Nothing says Labor Day like trading the desert heat for a few days in the pines.
We loaded the Tacos up with the gear, hitched the bikes and the RZR up behind them, and headed up to Mountainaire for the long weekend, September 4th through the 8th. If you’ve never been, Mountainaire is a little community tucked into the ponderosas just south of Flagstaff, sitting right around 7,000 feet. That means cool mornings, big afternoon clouds, and dirt roads in just about every direction.
The plan was simple: ride. My riding crew took the dirt bikes, one on the red Honda CRF and one on the white dual-sport, and I took the RZR. Somebody had to be the chase vehicle, right?
Turns out chasing two dirt bikes through the woods in a side-by-side is about as much fun as you can have with a helmet on. They’d dive into the trees, I’d lose them for a second, then I’d pop out on the next stretch of two-track just in time to eat their dust. Here’s a little taste:
Me in the RZR, chasing the boys through the pines.
We ran Garmin and onX for navigation the whole trip, which made it easy to wander without worrying about getting turned around (or ending up somewhere we shouldn’t be). I’m still pulling the ride data off of them, so check back for the numbers.
Of course, the whole pack came too: Nova, Kali, Buck and Bella. They don’t care much about the bikes, but give them an open meadow full of wildflowers at sunset and they’re in heaven.
And the wildflowers… they were everywhere. Yellow, white, red, the whole forest floor was blooming. Every time we stopped to let the engines cool off, there was something new at our feet.
Five days of cool air, tall pines and good company. Not a bad way to spend a holiday weekend, and we’re already talking about the next one.
Happy Trails!
