The Top-to-Bottom Gang on the

President's Great Adventure

Members of the Top to Bottom Gang after a hardy cowboy breakfast at Jacob's Lake, just before the long trip back to the valley. (Left to right), top row: Ferrell Andersen, Beth Shafer, Glenn Jordan, George Hayes, Jim Straun; bottom row: Michele Denney, Rhonda Jordan, Jean Andersen and Jean Ravioli

There are events in one's life that leave a mark in your memory forever, such as the birth of your children, your wedding day or a wonderful outdoor adventure with friends. My wife and I had such an experience this spring when we rode the Arizona Trail from the Arizona/Utah border to the entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park (north rim). We took 10 days in late May to start our ride on the Arizona Trail - I felt it made sense to start at the beginning of the trail and ride south - and from that thought the "Top to Bottom Gang" was formed.

The Top to Bottom Gang was put together from the article I wrote in the B&B called the President's Great Adventure (inviting anyone to come along on this ride. I had a lot of calls about the ride, but when we left Phoenix on May 19th, there was just 11 of us; 10 riders and one support person. The number turned out to be just perfect, not too big and not too small; but the most important thing was, we had all experienced horsemen who made my job easy. We estimated that the group covered 80 to 90 miles on some of the finest trails I've ever been on, with our shortest day being 6 hours in the saddle to our longest day of 10 hours. We started our ride at 3800 feet above sea level and ended our ride at about 8800 feet above sea level. The first mile of our adventure took us up 1200 feet to one of the most spectacular views I've ever seen - and from the beginning - it got better every day. Every morning I'd say to myself "Can it get any better than it was yesterday" and sure enough, it would be different and better than the day before.

When we arrived at the park's entrance on our final day, we had ridden from the desert floor with 90 degree plus temperatures to our final day of riding past melting snow drifts. If you only get a chance to ride part of the Arizona Trail, you can't do any better than this section of trail for diversity, beauty and safety of the trail.

We ended our ride at the park's entrance because the trail into the park (the last 12 miles is not officially open yet). At this time, I'm planning a return trip this month to finish the last 12 miles and to help the park's volunteers work crew finish this section. If you'd like to join the Top to Bottom Gang, just give me a call at (602) 843-0986 or email me at gjordan@amfam.com.

Also this month, ASHA will be having our August board meeting up in the cool pines of Showlow on August 18th - again, give us a call for more information on this event.

Happy Trails,

Glenn R. Jordan

President, ASHA