Catalina Mountains

We made it through the Catalina Mountains, but it took us two days.

Things started out in Tucson, heading east to Redington Pass. The switchbacks and climbing went quickly. I found a really nice rhythm on this tranquil morning. We could have dove off on Bellota Ranch road to shortcut over to the Mt. Lemmon highway, but there are miles of nice, rideable AZT further east of there. So we rode over to Italian Trap rd, then up on the new AZT, otherwise known as the Thistle Forest.

We had heard from at least three people that the thistles were unbelievably thick on this section, but we refused to let it deter us. It was hard to imagine that it could really be so bad. Let’s say this, it’s no longer very hard to imagine anymore. At first it was just an added challenge to dodge the 5 foot high thistles on both sides of the trail. Then for a bit I stopped caring since they were unavoidable. That ended pretty quick as my legs and arms starting itching and breaking out in hives. Now each thistle forest felt like a deathtrap. I washed my arms off with camelbak water, but I knew it was futile until we were out of the forest. My thoughts were on ‘the Lake’ at the bottom of the hill where I could completely wash off.

‘The Lake’ is more of a glorified cow pond. Stinky, full of flies and plenty of cow evidence. But I went in a bit and splashed off. The relief was almost instant, but the ridges and swelling still had me concerned and fearful of any further thistles.

We continued past the top of Milagrosa trail, over to West Spring, then began the big push over the saddle to Molino Basin. The sun scorched us enough that we had to take several breaks. I made some solid attempts at climbing, with varying success, as usual.

The descent to Molino was a technical treat. Again, I can’t believe how easy it is to ride hard trail with all my gear/pack. It’s a great feeling.

As we sat in the shade of a picnic table I noticed that the sun was going away. An odd mist / overcasting sky was setting in. It was perfect weather for climbing in my book. Climbing, in this case, meant huffing it up to 8000 feet. After 4 hours of technical singletrack (riding from Redington to Prison Camp) we rode onto pavement to begin the long grind up the Catalina Highway.

Usually this climb is not a problem for me. It was either the preceding singletrack mayhem, the extra weight, or something else, but we both were just riding slow, and it seemed to go on forever.

Still, I always get a kick of out climbing from the low desert into the pine trees. And the views from the highway really can’t be beat. We waited out the traffic light at Windy point while enjoying the views and the cool air.

Lee took off at some point, trying to burn into Summerhaven before the cafe closed. We missed it by a few minutes, so it was off to the general store for microwave pizzas.

After filling up, we conferred as to what our next move would be. We were debating about our route and about where to try and spend the night. The mist was now turning into more of a threat of rain. The residents told us that when it rains you can smell it. We were definitely smelling it. It’s at times like these that you feel vunerable as a bike tourist who isn’t even carrying a tent. There’s a certain vunlerability. We were already cold, and tired from climbing hours on the pavement, and were facing (by either option) two very difficult routes off the mountain that cannot be done and night and certainly couldn’t be done in the remanining 1.5 hrs of daylight. I was indecisive as ever, so finally Lee talked Judy Epstein into letting us stay in her basement. We helped her load up her art canopy, then we climbed up to her house. It did sprinkle while we loaded things up, but then it seemed to clear.

My indecisiveness was over whether or not to ride CDO. This is a trail that I know well, and that’s exactly the problem. I know how hard it is, I know what it takes, and I couldn’t really say, “Yes, we need to do it.” It is the Arizona Trail, but it is a major, and I mean MAJOR detour, to head up to the top of Mt. Lemmon, descend Samaniego trail, cut off to CDO, then climb back up to Dan Saddle. The other option is, of course, to just take Oracle ridge for less than 2 miles — starting from where we were.

The truly hardcore would have left Summerhaven to climb even higher (and colder) into the storm, then begun the brutality that is CDO. That’s not us, I guess. CDO was a hard ride before the Aspen Fire. Now it’s even worse. And my worry was that since it is spring there would be dozens and dozens of new blowdown throughout the canyon. It could have been bad, very bad. And riding down Oracle Ridge is no picnic either.

Waffling on this issue continued through the night and into breakfast the next morning. As I ate my Belgian waffle, in fact, we were still waffling. Eventually we just headed off to ride Oracle Ridge at last. Finally the decision was behind us. As I pushed my bike through the overgrown, butt steep, rocky trail, I had absolutely zero regrets.

The traverse after Dan Saddle was every bit as hard as I remember. It seemed twice as long, though. There’s just nothing easy about descending Oracle Ridge. Even after Peppersauce road, the so-called easy section, we were still getting threashed around, falling off the rocky trail and just generally getting out butts kicked.

After Apache Peak we ran into Mike Watson of all people. He was hiking solo to check out the trail status. Mike’s yet another of my trail heroes, so it was cool to see him. He’s done hours and hours of work on Catalina trails and is very friendly to mountain bikers and their interests. He’s also a heck of a guy to work with, with more than enough enthusasim to go around.

Turning off onto Cody Trail was a big relief. Finally — decent, rideable trail. Technical and fun to boot. Halfway down we met Brian and Anne Barr, our friend from Oracle. Now things were looking good. We ripped out mile after mile of swooping, fast and fun desert singletrack. Clouds rolled in and the riding was good. We rode some extra miles out in Oracle State park (past the Barr’s house) since it was such a beautiful afternoon.

B-Barr took us on ‘his version’ of the AZT near the windmill. We’re still nto sure exactly what the AZT means in the state park, but we did ride some nice singletrack with tons of switchbacks.

We just had a fantastic dinner with the Barrs and are enjoying a relaxing evening. Catalinas are a thing of the past, now we move on to more rideable terrain to the north. Antelope Peak here we come.