Good Ride

Last week Karl took me on a new trail up Payson canyon, Sheepherder Hill. It starts up the road on the left about a half mile from the cattle guard at the Winward turn out. The trail splits toward the top with the left branch heading toward Lizard Lake. I turned this into a funky lollipop, going past Lizard Lake to Jones Ranch, then back up the road to the Mt.Loafer Trail head and on to Blackhawk. Blackhawk is pretty beat up, cows! But Jones Ranch and Sheepherder Hill are in great condition.

I ran into a couple of hunters trying to fix their motorcycle. After some strange looks and uncomfortable pauses (on their part), I found out that a big cat had scared the one rider and he crashed. Apparently the cat didn't run away, it came down from the tree and started toward the lead hunter. Both of these guys were considerably bigger than me and on bigger bikes. I wonder if I had come up the trail first if you would be looking for me instead of reading about it?

The ride took me about three and a half hours, lots of ups and downs and fun single track. Besides the two hunters and the folks at Blackhawk campground I had the trails to myself.