After a long drive across the Navajo Nation from Rainbow Rim, we arrived in Cortez. On the way in, there was some discussion about riding Canyon of the Ancients. The outside temp read 102 F so we kept going to the hotel to get settled.
If you have never ridden Phil’s World before, imagine buffed singletrack made with mtb in mind. There is never a ton of climbing or descending. It should be on any rider’s bucket list.
Next morning, we were greeted by more wildfire smoke. After breakfast, we headed to Phil’s World. This was the first time Eric and Sharon had ridden there. I rode there back in April and thought we could do a similar route. We sent Sharon on a slightly different route thinking we would rejoin before the next loop. After Cocorace, we realized the trails were not going to rejoin and proceeded to find Sharon. We eventually rejoined by the Hippie House. This was fortunate for two reasons: we got to ride Rib Cage twice and we all rode all the trails out there.
Sharon’s photos from Phil’s World: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Yq2m2mxmj1wU2pNC8
We went back to town for lunch and I still wanted to ride more so headed over to Canyon of the Ancients. When I was here in April, I rode up Sand Canyon and then the East Rock Creek loop. This time I wanted to check out the Rock Creek Trail. It is hard to get photos that accurately capture the beauty of this place.
