Starr Class

It was a nice relaxing weekend. Not much riding, but a couple of good hikes and plenty of rest. It’s always great to have family visiting.

The hikes were Douglas Spring trail, then Camino de Oeste at Starr Pass. Both very nice days to get out. During the latter hike my sister discovered a trail that I had never noticed before. It lead us up to the ridge over looking the wash, along the same ridge that heads back towards Golden Gate. This led me to the bright idea to take Lee exploring some of the ridgeline trails out at Starr Pass. But when would Lee want to drive all the way to Tucson to ride out at Starr Pass? Not likely any time soon.

The next morning he calls, saying he’d like to head to Tucson for a ride, but we’re limited on time since my Sister’s flight leaves in the afternoon. So he suggests meeting at Starr Pass, and my wheels kept turning on the idea of some exploration.

I tell Odin my plans, and he asks why Lee would want to come all the way from Tubac to hike around on barely-a-trails? A valid question.

Traffic to the airport was bad. Traffic from the airport was even worse. Yet another reminder of why I try to avoid driving at all costs.

We met up at Greasewood, then rode up through the neighborhoods and into the park. I felt top, and the air was warm and fresh. It was hot driving around through traffic, but once we got out riding it was near perfect.

We all struggled on tech pass, then headed around the backside. I laid out the facts (as I rememberd them) : a breif hike-a-bike from the knoll to the saddle, then some semi-rideable trail to a peak, all up on an incredible ridgeline. From there the trail continues, but the last time I was up there, I lost it and ended up flailing off the mountain side.

We had about an hour and a half of daylight left, but for some reason, they both agreed to go try our luck.

The saddle came quickly, and the trail was kind of nice for a bit. Then it was hike-a-bike. When the riding percentage falls below 50%, it is no longer hike-a-bike. It goes up a ranking to “ride-a-hike”, since it’s the rare section that is rideable. Still, we reached the ‘peak’ without too much trouble and signed the cute little trail register.

From here things looked doubtful, and we thought about turning around. We had maybe a half hour of daylight left. We first tried the right side of the ridge, but were quickly halted by unsafe exposure. The left side was better, but still slow going. A few downhill sections were nicely rideable; on one I pulled a nice hippity-hop switch back turn and came out riding. I think that may have been the last part I rode.

The trail dissappeared around the same time the sun did the same off the horizon. We turned left off the ridge, hoping to reach the trail before complete darkness reached us.

We dropped about 800 feet in about a mile, all through cactus, catclaw and brush. It was not the most fun I’ve had carrying a bike recently, but it could and likely should have been much worse. We finally popped out on the Yetman trail while we could still see a tiny bit. We all had LED lights, so riding out wasn’t going to be a problem.

The only small problem was that my rear tire went flat, then my spare followed suit (blackburned again!). But the car was not too far off, so we coasted through trail and pavement back home.

I always love gaining new perspectives on the Tucson Mountains. Most of the trails at TMP wind around the mountains, so to see them from up top was really quite incredible. But these trails are best left to hiking; our bikes did very little for us.