I left off last night with Lee and I at another decision point on the AZT north of Sunflower. Though the preceeding 4 miles had been nicely rideable, the next section looked dubious at best. I could tell Lee wasn’t much enjoying this, for a host of reasons, so I tried to weigh that into the situation. We’ve been through some very long, rough stretches of hike-a-bike, and it was getting tiring since it has been day after day. So I understood his reservations and lack of energy. But at the same time, this was a section that I had studied on the maps so many times, and day dreamed about realizing. This was the route that I had proposed, and had shown to Lee before we left.
I entertained the possibility of bailing on it, but I might only ride the whole AZT once, and I just couldn’t stand to do it without even trying the Mazatals. I knew I’d be missing out, even if the price for seeing it all was high in terms of suffering. I made sure that Lee was OK with it, even if he wasn’t sure about it. If he had said no, we would have bailed. But it came down to, “I don’t really want to, but it’s up to you, Scott.” Lee’s a good partner.
So we soldiered on. Lee was getting noticibly more tired and more quiet. He was taking less pictures. I suggested backpacking the bikes, which worked well after a few adjustments and got us up 1000 feet or so. Then the trail started contouring so we re-assembled the bikes for a brief section. All my gear was on my back and I instantly noticed that I was able to ride technical, rocky climbs with less effort than when the load is on my bike. I rode most of the next climb to a saddle, then waited for Lee to push his bike up.
After some more pushing on unbelievably rock strewn road, we at last found a truly rideable section. Well contoured, tree shaded and very fast. It reminded me of the Dog Lake trail in Salt Lake. I didn’t expect anything like this up there. It wasn’t worth the price of admission, but it turned our cranks nonetheless.
Further into the mountains the trail conditions got worse and worse. We did far more hiking, and always over steep, rocky, manzanita covered trails. But it didn’t bother me. I was in a place where I was just happy to be there. Happy to be alive. Happy to be seeing the Mazatals for what they really are. Happy to be on such an amazing trip. Happy to be happy with what I have to be happy with. I definitely was not in that kind of position during the stretch from the Gila River to Superior. Telling myself “just be glad to be out here, who cares how hard it is” doesn’t work and it didn’t work back then. But this day, the pieces were falling together for me. I could have pushed my bike up into those mountains forever. The only thing I wasn’ t happy about was that Lee was not enjoying it in the same way. He was dreading it, and feeling burned out.
I didn’t think it possible before, but I found Lee’s limit for hike-a-bike. But he didn’t whine or complain, he just kept moving. He found his limit, but pushed beyond it. He’s a tough guy, there’s no doubt about that.
Eventually we made camp when Lee was not feeling well. I was worried about him as I got in my sleeping bag to stay warm, but there was little I could do except make things handy for him. I didn’t sleep well until he told me at 1am he was feeling much better.
The next morning was cold and we started out slowly. We hiked up yet another steep, rocky hill to the crest of Mount Peely. Wow. Now I was really glad we had gone up there. The fact that it was so hard to attain made the reward even sweeter. The cool air, pine trees and incredible views of burned Mazatal Mountains were, finally, worth the price of admission–for me.
The road along the ridge away from the trailhead (the AZT continues into the wilderness for some long miles on the Mazatal Divide Trail) was a blast to ride. I liked that it climbed, though we were both ready for a descent down to the Rye Cafe.
My memory of the descent (from route reserach) was a little hazy, unfortunately. As we started on the Gold Ridge Trail #47 to descend off the mountain I felt like I was dropping of Mt. Graham or some other Sky Island, on an adventure ride, heading off into the unknown. It was cool to do be doing this as a part of our AZT adventure, but I was worried that it would get gnarly and long. Our arrival was long overdue at the Rye Cafe for Lee (and my stomach, too).
But it turned out OK. Before the fire it was probably a ripping descent. But now the trail has heavily (and I mean heavily) eroded. I got tired of walking after one very steep pitch, so I decided to hop on and just see how far I could ride. I ended up riding a very long, sketchy section, in true adventure riding style. It was over my limit just a bit, but was also very fun, and better than sliding down with my feet on rocks.
Rye for food, then Wayne Gorry rides up to guide us back expertly to Payson. We rode through Cypress Thicket and such before, so Wayne showed us a new off road route into town.
Now we’re resting and regrouping thanks to Wayne. The next section of trail, the Highline Trail, is rumored to be loaded with hike-a-bike, but after we climb to the rim the trail conditions should improve, unless things are too wet. I can’t wait to get up there and continue with the trip.
We’re around 500 miles into it and have about 60,000 feet of climbing.
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