Yoda
Site Supporter
A few weeks ago here, charlieb mentioned a great riders' road in Eastern Arizona. What an understatement! A superb ride. But with a sad twist.
I've driven a LOT of roads in the southwest USA, but never the "Devil's Highway" 191 from Alpine to Clifton (formerly Hwy 666) in east central Arizona. Without question, it is a great motorcycle road. Curve after curve for more than 3 hours, with long sweepers, tight hairpins, and more to delight anyone. This road is worth going WAY out of the way to ride. I'm glad I did. This is one of the ONLY roads I have ever ridden that occasionally had me slowing down to an ACTUAL 10 mph on a corner marked for 10. That is very rare, accurate highway signage.
I pre-planned for a 3 day trip, to allow enough time to savor the road, take photo's, and stop to smell the roses. This trip was also a 'tune-up' for my 7 day trip with B.J. Strauss, and his 'BigAssScooters' group of 12 touring scooters coming up in mid-June. That will be a 5 day, 4 nite excursion of the best of Colorado roads (plus to and from time from Albuquerque) aptly titled "Rockin' the Rockies." Peak to peak, and more, starting and ending in Golden. I wanted to investigate the load carrying capacity and handling of my Burgman, and I am pleased.
Back to this trip. I slabbed westbound on I-40 nearly to Grants, exiting onto NM Hwy 117. A beautiful road in its own right, it meanders southwesterly through the El Malpais lava flows, then crossing high prairie grass fields to Quemado. After fueling, straight west on Hwy 60 to the twin cities of Springerville, and Eagar Arizona. After only 213 miles, I holed up for the night, after a great burger and sweet potato fries at the Blue Java cafe. Even though I had waited for some good weather to make this run, I was surprised by 29 degrees the next morning. I layered up and headed south on Hwy 180 into the Apache National Forest. At some point, the road signs say "Coronado Trail Scenic Byway." At Alpine, the road became Hwy 191. Now, this is what I came for! But, a few miles down the road, the burned out forest slapped me in the face. Mile after mile of tall forests: pines, aspen and more, were scorched, burned and destroyed. A sad sight that I hadn't expected.
The burned forests went on for miles. Then, just as quickly, they were gone and replaced by cool green pines. I continued south to Clifton, where the glorious twisty's came to an end. But what an end! At Morenci, Arizona, I stopped to take in the view of one of the largest open pit copper mines in the world. An amazing sight that took my widest lens to take it all in. By then, the temp had climbed into the high 80's. I had seen elevations from 7000 ft in Springerville, to a high of 8500 feet, then back down to 3500 ft in Duncan. I ate lunch, stripped off layers, and opened up my jacket vents.
I finished the second day riding Hwy 75 across typical southwestern desert to Lordsburg, NM, then back up into the cooler air on Hwy 90 to Silver City. It's a modern town also created by the money earned mining. Used to be silver, but most recently huge copper mines rivaling the Morenci mine in Arizona. I believe without all the copper mined in this two state area, there wouldn't be much electricity flowing anywhere. I called it a day in Silver City after 272 miles of twisty grins, capped off with a steak and a cold brew.
Heading east from Silver City on Hwy 152 the next morning, I knew the mountain road well that went through Hillsboro. I stopped for a fresh cup of hot coffee on the front porch of the Hillsboro General Store, which had a sign saying it opened up in the late 1800's. This is also a good road for motorcycles, but all the fun ends when you reach I-25 at the Caballo Reservoir on the Rio Grande. At that point, I just had to slog the last 150 miles back to the big city and home.
3 days total 756 miles
12.038 gal gas
62.80 mpg
I've driven a LOT of roads in the southwest USA, but never the "Devil's Highway" 191 from Alpine to Clifton (formerly Hwy 666) in east central Arizona. Without question, it is a great motorcycle road. Curve after curve for more than 3 hours, with long sweepers, tight hairpins, and more to delight anyone. This road is worth going WAY out of the way to ride. I'm glad I did. This is one of the ONLY roads I have ever ridden that occasionally had me slowing down to an ACTUAL 10 mph on a corner marked for 10. That is very rare, accurate highway signage.
I pre-planned for a 3 day trip, to allow enough time to savor the road, take photo's, and stop to smell the roses. This trip was also a 'tune-up' for my 7 day trip with B.J. Strauss, and his 'BigAssScooters' group of 12 touring scooters coming up in mid-June. That will be a 5 day, 4 nite excursion of the best of Colorado roads (plus to and from time from Albuquerque) aptly titled "Rockin' the Rockies." Peak to peak, and more, starting and ending in Golden. I wanted to investigate the load carrying capacity and handling of my Burgman, and I am pleased.
Back to this trip. I slabbed westbound on I-40 nearly to Grants, exiting onto NM Hwy 117. A beautiful road in its own right, it meanders southwesterly through the El Malpais lava flows, then crossing high prairie grass fields to Quemado. After fueling, straight west on Hwy 60 to the twin cities of Springerville, and Eagar Arizona. After only 213 miles, I holed up for the night, after a great burger and sweet potato fries at the Blue Java cafe. Even though I had waited for some good weather to make this run, I was surprised by 29 degrees the next morning. I layered up and headed south on Hwy 180 into the Apache National Forest. At some point, the road signs say "Coronado Trail Scenic Byway." At Alpine, the road became Hwy 191. Now, this is what I came for! But, a few miles down the road, the burned out forest slapped me in the face. Mile after mile of tall forests: pines, aspen and more, were scorched, burned and destroyed. A sad sight that I hadn't expected.
The burned forests went on for miles. Then, just as quickly, they were gone and replaced by cool green pines. I continued south to Clifton, where the glorious twisty's came to an end. But what an end! At Morenci, Arizona, I stopped to take in the view of one of the largest open pit copper mines in the world. An amazing sight that took my widest lens to take it all in. By then, the temp had climbed into the high 80's. I had seen elevations from 7000 ft in Springerville, to a high of 8500 feet, then back down to 3500 ft in Duncan. I ate lunch, stripped off layers, and opened up my jacket vents.
I finished the second day riding Hwy 75 across typical southwestern desert to Lordsburg, NM, then back up into the cooler air on Hwy 90 to Silver City. It's a modern town also created by the money earned mining. Used to be silver, but most recently huge copper mines rivaling the Morenci mine in Arizona. I believe without all the copper mined in this two state area, there wouldn't be much electricity flowing anywhere. I called it a day in Silver City after 272 miles of twisty grins, capped off with a steak and a cold brew.
Heading east from Silver City on Hwy 152 the next morning, I knew the mountain road well that went through Hillsboro. I stopped for a fresh cup of hot coffee on the front porch of the Hillsboro General Store, which had a sign saying it opened up in the late 1800's. This is also a good road for motorcycles, but all the fun ends when you reach I-25 at the Caballo Reservoir on the Rio Grande. At that point, I just had to slog the last 150 miles back to the big city and home.
3 days total 756 miles
12.038 gal gas
62.80 mpg
