White Tank Mountain "Riding"

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Nick is fired from trail finding for the next few days. We went to White Tank Mountain regional park outside Surprise to ride and run today. My knee was still a little tender, espcially with higher power efforts. So I wanted an easier day so I didn't stress my knee. Well, Nick takes off on this trail without letting me look at the map. It's a nice trail at first, a little rocky, really wide. It starts getting a little narrower and a little steeper. Then we get to a sign stating "Hazardous trail conditions ahead. Horses and bikes strongly advised against attempting trail."

And Nick just keeps going. There is no stopping him. After all, we see signs like that all the time and the trails are just fine. Not this time. The trail quickly gets narrower and steeper and nearly impossible to ride. We pass two hikers who almost start laughing at us. And soon we find out why. Although the trail is really pretty, it was not a good idea to have bikes. We were lugging the bikes up four foot cliffs of white rocks. We found out the reason for the name of the park. We were scrambling up a canyon wash with huge white bowls filled with water. Supposebly, mountain lions come down to drink from the tanks at night. We did not see any wildlife other then a few lizards, jackrabbits and a hummingbird, thankfully.

But it was not a fun day with the bikes. At least until we got to the end of the scrambling. It was a decent ride back to the camper, but not worth the struggle up. Nick had a good time riding and want to head back. I think I was just frustrated because of my knee and hiking.

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