April 2005 - New-Mexico/Nevada/Utah/Arizona tripRiders: TJ, Ward, Charles, Steve, James, Marcel Pics by: Steve Ancik/James Perry/Marcel Slootheer © OEF 2005 Ride 2 - Cottonwood Valley, Las Vegas, NevadaSatan's Escalator to the 3 Mile Smile... After getting thrown off our schedule by dust storms and snow storms we packed it in for the night in Flagstaff. A quick group decision was made and we decided to reverse our planned route and head for Sin City instead of Sedona. Along the way we paused to marvel at the enormousness of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. After we got settled in Vegas we decided to go ride the Cottonwood Valley Trail in an area West of Vegas known as the Red Rocks. The Cottonwood Valley Trail is a 14 mile loop with a spectacular view of Vegas at about the half way point. We geared up and off we went - up, up, up! Not a steep climb but definitely a long one. The last leg of the climb was a nice little switch-back section dubbed “Satan’s Escalator”. Quite the finish to such a long endurance climbing session, I must say. After cresting the ridge at the top of Satan’s Escalator, we started heading down. The next mile and a half of single-track was probably the fastest piece of trail I have ever had the privilege to ride. Its flow was perfect with just the right down-grade and the trail-bed was hard-packed with a light dusting of small crushed rock (with the exception of one larger rock, huh Spidey!). Sorry to say, there are no pictures of this section, but hey, we were all too busy riding and re-riding this section as fast as we could possibly go... Maybe next time we’ll designate some poor fool to take pics instead of riding this section. Once we reached the halfway point (overlooking Vegas) we spent a few minutes watching the lights of Vegas turn on while the sun set, turned on our own lights and headed for the cars. After a brief shallow climbing session we started down the run back to the trailhead on a piece of trail known as the “3 Mile Smile”. A very interesting section of trail under the lights, complete with a few surprise maneuvers along the way. Once we were back at the trailhead beers were hoisted and guns were fired in celebration :-) A highly recommended ride if you’re out in the Vegas area. Ward (make sure to temporarily disable any pop-up blocker software when opening the larger panorama pics otherwise they may not open) 
A bit of fresh snow near Flagstaff on the way to Las Vegas... (MS) 
The Hoover Dam... (SA) 
CLICK HERE for a large panorama shot of Lake Mead just outside of Boulder City... (MS) 
Cottonwood Valley trailhead... (MS) 
Starting the climb up... (MS) 
Same guy, half way up the hill... (SA) 
Topping out... (MS) 
If you don't like cacti don't go here... (MS) 
Told ya... (MS) 
Going up... (SA) 
Marcel... (JP) 
Regroup... (JP) 
Still here?... (MS) 
More of the same... (SA) 
CLICK HERE for a large panorama shot with Las Vegas in the far distance... (MS) 
On the way back, lights on to dodge cacti and rocks... (MS) |