Devil's Highway '666' Ride-12/26; 0800-Apache Jct.

[bikerskier]

Hwy 191, I believe. If so, that is is a mighty nice ride, which I savored in late October.

I was there in April. Early in the morning there was frost on the road in some corners. I never slipped, but this old Arkansas boy isn't used to that.

I love that road and will do it again.

A rider on a BMW a few minutes ahead of me went down after hitting sand on the fog line while setting up for a left hander. On the right was a 500' drop. He was lucky that he did not high side or slide to the right or he would have had many, many scrapes and bruises instead of a scraped arm and banged up body. I helped him up and stayed with him until we got to Clifton. His bike was rideable and he had shaken off his spook by then.

Even that did not lessen my enjoyment of the ride.

It's a terrific road. I was headed out to visit a friend in Apache Junction and took 191 from I-40 and spent the night in Springerville. I left there early the next morning, thus the frost on the road. Hwy 191 has everything. Some of the sections had tight turns that were really hard to find a line through. I'd think I found the apex, and it'd move on me

OK, I know that makes no sense, but I'd find myself having to adjust mid-corner -- something I try not to do. Then other sections would be extremely nicely laid out turns when I could just press into it, hit the apex, and ease back out. It can be very challenging. Since I was all by my lonesome and only saw a couple of other vehicles in 70+ miles, I took it easy -- not a place to crash by yourself. The BMW rider was also lucky you even found him.

You're right, there are a lot of weird corners,from 10 mph signed to 40 mph signed that can be misjudged and since I ride solo, I also pay attention. It must be increasing and decreasing radius along with lots of rough sections.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Brrrrrrrr...Today woulda been a cold day to ride. Sorry I missed it, but glad I didn't go. My house is toasty!!

 

[beemerdons]

Brrrrrrrr...Today woulda been a cold day to ride. Sorry I missed it, but glad I didn't go. My house is toasty!!

15° in Alpine right now, according to the webcam. Light snow on the ground. If you guys are still going, be really careful, and dress warm. It sounds like Don is staying south, which is a good choice.
Have fun!
- Jo

Hello Jo, rode the Southern Loop: Superior-Globe-Mammoth-Oracle-Florence We found a fantastic Mexican Restaurant in Mammoth: El Pueblito, Fantastico!

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g31272-d4914118-Reviews-Tortillas_Mi_Pueblito-Mammoth_Arizona.html

No only was our Brunch fantastic, but they have a La Tortilleria and a La Panadería (bakery) as part of the Dining Area. I came home with a dozen Chile Roja tamales and two dozen Maize Tortillas fresh from the Oven, I wanted a dozen Green Corn tamales but they had already sold them out! Magnifico!
AJ, we got the word from azgsgirl - Jo who was in Alpine and "Jorstin" who was in Pinetop that the '666' was closed due to snow and ice on the roadway.

Was only 31F when we rode through Superior, but we still had 5 riders participate: BeemerDonS, bbolesaz Brian and Tim C 4 all on K1600's from AZ Beemers; Yahtzee426 on his FJR from here and Snowbird Canuckistani Ryan on his BMW K1600GT from the K1600 Forum. Great Guys, Good Ride!

 

[wheatonFJR]

I would have made it but I woke up too late.

Instead I rode with my son, David. He borrowed my 04 and went with me on a ride on the foothills.

Next time for sure.

 

[Bugnatr]

Sorry I was indisposed during the photo shoot. We sure had a great time and thanks for buying lunch Don!

 

[El Toro Joe]

Yeah...sorry I wasn't allowed to leave the house.

 

[beemerdons]

I would have made it but I woke up too late. Instead I rode with my son, David. He borrowed my 04 and went with me on a ride on the foothills. Next time for sure.

Wheatie I can always count on you and Bugnatr, just a crying shame that HotRodZilla is such a Big Wuss! JSNS, Brrrr!

 

[beemerdons]

Sorry I was indisposed during the photo shoot. We sure had a great time and thanks for buying lunch Don!

Always a pleasure Dougie Bear, just too bad your twin cylinder Austrian KTM could not keep up with its six cylinder German BMW Cousins! JSNS, Jawohl Arnie!

 

[beemerdons]

Now you're speaking my language! The forecast for Alpine is very mild early in the new year, so hopefully another attempt can be made to ride 191. I won't get much riding in this week, but after the 3rd I should be accumulating some miles, hopefully with some forum members!

atc250r, it is possible that 191 will clear by the 3rd; but it sure does not look good, that is a lot of snow on Devil's Highway and these pictures were taken at 7,100 feet not the 9,200 feet at Blue Vista Point eh!

Just thought I'd let you know what you missed – here are the road conditions on Hwy. 191 between Alpine and Campbell Blue wash (about 10 miles south of Alpine) last Friday afternoon:



Not a place for a street motorbike, in my opinion. There were many patches of ice.

This is on FR249 to Big Lake, now paved (as of late last summer):



Hal and I went up for the reason of shooting photos, so we took the Xterra! It was 3° Friday night, and on Friday and Saturday the daytime high was 20°. I wanted to shoot snow photos, and even that was not great. There wasn't enough snow in most areas to get what I wanted, although the roads had plenty of snow on them!

Glad you all had a good time, and stayed south!

- Jo