2 Sedona Big Friggin Loop

Sedona Big Friggin Loop

The 2008 results are posted here

When: March 28, 2009 at 7:00 am near the Oak Creek Brewery, off Coffee Pot Drive/89. Morning coffee can be purchased at Raven Heart Coffee. We will be finishing at the brewery. There is plenty of parking at the shopping center on Coffee Pot Drive/89.

View of course (courtesy of Topofusion)

Topo view of course

The course is about 59.90 miles with 11,502 feet of climbing. This route will take around 8-12 hours to complete. The GPX file is available.

Route Description: Due to the nature of this route, I strongly advise you to have some of the maps below. Sedona is a well-marked area, nonetheless, as you will see, there are tons of trails that deviate from the trail (unmarked most of the time). I highly recommend that you either pre-ride the trail or consider taking a GPS on the route.

Overview of entire route: Bandit-Airport Mesa-Schnebly-Mund-Cow Pies-Damifino-Grasshopper Point-Conector to Huckaby-Jim Thompson-Jordan-Teacup-Thunder Mtn-Chimney Rock Pass-Dry Creek Rd-Girdner-AZ Cypress-Dawa-Cockscomb-Girdner-Red Rock Loop- Herkenham-Old Post-Red River Crossing-Baldwin-Tanque Verde Valley School Rd-Bell Rock Blvd-179-Bell Rock Pathway-Llama-Little Horse-Broken Arrow-Morgan Rd-Mystic-Chapel Rd-Chapel Trail-Little Horse-Templeton-Red Rock Crossing-Ridge Trail-Finish at Oak Creek Brewery.

Airport Mesa- Jim Thompson: Neutral start from shopping center toward Ridge/Airport Mesa Trail. Began descending Ridge, before jumping Airport at sign. Continue on pass the airport fence before dropping down on more technical, rocky singletrack. When trail widens to view point, drop down on the north side to find Yavapai trail that will drop down some water bars before continuing in a northeasterly direction toward Brewer. Turn left on the paved road, then another right toward Schnebly Rd (near the school, there is a road that connects the highway with Brewer, take that right turn). Schnebly is going to be your first left after the bridge. Climb Schebly toward parking lot; at parking on far east, take single track. Follow trail before exiting back on the dirt road; go straight up on dirt road until the single track begins again approximately 400 feet from exit. At picnic table, cross creek to continue on north side of trail.

Continue on Munds, making sure to follow the trail, not the slickrock, but north on the trail to gain elevation and began contouring on the slick rock toward the pass.

There are some exposed areas in this section of the trail. Continue up toward saddle, looking for cairns. There is a steep drop off that you will have to hike in order to reach the saddle and the one of the best views in Sedona. Continue on the singletrack on the northeast side of the saddle. More exposed areas will follow before you drop down toward Grasshopper Picnic area on Damifino Trail. Cross Oak Creek to continue the on the singletrack that lead to Grasshopper. At grasshopper, take the paved road up toward 89a. Before reaching the 89A, at the last big switchback, there is a faint trail on your left, take this trail instead of the highway to the bridge and Jim Thompson.

Jim Thompson-Girdner

At the bridge, continue north on the east side of the canyon toward Jim Thomphson (JT). You will pass a crumbled bridge, but continue to stay north until you see the JT trail after you cross the creek. You will see cairns that lead to a wilderness sign and the JT sign, go left.

After a few miles, you wil come upon a large dirt road, turn left/south to Jordan trail, go right; right at Soldier’s Pass past Devil’s Kitchen (nice place to take some pictures). To get to Teacup, follow the jeep road on your left down toward the intersection of another jeep , go 200 yards until you reach the Teacup Trail sign, turn left here. Stay on Teacup to Thunder Mountain (follow cairns), left to continue on Thunder, right on Chimney Rock, then left at Chimney, then right at the V toward the paved rd. Turn right when you get to the paved road.

Girdner-Red Rock Crossing

Look for a brown sign on the right that will say Dry Creek Rd along with some other destinations, immediatley after this you will see a trailhead on your left, take it north, paralleling the road. This is Girdner (162). Right at Y to Fence/Girdner. Right on AZ Cypress. Left on Cockscomb. Left at Rupp T. Right at Girdner (please close the gate). Stay on Girdner until you reach a park with a paved road, head south on this road, past the light (89A) and toward the school. At school sign, turn left into the brush at the first singletrack you encounter (it is right across from the school… VERY EASY TO MISS). This section of the trail is not signed, so stick to your right when in doubt. After 2 right turns, you will be at the bottom of the hill and come across a larger, more frequented singletrack, this is Old Post, take it south toward a gate/paved road, turn left here toward Red Rock Crossing. There is a fee at the crossing. After booth, there are vending machines and a bathroom, head south toward the river and cross where you see fit. If water level is high, try heading down stream.

Baldwin-Oak Creek Brewery

Once you have crossed, go upstream to the 2^nd Baldwin trail (not the first one!) Take this a few miles until you reach a telephone pole/brown sign, left here to get to the dirt road that will lead to Bell Rock Blvd (right), left on 179, go to Bell Rock, around the west side of Bell Rock. When you see the Courthouse sign and three trails, take the middel singletrack that is not signed. Right on slickrock toward trail on other side, left on trail. Take two right turns on singletrack to stay on Llama, eventually following cairns north toward Chapel/Little Horse, turn right toward Chicken Point at Little Horse sign. At large overlook, follow cairns (on north side of the slickrock). Eventually you will drop down to more slickrock, continue to follow cairns on what is now Broken Arrow, passing Devil’s Den and going south, up on the side of Devil’s Den. At Morgan Rd (you will see a parking lot with cars), turn left, passing residentail sections and coming up again onto 179, you will find some tire marks on the east side of the road, follow them south to Pino Road, left, then fist right to Mystic Trail at the end of the road.

Take Mystic until you reach Chapel Road, go left here toward the Chapel. As the road starts to climb into the parking area, keep your eyes on your right side as there is the singletrack for Chapel Trail. It is usually hidden behind the cars, so you might have to investigate, take this until you get to Little Horse, where you will turn right to retrace your steps, only stay on Little Horse (not Llama) until you get to Bell Rock, left on this double track until you cross a foot bridge, with a singletrack on the right side of this bridge (there may be a temporarly closed sign here on HT trail). We will be taking this trail toward Templeton and Cathedral, crossing at Buddha Beach or Red Rock Crossing. More vending machines here. Exit the park, head south retracing your steps, only turn right on the dirt road. This will lead you up the hill for about ½ mile until you reach Ridge Trail (signed) on the left side. Make sure you stay heading south, staying on the trail that seems to get the most use, others are just fingers of Ridge. At the trailhead/recycle center (where we started in the neutral start), just retrace your steps back to the Basha’s parking lot and head over to Oak Creek Brewery with your bike for some beer, making sure to check in.

Thanks to Bear for allowing AES to use his pictures taken during the pre-ride.

Suggested Maps

Available at Bike & Bean in Sedona

Sedona Map

Topo Maps of Sedona