Took-son

11/3

More AZT flagging in the Rincon Valley. We had a bigger crew, but the going is still slow when you’re precisely laying out a trail. It’s getting a bit easier, but this section did have some challenges. I love the mental aspects of it. Typically trail work is somewhat mind numbing (not necessarily a bad thing), but thinking about water flow and how best to “zip” the trail around (Steve A’s term) in a sustainable but still flowing and fun way is a nice challenge. I really enjoy it.

We also cycled 1.25 miles of the recently constructed trail. After slowly walking/flagging the alignment out 4 or 5 times in the last year it was amazing to travel so quickly along it. I saw the trees indicating Rincon Creek but couldn’t believe we were already there. It’s a fun trail–not the best in the Tucson area, but still good.

I managed to clean the climb out of the creek both by hopping around the turn and riding straight up the ledge. The ledge took me three tries, though. Later a couple of local ranchers stopped by to whine a bit about the trail through ‘their’ state land (the land they lease). They were nice guys, actually, and I understand the reluctance toward anything that brings people out there. This close to Tucson, though, where clueless hoards of new homeowners are soon to arrive, I think they’ve got much bigger problems than a small stretch of the Arizona Trail through ‘their’ land. Their diesel truck was blasting away as we attempted to converse. The world of cattle ranching in the southwest continues to amaze me.

11/5

Good ride exploring some trails around ‘A’ Mtn. I am not certain which trails are legit there, but some appear to be very old. In the absence of signing, the assumption is that they are open. There are some very steep and challenging switchys heading up to Tumomoc Hill. I was walking fairly quickly. Good stuff.