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| Viewpoint on Rainbow Rim Trail |
I had never heard of the Arizona Endurance Series (AES) until a few years ago. A group of us girls decided to ride the C route at Picket Post Punisher (22 miles). They threw me an amazing birthday bash afterwards. It was so much fun and I am so glad I was introduced to this local small grassroutes series. Calling it a race, I think scares a lot of people away. Yes, there are a some people who go out there and really challenge the pace and race. However, most of us are challenging ourselves in a different way. Maybe it is riding in remote backcountry for the first time or tackling your first ultra distance ride with a ton of elevation gain. Maybe you are training for a multi-day event and you need a long day in the saddle. During the AES Kaibab 160 bikepack stagerace up on the north rim of the grand canyon, I ran into two other bikepackers. They asked me if I was doing the AES race and then they quickly added "we aren't racing" we just like to ride. I laughed. Up until that point I never even considered that ride as a race. I saw it as a fun adventure with friends who liked doing the same thing. We do track start and finish times but nothing is crazy official. Don't be afraid to join in an one of these rides. I promise you that you will meet some amazing people. Don't be afraid to be DFL! It is just a group of people who like to do crazy rides. Most of the rides have multiple distances. You do need to know how to use your GPS device but these rides are events to explore the amazing Arizona backcountry. I am so happy I was encouraged to do the picketpost punisher. It was a great introduction into AES and I have made some great friends. Fast forward two years and I am using the AES rides to help me train for the AZT800. I can't believe those words are in my vocabulary but I am super excited about the ride. I am signing up for the race start but my goal is to finish it!!! If I am DFL for the 800 route I am ok with that.
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| Karen made a allergy friendly cake for me at Picket Post Punisher. It was a great surprise. |
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| All the girls who came out for the ride to celebrate My 40th Birthday. |
I can't believe the AES North Kaibab bikepack trip was just over two months ago. So much has happened since then and sadly the north rim and North Kaibab Forest will never be the same in my lifetime. I am so glad I got to experience that area just weeks before the Dragon Bravo Fire. It started on 7/4/25 and as of 9/1/25 has burned 145,504 acres. The White Sage Fire started on 7/9/25 and burned 58,985 acres. Both fires affected a significant portion of the AZT from the North rim to stateline campground. Also the GC lodge burned down and over 100 structures that made up the north rim GC.
Sometime in April John threw out the idea of doing a stagerace in the North Kaibab Forest. I was excited and quickly blocked my calendar. You could decide to do 230 miles over five days or 160 miles over three days. John and I were going to do the 230 mile route. Sadly he got injured during another training ride and had to pull out of this ride. The week leading up to the ride, I learned I was the only one signed up for the 230 route. I decided I was going to ride it anyways as it would be good training for the AZT800. I poured over the maps and learned the route. I knew all my water resupply spots and was feeling pretty good about the route. My route overlapped the 160 route and two of the nights I would camp with them. On Wed I headed north. The 230 route was starting from stateline campground. This is where the AZT800 race ends. I thought it would be a good chance for me to check out this part of the course.
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| Navajo Historic Bridge |
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| View from Navajo Historic Bridge |
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| Amazing rainbow near Lee's Ferry |
The drive up was amazing. I took my time. I enjoyed views of the vermillion cliffs as well as an amazing rainbow. I didn't leave home until around noon. So it was about 530 as I was turning onto the dirt road (House Rock Rd) toward stateline campground. It is 20 miles of washboard road. I was on track to get there before dark. I had not seen any cars since turning off onto the dirt road. Four miles from the campground I got a flat. I was in Todd's truck. I had service the entire way on that road until about 1/2 mile before I got the flat. I spent the next 30 min trying to fix it with my bike tire bacon and bike pump!! It actually almost worked. I got about 10 pounds of air in it and the tire plug blew. I was texting Todd through my garmin nreach. He didn't see the message right away. I panicked. I ended up hitting the SOS button and communicating with a sheriff. I was hoping they could just send someone out at some point to help me change it. They were just going to tow me in the morning. Todd called Vanessa and Ian started texting me through the nreach. We decided I would call off the tow and wait until morning. Just sleep in the truck. Hopefully I would run into another car and they could help me change it. If not I would wait until Ian got up there late that next day as he was coming up for the 160 route. I am glad I decided not to ride to the campground for help. I was thinking about it. The skys opened up and it rained for hours. I slept actually pretty good in the truck. the next morning I got about 6AM. Ian started checking on me. I was thankful to be able to text through the nreach. I decided I was going to get everything ready to change the tire. I just didn't feel comfortable jacking up the truck myself. I opened the glove box and to my surprise there were truck tire plugs!!!! Hahah why didn't I look there the night before. Later I found out Todd thought I was using those! I plugged the tire as best I could. Used my bike pump and got some air in it. The hole was too big for a plug but it was holding some. About a mile down the road I flagged down two cars. They were heading to section hike the AZT. We joked they were my pit crew. Within 10 minutes they had me back on the road. I rolled slow (now on a 10 year old spare tire) down the dirt road and was happy to see the 89A. It started raining again so I headed to Jacob's lake lodge for lunch.
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| Trying to be resourceful! |
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| My campsite for the night by default. Slept in the back of the truck. It actually was pretty comfortable and I surprisingly slept pretty well. It rained most of the night. |
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| My pit crew. I didn't even get there names but I was so thankful for there help. |
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| One of over 50 trees I lifted my bike over and took Pictures for the ATA! I may not be able to get out on Trail work days due to work so felt this was my little contribution |
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| Close up of strap I love. It is bolted into my frame With my frame bag. It is super solid! |
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| Passage 42 Kaibab Plateau Just north of 89A Near Jacob's Lake Lodge |
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| The cool Navajo sign! It survived the Mangum fire in 2020. Hopeful it might have survived the Dragon Bravo Fire. |
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| Previous Burn area from Mangum Fire in 2020 Burned 71,450 acres |
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| Hoping this historic sign survived as well. But sadly I am afraid it didn't |
It was fun hanging out with everyone the night prior to the 160 start. I quickly realized I had not looked at the 160 course. The first day was going to be 70 miles and no water until camp that night! I am glad I had the ability for a large water carry. I think I started the next morning with 6 liters of water and used almost every last bit of it. I am glad I had downloaded both routes earlier in the week so I was good to from that standpoint. Since sleeping in the truck went so well the night before I decided to just do that again and not mess with setting up my tent. The next morning I got up bright early and started just after 6AM. The group start was planned for 7:30AM but I knew I needed all day to do 70 miles! This was going to be a big day for me.
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| Gerrit getting ready to send me off! He was Our official time keeper :) I started my day at 6:06AM and Finished my day at 6:06AM a solid 12 hour effort! |
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| Our campsite near Jacob lake lodge. |
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| The first 40 miles were all dirt road through some Amazing landscape. |
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| Historic Rainbow Rim Trail sign. I was beyond Happy to finally make it here. I needed a change in terrain. |
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| Rainbow Rim Trail is unique because it is 20 miles Along the rim. The only single track along the canyon Rim you can ride on. So amazing. You dip in and out of canyon Views. I stopped at every lookout point and enjoyed the views. |
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| Back in the forest on the rainbow rim trail. |
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| More canyon views |
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| Ian started later than I did so he was behind me most of the Day. It was a fun surprise to come around a corner and see him sitting there. He was a ninja and got in front of me at some point but He decided to make up the miles later in the day. I had Been riding by myself all day so it was fun to ride with him For a few miles. I was starting to bonk so took my mind off How tire I was. |
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| I made it to camp just before dark! I was so tired I could barely set up my tent. |
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| Ian and Gerrit with me in the background. We all enjoyed sitting near the spring eating dinner and sharing stories from the day. |
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| Great Spot for camp night 1! |
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| Big day on the bike. I had no idea How I was going to get up and do it all Again the next day. But took John’s advice. Sleep On it you could feel great the next day. |
Highlights and lowlights from Day 1! It was a big day on the bike for me. I loved the cool morning. I saw about 20 deer running in the fields around me. It was so peaceful. I love seeing them run. Sad for me to think about it now that there home has burned. Gerrit, ReiRey, David, and Lynda passed me around 10AM. It was fun saying hi while they flew past me on a screaming downhill. I knew Ian was still back there somewhere. I got to ride with him some on Rainbow rim trail for a few miles. Around mile 30-40 there was relentless climbing on dirt roads. I hit a low point. I finally stopped and ate some lunch. I think that helped. Those 10 miles were hard to get through. I just wanted to get to the single track on rainbow rim trail. I finally made it there. AMAZING!!!! I want to go back and camp and ride this trail again one day. The last 10 miles or so were rough for me again. I just kept pushing though. Took lots of breaks. I finally rolled into camp and was cheered in by the crew! I had no idea how I was going to get through the next day. I didn’t dwell on it to much. I took John’s advice. Just sleep on it tomorrow is another day and you may feel great.
Day 2: Oops forgot to turn off my alarm as I walked away to use the “bathroom.” Sorry Gerrit. I think he got a little earlier start than he was planning due to my alarm! I got another early morning start just before 7AM. Took a little while for my legs to warm up but started to feel ok and just kept pedaling. Not far into the day I saw a turnoff for a fire lookout tower. It ended up being the Kanabownitz Lookout tower which is on the national historic lookout tower register. I stopped and was eating a snack while contemplating if I should go see it when Lynda caught up to me. She encouraged me to follow her. I had to. Hike a bike up a steep climb to get there. At that moment I vowed to make sure I got a 28 chain ring before my next adventure. This 32 was just not cutting it and I needed to spin up these climbs. I am so glad I decided to go to the tower. What an amazing vantage point. The view will never be the same after the Bravo Dragon Fire.
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| Lynda and I at the top of the fire tower. |
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| What a view from the top |
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| Lynda making her way up the tower |
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| Kanabownitz lookout Tower My bike looks so small and you can Barely see it! |
After the tower I knew my next destination was Point Sublime. It is an out and back to an amazing remote viewpoint. On the way out to point sublime I saw a few others coming back. Even though we started at different times and they are faster than me it was fine running into them a few times throughout the day.
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| David pedaling the hill back from Point Sublime. |
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| I also saw Lynda heading back out. She said it was Worth it and to keep going. I am so glad I did. |
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| WOW amazing view! |
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| I just love prickly pear cactus flowers. I saw some Great ones along the route. |
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| Point Sublime! |
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| Time to relax and eat. Enjoying the remote viewpoint. |
Next stop the north rim of the GCNP. Lynda had a great idea. My down sleeping quilts was damp from the dew when I packed it up. She suggested putting it in the dryer at the campground. Great idea. That was my plan. I saw her on the trail just a mile or two from the campground. She told me she left some money on the table I could use if it was still there. I headed to the campground. Thanks Lynda the quarters were still on the table. Got my quilt in the dryer and headed to the camp store. Enjoyed my lunch on the patio of the store. I saw Ian as I was packing up. He had pedaled the few miles from the campground to the North Rim lodge and visitor center. It was late in the day and I decided just to keep pedaling. I still had several hours of biking before reaching out camp spot for the night so I skipped going to the lodge area. My only regret is that I didn't get to the see the lodge before it burned down. This was my first time on the north rim. Sadly I will never get to see the lodge in its previous state but I am so glad I was able to experience the area before the fire.
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| North Kaibab trailhead! |
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| My lunch spot outside of the campground general store Sad this area will never be same. But I was happy to Hear the store was spared in the fire and most of the Campground survived. |
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| North Rim Lookout Tower. |
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| Enjoying the view at the top of the tower! |
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| My bike looks so small from the top. The fire went Right through this area. Not sure what it looks like now. |
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| Fun downhill single track miles leading To camp night 2 |
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| Another big day! This is mileage after two days. WOW 12,698 ft of climbing over two days!!!! |
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| For some reason the spring was bolted shut! Instead We had to filter water from the cow pond |
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| The cow pond. I couldn’t believe the water actually Did turn clear after I filtered it and it tasted good. That Water was nasty. It even clogged my filter. Welcome to Water sources on the AZT |
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| Yikes. I still can’t believe I drank from this cow pond |
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| I had to jump in my tent right away after setting it up. The bugs were so bad! |
Day 3: Only Ian, Lynda, and I camped out for night 2. David, ReiRei, and Gerrit combined day 2 and 3 and they finished the route on day 2. The three of us woke up to 32 degrees and frost! Good thing I filtered water out of that cow pond the night before. I found out when I got home that the filter I have shouldn’t be exposed to freezing temperatures and I should have kept it in my sleeping bag at night. Oops. Time to replace my filter. Don’t want to take any chances. I also decided that on the AZT800 it will be worth carrying two filters. Good to have a back up. It literally can be a life saving piece of gear. It was so cold getting the bike packed up. I surprisingly slept really well and wasn’t cold. My 20 degree UGQ did me good. My legs didn’t want to move and I felt drunk pedaling my bike. I had a lot of pedal strikes. I slowly made my way down the trail. I was told it was almost all downhill! “ALMOST” is the key word. There were some punchy uphills I had to hike a bike. Again a reminder I needed to get that 28 chain ring put on before my AZT800 adventure. I biked through some Aspen groves that were just breathtaking. Truly one of my happy places. I really hope some of them survived the fire. Today was a struggle. I was feeling the past two days of biking but I enjoyed the views. Ian once again started after me but caught up to me at the end of the day and we biked in the last 10 miles or so together! We enjoyed a screaming downhill. My legs welcomed it.
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| Look at all that frost on my bike |
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| Amazing views soon after leaving camp |
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| I just love aspen groves! |
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| View of Vermilion Cliffs |
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| WOW! 15,846 ft of climbing over 160 miles In three days! No wonder my legs felt like jelly. I am super proud of myself. |
After we finished I headed to Jacob’s Lodge to get some lunch. I was ready to refuel. What an amazing adventure. I am glad I didn’t let my fears keep me from doing this ride. What a great training ride for the AZT800! I can’t believe the race is now only a month away. Things are getting real. I signed up today and I am officially a part of this adventure!
