Arizona Motorcycle Trip Info – Hwy 191 “The Devil’s Highway”
If you don’t get out of the Phoenix valley much you’d probably scoff at the idea of Arizona having much for good motorcycle roads. While its true that Phoenix doesn’t have much for twisty and windy roads, get up north a bit and you’d be surprised what you find.
Highway 191 is a connecting freeway from the excellent little mountain town of Alpine, AZ and the mining town of Morenci. This little highway sees very little use as it’s actually quicker to go east from either of these towns into New Mexico (via the 180 and 78 highways). The only other traffic we saw on this road were a handful of other motorcyclist, a corvette group and a handful of hunters (it was turkey season after all). In fact, on one of our extended breaks we didn’t see a vehicle pass for 20 minutes. This was midday on a Saturday even.
Hwy 191 Road Conditions
Road conditions were very good in late April 2017. Hwy 191 faired very well over the winter, very few corners had loose asphalt and only 2 potholes were counted. The first 40 miles or so south of Alpine is fresh asphalt and rides extremely nice. The remainder of the highway to Morenci is not as fresh but still in good enough condition for a spirited ride.
Preferred Route
Staying in Alpine is definitely the way to go if you are making this an overnight trip. From Alpine you can either take the 191 south or make a loop of the trip by going east on the 180 into New Mexico. Personally I’d suggest going south on the 191, grabbing lunch in Morenci or Clifton and making your way back north to Alpine on the 191 again.
Our Recent Trip
On our most recent trip (April 2017) we camped in Alpine and made our way south on the 191 around 9am. With two breaks we made it down to Morenci in 2.5 hours. The morning was a bit cold and we definitely found ourselves shedding layers as we worked our way down the mountain. While we were on sport bikes (cb1000r and fz1) supermotos and cruisers
