[azokie]

I am heading up to Cottonwood on businees tomorrow and may be able to pull off an afternoon ride in Sedona. Just wanted to check on trail conditions. Not sure which trails I plan on riding, any recomendations would be great. Thanks!

 

[zul]

dead horse in cottonwood

The best trail conditions around will be Dead Horse State Park in Cottonwood. The trails to ride are Thumper and Raptor. Upper Raptor is usually hard to find but did see some good bike track to lead you up that wash. Conditions today were super sweeet!!!

Sedona is still mushy unless you can find 'Under the Radar' or 'Grand Central'. The rest will need several days.

 

[azokie]

Zul - Thanks for the info. Didn't even know there was decent trails in the Cottonwood area. How many miles can I get on Thumper and Raptor? Are they good X-country trails? Tech is good, but not looking for hardcore downhill gnar...

 

[zul]

Sounds like Thumper/Raptor is perfect ... it is xc but plenty of tuff spots without going gnar gnar. I don't know the mileage but most would ride this in 2 - 2.5 hours.

It is a bit difficult to find the trail start. Also hard to find the small natural drainage onto Raptor (there is a sign, knocked over). Perhaps the park people have a map??

Super fun trail, very fast and good conditions right now.

 

[rockman]

Here's a map: http://azstateparks.com/Parks/DEHO/downloads/DEHO_Trails_Color_2009_c.pdf

Clockwise up Raptor over to Thumper and down Lime Kiln makes for a nice 7.5 mile loop.

 

[azokie]

Thanks, I really appreciate the intel. Unfortunately, I had to hustle back to Phoenix and could not pull the ride off this time. I will be going back up there in the next couple weeks and will try it again.

 

[Trail-Shredder]

Sedona locals....how are the trails fairing? Is pretty much everything ride able?

 

[Silver_Slug]

Interested as well...

 

[justinwp]

its dry

 

[theGreenEGg]

its dry

That's what I was hoping to here.

 

[azjeff]

FYI on the Dead Horse/Thumper trail, it's no longer a free ride. Always in the past the Park Service has allowed bikers doing the trail to enter/exit the park for free, no more. They need every dollar to try to keep open so the 15 minutes or so you actually spend on Dead Horse State Park land will cost you the entrance fee ($3 for a bike I think). If the rangers see you on a bike they will check to see if you paid at the entrance station.

 

[traildoc]

FYI on the Dead Horse/Thumper trail, it's no longer a free ride. Always in the past the Park Service has allowed bikers doing the trail to enter/exit the park for free, no more. They need every dollar to try to keep open so the 15 minutes or so you actually spend on Dead Horse State Park land will cost you the entrance fee ($3 for a bike I think). If the rangers see you on a bike they will check to see if you paid at the entrance station.

Do they have an annual pass for bike access?

TD

 

[Jayem]

Um, DHSP has always been $2 for ride-in as far as I've done it (ok, now $3). I'm not sure when it increased, but I think years ago I did the $2 entry-fee thing, then I figured out that you could just ride into the park on trails from the road before the actual entrance. The last time I did it I paid for ride-in.

 

[azjeff]

Normal annual pass as far as I know, $75. No bike pass.

No more free ride-in on side trails. Got an email from a ranger. They need every dollar. But you're entitled to use the restrooms.:thumbsup: