Rusting classic cars and trucks, vintage signs, and more tchotchkes than anybody could ever use for anything other than making a perfect Route 66 roadside stop. There was a lady reading a book in the breeze outside, a couple of other bikers cooling off with a drink (as was I), and just a nice place to sit and explore for a bit before heading back out on the road. Hackberry might be a bit of a ghost town, but this little gem was clearly still doing some business. I get another 80 miles of Arizona backroads before being forcibly reunited with Interstate 40; 80 more miles of solitude and cool old buildings. One big advantage of being on a road that parallels a much larger one is that there isn't any through traffic other than other motorcycles, and almost no big trucks. Lonely, peaceful, beautiful.
There's more easy-freeway-access thrills in Flagstaff, but somehow these are better than in Kingman. The old downtown section is really nice with old stone buildings and the day I was there, a farmers market. But just to the Southwest, Sedona was beckoning. Up till now I'd had a pretty good ride. A nice desert troll with some old jacked-up historical roads, and some cool rest stops, but after a short stretch of straight road with pines to mark the northern end of SR-89A, the bottom dropped out and so did my jaw.
After the Oak Creek Canyon Vista, the highway makes a quick switchbacking descent into the canyon turning nondescript pine forest into first folded earth covered in Pines, then beautiful vistas of red-rock glory... Sedona.
Oatman's donkeys
The Oatman Hotel
Route 66 outside Oatman
It feels slightly weird and wrong to be riding down the middle of something that most places would be set aside as a National Park. But I guess with the Grand Canyon just a hundred and some miles to the north, it would have been redundant. The towering red canyon walls of Sedona remind me of Canyonlands National Park but with more trees, like Zion. The big difference is that there's a good-sized town plopped down right in the middle of it all. So for a pretty penny you can open up your hotel windows to this view, no ride or hike needed.
This was supposed to be a quick trip but I ended up staying a couple of days here to really explore the space. A quick call home and promises of Indian Jewelry made for a quick acquiescence. Just north of town is Slide Rock State Park, which is a scenic spot to cool off in the hot months with cool water flowing over flat red sandstone from one pool to the next.
I could go on forever about the wonders of this resort town but the real news for riders is more about using Sedona as a jumping-off point. State Route 179, the main link to Phoenix and the rest of the world is almost like a Disneyland ride. The two sides of the road are separated, and every couple miles there's a big vista point. It's still a nice ride, but watch your speed, as it's heavily patrolled. I did a loop down 179 to Beaver Flats Road, which took me back to the 89A in Cottonwood.
I spent some time in Cottonwood as well, as it's got a cool old part of town and is a little more low-rent than Sedona. Down the 89A is the little town of Jerome, which is unlike any town I've ever seen. On the side of a steep hill, this old mining town's main road is a switchback with layers of town stacked one atop the next. If it weren't for the minerals in the ground its unlikely that anyone would have ever built in such a difficult location, but here it is and the views across the valley to Sedona are unreal.
Jerome is also the beginning of 80 miles of killer roads. Continuing on 89A to Prescott is sheer heaven as the road slithers along the edge of the mountains. Prescott is in the center of a ton of good twisty and scenic roads, a fairly good-sized city blissfully without an interstate. I continued Southwest on State Route 89 after getting lost in Prescott, and was greeted with another amazing slice of tarmac. Even better than most it's a divided road with no two-way traffic for much of its length, making for worry-free riding as I scaled the cliffs down to the flat Arizona plateau.
At this point there was nothing left for me to do but motor for home. I still had control of all my fingers, despite the apes, a bag of happy memories, and the joy of finding another of my favorite places on earth.
Resources
GPS Hotspots And Links
Slide Rock State Park, AZ
34 56'40"N 111 45'10"W
Jerome, AZ
34 45'02" W 112 06'57"N
Hackberry, AZ
35 22'30"W 113 43'22"N
Caduceus Winery, Jerome, AZ
www.caduceus.org