Bug Springs Trail has long been surrounded by myth and mystery. Of those that actually know what it is, few can give you a straight story. It may or may not exist, and some shuttler may or may not have punched through in days of old. That’s changing now, as the FS ramps up to begin (re)constructing the route, supposedly with bikes in mind.
Jay and I went out to explore, and still found plenty of mystery.
But first we found some great trail riding. Molino/Prison camp is always a fun challenge climb. A painful one, but that’s life when you enjoy technical climbing.
At the Bugs Trailhead the sign indicated “Trail Dead-ends ahead.” We’ll see about that. Grades were mellow enough to joke, “as long as it doesn’t get any steeper than this, I should be OK.” In every joke there’s some truth, and the truth is I was already hurting. I would have ridden the Leviathan, but only the Behemoth’s tires have sealant in them.
Wow.
What a trail. Indeed constructed to high standard. Wide turning platforms, (generally) mellow grades. This could become one of the best climbs in Tucson. My thoughts drift to daydreams of the “Climb or Die” challenge – riding from Tucson to the top of Mt. Lemmon on all trail. It’s looking better (more possible) by the pedal stroke.
The ridge the trail climbs is pretty incredible – big views and full of rock formations, including the above slickrock line. But soon after the slickrock the recent construction ends and the trail begins its fall-line ascent. I was dismayed to find flags and green dots indicating they were thinking of using this dubious trail alignment. Fie!
Soon we had a choice – one trail contoured, the other dropped steeply in a gully – again marked by green dots and flagging. We followed the flagging, sliding our way down the “trail.” Again, I really hope they aren’t planning on rehabbing this rut/gully/POS trail.
We were now in the legendary wash. I knew it was going to be a haul, with likely no trail to follow. A few bike tires showed us the way in the sandy spots, and it was actually quite rideable.
Including, some great rock moves. When there is a more defined trail, this is going to be a great, great section.
A few spots forced flashbacks to route finding in Canada del Oro (west fork). They were good flashbacks, especially when I realized how tame this was by comparison. Similar “trail”, similar veggies, similar challenges.
There was one really steep hike-a-bike on a rock face that I noticed did not have green dots and flags, meaning they were bypassing it — but what about all the other craptacular sections?
Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come. We reached the saddle and caught sight of the Catalina Highway some 400 feet below. I had worked on the extreme lower section of this trail, and on the connector to Green Mountain. From what I had seen they were building a wide trail and keeping the grades reasonable. So I was excited to see how the descent played out, since they had (re)constructed all the way to the top.
Well, the trail is wide, but as you can gather from the topo, it is the antithesis of contour. I couldn’t believe it. I can’t believe anyone laid tool into the ground to create this fall-line nightmare. 200+ feet of elevation lost entirely on the fall line. And they think a few timbers are going to do a damn thing? It’s already a mess, and will only get worse.
We decided to ride the 0.7 mile connector to Green Mountain. Bad move.
I’ve worked on dozens of trails in the Tucson area, but this is the only trail I am embarrassed to have worked on. Again, I can’t believe such shoddy design and construction is going into trails, in 2007. It’s already eroding. Under-designed and over-built, with almost no understanding of basic trail design concepts. And it’s not that fun to ride.
Now, I have pretty low standards for what trails are worth riding (all are). If I’m outside and some approximation of healthy, I’m happy. Shitty design, overgrown, hike-a-bike? No problem. But there’s a big difference when you’re talking about a new trail. Old ones, blazed by some cowboy and his burro – big deal, I’m just happy that they are there and maybe even rideable here and there. But freshly cut, in 2007, by so-called professionals????
Somehow we survived (a new trail is still a good thing, no matter how it was designed/built), but the day was running short on us. We had hoped to descend Bugs, but instead we coasted down the highway to Gordon Hirabayashi CG. We joined the AZT for a rip-roaring ride away from the sunset. The perfect way to end a ride.
I miss this kind of riding.
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