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Eastern Arizona Loop


Sam Rowland

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Sam Rowland
It's on my list for later this summer.

 

Mine too, my wife and I will be spending some time this summer in Pinetop/Lakeside area. Fishing and "bike" riding in the white mountains.

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I did a long one day ride out of Chandler that included heading north on 191 then coming down 60 out of Show Low. What a great ride.

 

Oh be sure to get off of 191 before dark as all sorts of animals start clogging the road after sundown.

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  • 4 years later...
RecentConvert

An old thread in need of an update!

 

We rode this loop of Highway 191 (Devil's Highway, AZ666 or Coronado Trail) north from Morenci and looped back on Hwy 180 and 78 on March 20, 2021.

 

The hype for this road may have been well deserved in the past, but we found the southern half of 191 to have conditions bordering on dangerous.  The road surface had crumbled and worse is that the crumbling is more prevalent in the corners.  If this were the midwest we would attribute the gravel/sand to sanding the roads during the winter, but AZ does not sand this highway.  I am glad we rode from South to North because the prospect of needing to touch the brakes descending into the turn could have really bad results.    Is it worth the ride?   Maybe.   If the road surface were average or good, definitely yes.  But it isn't.   Be Careful!!!

 

The portion of the highway through the copper mine is very cool.  My favorite part.

 

The 180 loop from Alpine to highway 78 was both beautiful and had a good to very good road surface.  Was able to put some wear on the sides.

 

Overall, I was dissappointed.  

 

Conditions:  Warm (60s), sunny and windy

Bike:  2014 R1200RT

Two up

 

 

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9 minutes ago, RecentConvert said:

Overall, I was dissappointed.  

 

I've always thought that 191 was a bit over-rated even when the surface was half-way decent.  The mine is very interesting and overall there's nice scenery and Hannagan's Meadow is always a great stop, but generally too twisty if there is such a thing.

 

The 180 / 78 loop is definitely much better.  Also off 180 an interesting run is to  take 32 north to 60 east through Pie Town across to Datil and back via 12 ... another option used to be to  continue on 60 east to the VLA, but due to covid-19 it is closed to the public.

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Hopefully, AZ will repave Rt191 in the near future. I rode RT 191 last year and it wasn't too bad, it also wasn't too good (due to road condition)

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On 3/22/2021 at 11:56 AM, RecentConvert said:

Overall, I was dissappointed.  

Thanks for the update.  My RT is in Albuquerque and I was considering this run in April.  I still may do some of it, but appreciate your warnings.

 

I'd also like to see an UN back in this part of the western US sometime in coming years.

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