants in town are standing room only from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Then the town empties out like one of those spooky hamlets where the locals engage in unspeakable rituals to guarantee a favorable harvest. At night the entire community slips into a state of comfortable emptiness beneath the twinkling heavens.

SAY WHAT? Perhaps part of the reason Pinetop-Lakeside has remained in abject isolation is that no one’s anxious to talk about it.

When we approached a local business leader to gather some

basic information about the community and region, the business leader squirmed uncomfortably in front of us and suddenly unleashed a heavy downpour of sweat—as if we were a 60 Minutes crew intent on uncovering some sweeping scandal. The executive twitched like a trapped animal while answering the handful of softball questions we tossed out, so we quickly called off the interview fearing for her well-being. A town so calm didn’t need that kind of stress.

“What on Earth do you suppose that was all about?” my companion asked as we exited the office into the parking lot.

I had no idea.

“Maybe she had to poop,” was the best I could offer.

We turned to the Lakeside Ranger District for answers, but we were told that key personnel were unavailable each time we showed up for a visit. Dozens of phone calls over the course of six months went unreturned as well.

But not everyone seems intent on preserving PinetopLakeside’s inauspicious character. Next to a dirt lot off of Highway 260, the Kabuki Japanese restaurant is a stark contrast to the mom-and-pop sandwich shops and gingham-laced greasy spoons dominating the community’s culinary landscape.

If you eat nowhere else, the Kabuki is certainly worth a try, particularly if you like sushi. Chef and owner Gilles Desjardins— co-sponsor of the original Good Will Games and the man responsible for bringing Japan’s Kabuki Ballet to America for its premier performance—serves up a literal schooner of primo raw fish as dinner for two along with other traditional Japanese fare.

Stumbling upon the Kabuki was like accidentally finding an arrowhead in an expanse of desert pebbles. We were thrilled yet not quite ready to accept that it was real.

Why sushi? Why here? We wondered.

Desjardins explained that many of Pinetop-Lakeside’s residents had done missionary work in Japan, providing an inherent demand for sushi, tempura and 31 types of sake.

NO ESCAPING PROGRESS The fact that a French-Canadian restaurateur would pull up stakes and relocate to tiny Pinetop-Lakeside perhaps signals that big things are on the horizon for the White Mountains.

New development is booming in nearby Show Low, said Todd Fernau, owner of Cycle Mania, the area’s only bike shop.

People are moving in to get in on the ground floor of a life away from the city. Nevertheless, more and more “city” is moving into the area in the form of fast-food restaurants and ubiquitous big-box stores.

This year TRACKS is in the process of connecting the west side of the trail system with the east side, making Show Low— and new housing development Show Low Bluffs—the new epicenter of the system. Show Low Bluffs, now a co-sponsor of the Tour of the White Mountains event, is promising buyers a development in which residents can access trail systems from their front doors or from green areas situated just down the block.

With modernization in full swing just a stone’s throw away, it’s probably only a matter of time before someone tilts back the bell jar and peers into Pinetop-Lakeside looking for opportunity.

While some may rejoice at such a thing, it would almost be a shame to see the area become a real mountain biking Mecca.

There is, after all, a certain endearing strangeness to riding in Arizona’s White Mountains.

The Pinetop-Lakeside Lowdown Pinetop-Lakeside Chamber of Commerce—Avail yourself of racks of local information and free Wi-Fi access at this friendly fixture located smack-dab in the middle of town. 102-C W. White Mountain Blvd. (Highway 260); 1.800.573.4031 or 928.367.4290; www.pinetoplakesidechamber.com Cycle Mania—The area’s only bike shop is located in Show Low, the emerging epicenter of the White Mountain Trail System; 100 N. White Mountain Rd., #101; 928.537.8812 Kabuki, a Japanese Restaurant—This ain’t some redneck dumping frozen shrimp into a pan of Bisquick and calling it tempura or carving up a couple of Gorton’s frozen fish patties and serving it as sushi. Owners Gilles and Barbara Dejardins offer fine cuisine, a great selection of sake and great atmosphere. Kabuki’s specialties are sushi, tempura and teppanyaki (you know, that crazy thing where chefs prepare meals on a grill at tableside using fire and fanfare to entertain and satiate diners); 814 E. White Mountain Blvd.; 928.367.2167 El Rancho Restaurant—As people who come from the home of good Mexican food, we often shy away from restaurants offering tastes from south of the border. While some diners muttered that the food was too spicy, our Southwestern tongues found it mild and well prepared. The margaritas had a good kick to them, too; 1523 E. White Mountain Blvd.; 928.367.4557 Coffee Hut Café—Good food and caffeinated beverages in a low-key atmosphere. This place never seemed overrun by tourists like the rest of the local eateries; 485 E. White Mountain Blvd.; 928.367.9977 Red Devil Pizza—The name frightened us at first, giving us visions of pitchforks and fiery esophageal eruptions. But the food at this Italian restaurant was actually very good. The pizza was outstanding. It was a haven for the old folks, so try to get there right at 5 p.m. or after 6:30 p.m.; 1774 E. White Mountain Blvd.; 928.367.5570 Mogollon Rim Overlook—You won’t really appreciate where you are until you’ve hiked the easy one-mile loop trail and stared out over the end of the Colorado Plateau. The Overlook is located two miles north of Pinetop-Lakeside on Highway 260 between Camp Tatiyee and Camp Grace.

Pinetop-Lakeside Festivals—The community holds several festivals each year: 21st Annual Native American Festival, July 12-13, 2008; 18th Annual White Mountain Bluegrass Musical Festival, Aug. 9-10, 2008; 33rd Annual Fall Artisan’s Festival, Sept. 26-28, 2008; www.pinetoplakesidechamber.com TRACKS—A 20-year labor of love by the seemingly hardestworking volunteer trail group in the American West is responsible for the White Mountain’s fantastic trail system. Praise them! www.tracks-pinetop-lakeside.org 13th Annual Tour of the White Mountains—This annual event brought to you by the folks at Epic Rides features 10-mile, 35mile, 41-mile, 52-mile and 66-mile offerings that showcase the best parts of the White Mountain Trail System. Scheduled this year for Oct. 4, 2008. www.epicrides.com/towm/towm.htm

107