Another great ride dreamed up by Lee today. Ever since the Tumacacori wilderness proposal, Lee has been exploring more and more of the country in his backdoor. Today the plan was to connect Ruby road with his Tubac to Arivaca route–at Bear Grass tank. I got excited about the route as soon as I checked out the area in TopoFusion. There are 4×4 roads leading right up to both sides of Apache Pass and though it looked like more than a mile of bushwhacking, it wasn’t ridiculously steep or overgrown (indicated by aerial photo). It couldn’t be worse than some of our other adventures, could it?
So rode south out of Arivaca after conversing with the local flea marketeers. Ruby road turned out to be a very nice ride. About halfway through a few guys were sitting on the side of the road with small backpacks. They gave us blank stares. We waved. Around the next corner, more of them were walking down the road. More blank, tired stares. I have seen some very tired people in my life (at endurance races, for example), but these guys were absolutely dead to the world. I’m not sure they cared if we were the border patrol or not. They might have been happy, or at least indifferent, to be picked up.
We turned and dropped off into Peck Canyon on our way to Neuvo Corral and Apache Pass. The road and scenery here were nice–big oak trees and plenty of technical challenges to keep us busy. There were even some slickrock sections. We reached the corral soon enough and kept on, into the unknown toward the pass. The road eventually switchbacked only to die at a camp spot. We retraced our route and dropped in at an opportune spot into the wash. Lee spotted a faint trail leading out of it. This “trail” kept brought us through the pass and within striking distance of the road on the other side. It was hike-a-bike, but quite a bit of it would be rideable with minimal trail work (brushing mainly). Our favorite plant, the catclaw, was ever present and slicing us up nicely. In a bit less than an hour we found our intended connector road–right where it should be.
It was no easy affair either–up and down, with the ups either very hard or hike-a-bike. But it was not long before we coasted down a ridgeline to Bear Grass tank. A kind tailwind accompanied us from here back into Arivaca. The burritos at the Grubsteak saloon hit the spot. It was a surprisingly hot day and I got roasted by sun, making me feel a bit wasted afterwards. Of course, yesterday’s ride was tough also, so I suppose I can be content to be tired. Still, I’m nowhere near as tired as the travelers out on Ruby road, and happy to not be in their shoes.
40 miles, 5000 feet of climbing, 1 hour hike-a-bike, 4 riding
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