Hiking, mountain biking and dog walking in the White Tank Mountains

March 29th, 2007 by Kenric

Well, I finally got off my butt and to do some mountain biking. I figured I had to get into some sort of shape since I joined the Flagstaff Amazing Race, will probably enter a nighttime race and am going to Durango, CO in July. I live fairly close to the White Tank Mountains so I printed out a map and headed out there over the weekend.

I rode the Ford Canyon trail (FD). As you can see from the map, there’s a hazardous section. It’s not recommended for mountain bikers. I started riding from the east (right side of the map) and got to a warning sign. A few hikers coming from the other direction said it was pretty tough, but being adventurous I decided to try it anyway. (Here is a link to the whole map). It was ridable for the first mile, but without knowing how tough the rest was, I decided to turn back and hike it first another day.

So another day was Monday morning. My poor doggies didn’t know that when they woke up that they were going on a 8 mile hike. I have to get them some dog packs so I don’t have to carry so much food and water. It took 6 hours to complete the hike. Some parts of the trail were very steep. I’m glad I didn’t try to bike them. Anyway, here are some pics.

I have no idea how Neo got up this wall. I told him to stay and I climbed it first. After I got over it I put down my backpack and when I turned around he was up it. I tell you he’s a monkey.