1/2/05
I led a ride on the SDMB calendar that featured two new sections of trail Lee and I had explored on previous AZT adventures.
Rather than drive all the way up there for just that ride, we decided to add the next step of AZT exploration to the trip. Unfortunately the weather had other plans for us.
The group looked like five as we headed out of Tucson, but at the start of the trail I watched as car after car arrived. Everyone blew by the trail until they caught glimpse of our cars and bikes. It was odd to see so many people there, where formally it had been so quiet.
In total, the group was 13 people. With a group this large I knew it was going to be a slow going, but this trail doesn’t really afford fast riding anyway, and people seemed to be enjoying the random conversations. I enjoyed talking to Dave Hicks, author of the most comprehensive guide to the AZ trail, his website as well as other folks I don’t see very often.
With a few flats there was definitely some excess standing around, but nothing worse than the usual group ride. We rode out to the Boulders where Lee took a small group to follow the rooster tails while I went back to check on the stragglers.
Back at the cars, the halfway point of the ride, I found everyone standing around looking ready to head out for part two. I knew Mark and Dave would be calling it good, but was shocked as everyone else in the group decided to bail on the rest of the ride. Before I knew what had happened Lee and I were heading out on Freeman Road to pick up the Antelope Peak trail and everyone else was driving home. I was immediately disappointed that everyone had left since this trail is so incredibly good. Much more effort went into this section, and it shows. The scenery is about 4 notches higher with Antelope Peak as a backdrop and expansive views of the Galiuros, Catalinas and further. The Boulders section was really just the warmup / weed-out ride for the featured event: Antelope Peak. As we rode the sun started shining, making us wonder further why everyone had bailed. The silence and solitude of the area was back, however, as Lee and I pedaled around Antelope Peak’s red rocks and thick cholla forest.
To be honest, I would not have dragged everyone out to Freeman road only to ride the Boulders section. It’s a very nice ride, but the 14 miles out and back is not enough to justify the drive. Throw in the Antelope Peak section, though, and you have a worthy ride.
We had a nice 2.5 hr ride on Antelope Peak, then headed off for Superior, hopeful on the weather. We were happy to ride in rain, but mega mud or running creeks would be bad news. We had some good food and enjoyed planning further AZT explorations and the ride in general, including some hair-brained ideas for crossing the Grand Canyon.
I woke up at 5:10 and heard no rain, so I marshalled Lee to get us going. I knew it was only going to get worse, so I figured the earlier the better. We crept slowly up US 60, headlights cutting through dense fog. I guess an early start wasn’t such a good idea.
We navigated through the mine, slip sliding on slick-as-snot dirt roads. It didn’t look good but we went on, refusing to admit defeat.
Pinto Creek is the main route that we needed to explore. Most maps show no road or trail going through, but that’s never stopped us before. It was a major unknown. We figured it would be sandy and perhaps the rain would be an advantage for riding it. As we crossed Pinto on a single car bridge we ran into a slight problem: it was flooding out of control. We had no idea how major of a drain it was, but it was clear that the night’s rain had dropped some serious water, presumably near Pinal Peak behind us. Since our route called for us to travel *IN* Pinto Creek for 10-15 miles, we were completely shut out.
We decided to investigate the lesser unknown on the route — Haunted Canyon. But the lower part of the Haunted Canyon trail is Pinto Creek itself, so after a short walk/ride down a ‘temporarily closed’ road we were met with the raging torrent once again.
We tried a few other options for getting to Haunted Canyon, but all were met with similar failure. We could cross Queen Creek to access Haunted from the top, but the on/off downpours meant we could be trapped up there for days. The risk was just too high. So we limped back to Superior in defeat. Even tiny drainages were turning into waterfalls, and it seemed to be so widespread that it just was not a day to be exploring new territory.
After being shut out it was hard not to be further disappointed with everyone bailing since we spent our one good weather day doing a ride we had already done before, and no one new even got to see the best part of it. I guess it is better to just stick with our AZT plan and leave the sharing for later.
Of course we had second thoughts and almost pulled off for a couple other ill-fated attempts (including one at Newman Peak, which we later found has no trail or road), but after seeing the entire state covered with rain on our return, we knew we made the right choice. You win some, you lose some. This time we lost, but we’ve had so many successful rides that a bust isn’t so bad. We had to at least give it our best effort.
Leave a Reply