Sierritas to Arivaca

We met our guide and friend, the illustrious Matt Nelson, at his casita near the edge of the Sierrita Mountains. Matt has quite the nature house, with solar panels (off the grid), water collection, solar ovens, et cetera. He was anxious to show us his “back yard” and we have been talking about riding to Arivaca for years.

I love how exploring for bikepacking routes gets you off the beaten path…

We started off on a small piece of Matt’s singletrack, featuring big views of the Coyote Wilderness, Kitt Peak and Baboquivari.

Having ingested less than 1000 calories in the last ~3 days (since my bout with a nasty stomach bug), I was feeling pretty empty. My legs seemed to tolerate light pedaling, but my body didn’t want to hold itself up on the bike and brace against rocks and undulations in the trail.

All signs were pointing to ‘abort.’ You should be asleep right now, not pedaling to horizons afar.

Scott, turtling his way up the hill – photo by Lee Blackwell

A little faith goes a long ways, sometimes. The alive switch was slowly tripping as the minutes passed. I still thought about turning around, but as long as things were on the up, I’d keep pedaling.

We descended to a mine shaft, where Matt asked, “got your lights? Follow me.”

Ever done a ride with an underground switchback!? Into one shaft, descending, turning, then popping out 75 feet below at another hole in the earth. If this is on the race route, you’ll get a time bonus for taking the underground switchback (everyone should have lights…).

Matteo is quite the tour guide, showing us the mine shafts, turtle burrows, the caballo loco ranch (complete with its own observatory) and other curiosities. The Sierritas are full of interesting terrain.

We flew out of the Sierritas, past the northern flank of the Black Hills, and proceeded with interest toward the Cerro Colorado Mountains.

You don’t say?

There aren’t any trails in the Cerro Colorado (shame!) but as we coasted around the western edge a singletrack was discovered. A ‘crosser’ singletrack, that is.

And that singletrack was good. Contouring with ‘fantasy island’ style drainage crossings. It took us right where we needed to be.

Except when it didn’t. After the next road crossing it braided, was obscured by game trails and finally we lost it. We circled round, heading back to known roads that would eventually lead us to a different ‘crosser’ trail that Matt knew about.

Land of a thousand windmills, many of them working and pumping some nice looking water. No worries on water through here.

Looking back at the Cerro Colorado from some brick adobe ruins, with yet another windmill in the distance.

Matteo nails the truckbed wheelie drop. Sick!

He also navigates by USGS quad, stored in his pack. No power grid and no GPS for him. It worked quite well, and the map consultation breaks were welcome to this weak cyclist.

Actually, I was feeling better and better as the day wore on. I was even hungry for a moment or two, but consumed little. The lack of caloric intake was balanced by the feast of the eyes, a proper gluttony for my ever ravenous exploratory appetite. I was sustained by the landscape, the cool breeze and the imagination and day dreams of a long day in the saddle. There’s nothing like feeding the soul with new country, and what better way to do so than on two human powered wheels, riding with friends.

Top end power was glaringly absent, but fortunately it wasn’t called for too much on this route. As long as I kept it at a true endurance pace, it seemed I could ride forever. It was a little unnerving to be weak and have no idea what was ahead, or how long the ride would be. Matt told us that he’d never made it to Arivaca before dark, so we were ready for anything. I am so used to being ‘in charge’ (in one way or another) of the route/navigation, having at least studied maps heavily before heading out. This time I knew nothing, just show up and ride.

Old mining roads took us into the heart of the Las Guijas Mountains, dumping out into a techy wash. Backpacks and other basura indicated there would soon be singletrack. Bits of hike-a-bike, but the ensuing descent was a shred, both literally and figuratively. Cat claw!

The sun was dropping as we discovered yet more crosser trail, weaving through a maze of ocotillo with views of Mt. Wrightson and the Hopkins observatory.

In Arivaca for grub with a bit of daylight to spare. I still wasn’t hungry, but ate anyway.

Now, how do we get back? Oh, Matt drove to Arivaca yesterday, stashed his truck and rode back! Wow, thanks again Matt. An awesome ride.

The pieces are coming together for a bikepacking loop, heading south out of Tucson. That is the preliminary sketch, and it’s looking pretty darn tasty. In broad strokes: 3rd street bikeway, Fantasy Island, AZT all the way to Box Canyon (no pavement now!), Elephant Head, Tubac, Diablo Peak, Cerro Colorado, Sierrita, 3 points, Roskruge, Brown Mountain, Starr Pass and back into town. Hoping to put this one on the winter calendar as a stage race, but there are still a few details to work out.