Art and Riding in Arizona

We're heading to Arizona next week for an art show I have in Scottsdale and I'm really ready for something different, a break from the daily grind so to speak. I love going to Arizona in March. It's so different than what I'm used to, you feel like you're in a different world. The plants, the animals, the landscape, all different in the low lands of the Sonoran Desert. I really love the giant Saguaro Cactus, I can remember the first time I saw them silhouetted against the night sky, I was extremely excited, they're epic. I'm a desert girl at heart, I love the high deserts of the 4 corners area the best and feel most at home there within the shadow of the tall peaks surrounding me. We will drive down through Durango and stop in Cortez to ride Phil's World and the next day head south through some of the most beautiful country inhabited by some of the most forgotten people.
While we're in Arizona we'll head over to Phoenix and ride the National Trail at South Mountain. A huge mountain park surrounded by the city, it's like an island of wildness surrounded by a sea of buildings and people and it has some extremely fun and technical riding as well as rock art, coyotes, bob cats among others.

South Mountain

After the show is over we stop in different places to ride on the way home, Black Canyon which is between Phoenix and Sedona, a very good place to ride as well and you feel like you're out there in the middle of nowhere. Sedona as well is a excellent place to ride but I never feel like I'm far from people or town when I ride there, but it's so gorgoues. This year we want to stop in Gallup, NM to ride the High Desert Trail System there. Can't wait!

National Trail at South Mountain