Grand Canyon

[mastashake72]

Anyone ridden from San Diego-ish to Flagstaff AZ or the Grand Canyon? I am looking for a 3 dayer with some fun roads and good sights. I have friends in Phoenix so I can probably stay there a day if I need to. Just hit me with town or road names or highway numbers if you know them, I can put it all together. Or, if you know of a cool destination within 400-500 miles of San Diego that is 3 day doable, let me know.

[Darth Lefty]

Interstates 15 and 40 are many things, but they are not twisty... there's not much twisty in the desert unless you go well out of your way. Deserts are flat and roads are straight.

Phoenix to Flag, AZ highway 179 through Sedona is scenic, and US 180 from Flag to Grand Canyon is initially swoopy until it gets to the plateau.

[mastashake72]

Yeah, I had no intention of using 40 or 15 any more than necessary. There are always back roads, ya just have to connect them...

[Darth Lefty]

Originally posted by mastashake72
Yeah, I had no intention of using 40 or 15 any more than necessary. There are always back roads, ya just have to connect them...
Back roads in the desert are usually just as straight, just worse pavement.

[jsp]

From the San Diego area go through Borrego Springs to the Salton Sea, north on 86 to Mecca, from Mecca go thru Box Canyon via ave 66/ 190( I think). This brings you out to I 10 near Chiraco Summit. Take I 10 into Arizona to exit 31, take 60 to Wickenburg, north on 93 to 89 to Prescott, 89A to Jerome and Sedona and up to Flagstaff. This is a wonderful ride but very cold in places this time of year. Good luck.
john :eek:

[mastashake72]

OK, I am definitely doing that stretch of 89A. I got dizzy looking at the map...I might wait until March or April...Pretty high. Snow and ice definitely look possible through the winter.

[LaPiñaLoca]

Watch out for the tar snakes just south of Jerome, the first section is really nice and then all of a sudden the road gets a bit bumpy and slippery from the road repairs.

The roads in the GC park are nice and tight, but the speed limit is around 25mph and there are lots of slow-moving vehicles, so it´s not the best place for spirited riding.

If you aren´t sore enough after getting to the GC, there is a series of roads (good for scenery and being backroadish) that goes South-East from Flagstaff to Payson where you can take the 87 into Phoenix.

Good luck,
Aaron

[shiftdown]

Yeah the whole Jerome/Sedona ride is freaking sweet. Did it last Sept/Oct weather wasn't bad at the time as long as you rode during the day. I may be wrong on the city but, east of Prescot is Jerome. The twisties get nuts. I was playing cat and mouse in the hills with my dad acting like we're 16. He shot sparks at me a couple times draging parts ( BMW K1200GT ). He does scare me he has scrape marks on the drive shaft casing from lean angles and he had to shave part of the center stand off to get more lean.

Anyways I digress. Do the trip, I recomend 4-5 days just so you can have a chill day. Oh, and get some Heli-bars helped my wrists out.

[SVSmiles]

Originally posted by jsp
This is a wonderful ride but very cold in places this time of year. Good luck.
john :eek:
Originally posted by LaPiñaLoca
If you aren´t sore enough after getting to the GC, there is a series of roads (good for scenery and being backroadish) that goes South-East from Flagstaff to Payson where you can take the 87 into Phoenix.
Here are a few related pics (linked from some news web sites) from last week.

http://www.abc15.com/gallery/slideshow/snow012107/storm9.jpg

http://www.abc15.com/art/snow012207.jpg

The following pics apparently won't load here via the vB Code method. I'm guessing since the addresses aren't in a ".jpg", etc. file format name. You can check'em out anyway by clicking on the URL.

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/view.php?id=37679


http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/view.php?id=37670


http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/view.php?id=37582


http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/view.php?id=37587


http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/view.php?id=37682


http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/view.php?id=37675


http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/view.php?id=37676


http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/commphotos/view.php?id=37678