Mount Herman Road
We split up into two groups so one group could leave a little earlier.
Run 1 Report: Cheryl, Dave E., Julie and Roger
Our trip down Mount Herman Road was uneventful for the most part. With lots of washboards and some pretty tight turns with washouts, every corner was a bit exciting.
We were going around a tight corner and we came headlong into a roadblock sign smack in the middle of the road. It was disconcerting until we realized that the road was so washed out that people were driving on the berm at the edge of the road to get around it.
We stopped a few times to take some pictures as the sun was heading down, and the clouds were beautiful.
Our strangest encounter was with a tan, '70s, vintage pickup with a marijuana leaf painted on the door. It was driving on the wrong side of the road around a corner, coming directly at us. The teenage occupants were apparently driving on the berms around the corners and having a blissfully stupid time. They passed us on the way up the road, and eventually caught up with us at the bottom as we entered Monument, so apparently they weren't inebriated enough to actually pitch off the road.
We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Monument, then headed for home.
Run 2 Report: Gary, Mike S., Monica and Walt
We went over to explore Winding Stairs Road and Ice Cave Creek Road, so the other group did Mount Herman Road before we did. We could talk to them on the CB while they ran it, so we knew what to expect. That was a good thing, because we ran it in the dark.
We started down and it wasn't long before we were at the Balanced Rock. It was too dark to get any decent pictures of it, but we could see how big it was in our headlights. We took some pictures in front of it, then headed down.
We came up on a caution sign right in the middle of the trail, which was odd. It was marking a big crack in the road. That would have been quite a surprise to fall into if that sign hadn't been there. We went around it without any issues.
We were enjoying the nice road, but you had to keep slowing down for rutted out sections. Then the road suddenly turned rocky and bumpy, and the switchbacks started. They kept on going almost to the bottom, and then it turned to pavement.
A couple of us had dinner at the same Mexican restaurant that the first group visited. We knew it was the same restaurant because we were talking to the first group on the CB while they were there and we were at the Sluice on Winding Stairs Road. We got there five minutes before they closed and they were nice enough to serve us.
It was a great ending for a great day!
Reports from Other Days: 19
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