Grand Canyon Randonnee

Route number- 175
Route name- Grand Canyon Randonnee
Distance (km)- 1224
Shape- loop
Reversible?- N
Free-route?- no
Climbing (ft)- 30000
Location- starts/ends in Payson, AZ
Dates available- 05/01-10/31
Contact- Paul Layton
Fee- $10
Date approved- 2006/10/04
Last reviewed- 2009/10/06
Description- A Permanent featuring pine forests, Sunset Crater / Wupatki National Monument and the Grand Canyon
Organizer's URL- http://randocommute.blogspot.com/

The Grand Canyon Randonnee starts in Payson Arizona and promptly climbs up onto the Mogollon rim.  The climbing is not over though,  you have many miles of giant rollers ahead of you before you get to Flagstaff as you ride through Pine forests.  From Flagstaff you head out to Williams along I-40 and the turn north to go to the Grand Canyon.   After a quick ride out to Hermit's Rest along the rim road you head east out of the park along the other half of the rim road.  Now you enter the land of the Navajo and pay a visit to Wupatki national monument where there are old indian ruins and one of the only ball courts outside of Central America. Up a nice hill you arrive at Sunset Crater national monument and can ride among the jet black and dull red lava formations before you head back to Flagstaff and ultimately Payson.  After checking in in Payson you are off to climb the Mogollon rim again!  A trip out to Snowflake and then St. Johns shows you the farming communiites of the grasslands on top of the rim.  After St. Johns you head back over the white mountains where you will ride through fir and aspen forests before you drop down to Show Low and head back to Payson.  Theres a lot to see,  and a surprising amount of climbing.