AZ - Sticks and Stones Riding up Bull Road (Trail 202)

Slowred and I went out for another of our little exploration rides this weekend.

Here's the video:


I can't understand why nobody wanted to join us...



When I planned this ride I actually called it, "High Ambition". The plan was to go UP the 202 Trail, called Bull Road, come down the Bradshaw Trail and then ride a section of Arrastra Creek that neither of us has done before. We didn't make it. But we did ride up 202!


The first part of 202 could actually be called a "road". It's 2-track and it's not too difficult as far as dirtbike trails go. Then you get here.



Looking around for the trail there are a lot of imposing obstacles.



Slowred knows where to go!



Yes, that IS the trail!

The trail isn't easy to follow. I have only been down it once and Slowred has been up it once. I had a GPS track pointing a different direction but this looked more correct from what we remembered.



Trust the GPS! We were looking at Battle Flat Rd. Following the GPS track a short distance brought us to a sign for the 202!



It just needed a little help.



Now it looks like we're going the right direction!



It probably fell over again as soon as I passed it.

The Gladiator Fire in the Bradshaw Mountains last year caused a lot of landscape changes. We followed the tracks on the GPS and occasionally picked up one other set of moto tracks through the rocks and downed trees. Huge amounts of water rushed through the washes so fast and with such force after the fires that any small trees were washed away or bent over and pointing downstream.


Some of the trees were not forgiving!



After fighting our way through the trees we came up this off-camber rock face.



Only to end up here.



The rock face was the easy option. The other option, through the small gap, had bit of a step and the rock was greased up with algae.



For some reason this area was full of huge, dead beetles.

Sometimes we missed the trail entirely.



Easy to do when it looks like this.



Yes, that is the old 202 Trail. :eek1

Now where?



Down!



Just don't fall to the left.



This looks even worse in video.



Slight right.



Slight left.



And back into the wash. !

On the way to the next section another branch found me.



Technically it's doable!



The GPS indicated we were off the trail again. It showed the trail being a few feet to our right. I went on a little hike and found this!



It wouldn't be easy to ride up but looked better than what Slowred was pointed at.

Technically it's doable turned into, "what the hell... It doesn't look that bad!"



It really didn't look that much worse than things we had already done.



Slick rocks + algae + trials tire = SPIN!



How do you get through these things, you ask?



One rock at a time!



And there's a little bike positioning.



And maybe some wheelspin.



Sometimes it's just frustrating.



One step forward.



And right back again.



I put the camera away to get Slowred here.



Then a little realignment was necessary.

Things started looking up when we found bits and pieces of the old trail.



Most of the lower trail sections were short.



And if we weren't going over something.



We were going under.

The trail didn't get any easier once we got out of the river beds.



It was steep and littered with roots and rocks.



And some extremely steep switchbacks.

I was recording video most of the way up the trail. It took us ~5.5 hours to go 17 miles so I have a lot of video to edit.

This preview clip came from one section higher up the trail.
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There's a reason why these 'trails' are so badly maintained, ya know.

You guys ...

So you're telling me we need to go do it again?

Exactly.

Better you than me.

Awesome RR and pics/video Yardstick!!!

The last time I rode up 202, I had just gotten back into riding after a long hiatus and was on a much heavier bike. It was a tough trail, but nothing like what we encountered Sat. The wash was severely eroded and had all these spears of branches that ripped and tore anything they caught. One ripped my bite piece off my hydration pack. A small stick worked as a stopper. Yardstick caught several. One of which came too close to his carotid artery for my comfort zone. At the sight of that I checked to make sure my SPOT was working!! :eek1

After fighting through the wash for hrs we finally started to climb the trail out. We were both pretty beat at this point and time and water started to become an issue. When we reached the road at the top we had covered 17 miles in 5.5 hrs. About three of that was on smooth road getting to the 202. I think that is a new low record for our exploration rides!

I'll add some my pics tonight.

Awesome report... and photos... as we have come to expect from you boys!

Well, after looking at this, next weeks exploration around cherry creek shouldn't be a problem for you! I'm glad you're healing well.

I'll work on recovering this week. Johnny_5 and I did a few miles at Sycamore on Sunday too, including going UP Skyline! Any muscle I tensed up Sunday afternoon/evening went into an instant cramp.

Great report! I haven't been up there forever, definitely different looking trail than I remember.
Psycho

Wow, that doesn't look like any fun at all.........:eek1

Great photos and RR...........

Is this different than Bull Run? I have been riding with the Helmet center guys up there and I am pretty sure you are talking about the same road. The loop was down Bradshaw and up Bull Run but I cant remeber the rocky sections being as bad as in your pictures.