Plans, Shmans

Chad posted up on Facebook looking for someone to go bikepacking. We had a free weekend, hadn't seen Chad in quite a while and were definitely up for a weekend out in the desert. Plus temps were supposed to be in the high 70s with ZERO chance of rain. Perfect. Chad sent me a proposed route and some ideas for things to see. We talked it through a bit and figured it was a solid plan.So, the plan was to...
Doesn't matter. Plans were made to be changed and that is sort of how the weekend went - right to the very end.

We started up near Cochran Road and Florence-Kelvin Hwy. The plan was to meet at about 4:30 Friday afternoon and ride down to area 52 - getting there right around dark. So we would likely need lights. First change in the plan was that Max was coming along - but that was a good thing. We hadn't seen Max in quite a while either and when you get Chad and Max together it is always interesting. We met up, found a spot to stash the cars and headed down the road.

We are headed down there somewhere for the weekend

Down into the Gila River valley

There was just a little bit of climbing

Getting late

Turned out we made it to Area 52 in good time and had enough daylight to find a spot for the night and set up camp. We dragged those lights with us for nothing. Or so we thought. 

The start of Area 52

We set up camp, got a fire going and broke out dinner and libations. We had wine, beer, and whiskey. Nancy passed around some smoked salmon and cheddar cheese on crackers. Max broke out the bacon. This is how bikepacking is supposed to be. 

Chad knows how to build a REAL campfire. 

Morning came and the campfire still had plenty of life and offered warmth to go along with breakfast.

 Once we were fed, we headed over to the main event to play around before the day's ride. Area 52 is an intriguing area. One could ride around there all day discovering new places.

Once we finished playing around there, we headed back to camp to finish packing up and on to the next leg of the adventure. From here there is a "standard" way to get to box canyon. But we discarded that part of the plan in favor of riding through a train tunnel. Exactly how to get to this tunnel was not completely clear, but we had a general idea of where it was. What could possibly go wrong.

Down to the Gila River

Crossing the Gila without getting wet. Score.

Once we got across the river it got a little hazy as to where to go next. I could see on my Garmin that there were railroad tracks about 750 feet "in that direction". Since there was no clear route, we just went "in that direction". 

Let the bushwhacking begin

I'm sure it'll open up on the other side of this.

We definitely have to be getting close.

Seriously, enough.

Unfortunately that 750 feet was packed full of brush and deadfall that had been washed down in previous floodings of the river. We did eventually make it to the tracks though. But that was one of the more "interesting" bushwhacks I've done. Worthy of a John Schilling adventure.

So, what time does the next train roll through?

Fortunately the tunnel was only 1/4 mile long. We had heard a train the previous night, but nothing since then.

They seriously don't want vehicles driving into the tunnel.

Doubletrack?

Ouch

We eventually found our way off the train tracks, after an erroneous detour on my part, and headed up toward Box Canyon.

This is a pretty cool canyon to ride through. As you can see, it gets pretty narrow in spots. Wouldn't want to be there when it is raining. 

We weren't the only ones drawn to the canyon. We saw this 4 wheeler tour as well as individuals in 4x4s, 4 wheelers, and motorcyles. This area isn't exactly a secret, but it is still pretty remote. You gotta have some good clearance on your vehicle to get out here.

Unfortunately, box canyon eventually came to an end. The only way for us to get over to where we wanted to go was Martinez Canyon. That meant lots of up and down and plenty of high quality hike-a-bike.

Time to go up...

...and down

Rinse and repeat.

There was a nice solid surface here, so climbing was good.

The views out here are so great.

Of course pictures don't capture how amazing this area is.

Shredding the gnar.

Of course we are heading up there. 

Surprisingly, Chad's sidewall slice was the only mechanical of the weekend. 

We originally had some idea of hitting the AZT after this to Kelvin, but we decided to head over to the Coke Ovens instead. We had all seen them from afar, but not up close. So, again, our plans changed. It seems that these structures were used for turning Mesquite into a hotter burning fuel used for purifying gold and silver. A cool bit of AZ history. A dirt biker we met up with said that the area had been fenced off, due to some people damaging some of the property. I can't understand why someone would go all the way out there just to do dumb stuff. We decided to get a closer look at the ovens anyhow. Besides, we didn't really have any options for moving forward.

One of the things that struck us was how big these things were. From across the river, where everyone had seen them from, they look tiny. They are anything but tiny.

Nancy agreed this was worth seeing up close

Unfortunately, the only way forward from there was UP. We could see where we wanted to go, down below us at the river. It was "just over there" though those bushes. We learned our lesson from the day's earlier adventure and headed up the big grunt. 

After a big up and a super sketchy down, we made it the the "usual" crossing of the Gila river. It was lower than Nancy and I had every seen it. Usually it is above the thighs, but today we hardly got our ankles wet. It was actually rather refreshing. 

Snack time

From here it is about 10 miles and 1500 feet of climbing to get back to Florence Kelvin Highway (and by highway, we mean a dirt road in good condition that sees maybe a few cars an hour). We didn't want to go that far and it was still fairly early in the day so we began a leisurely climb up the road. There was some discussion about whether to find a place to camp up high, near the Highway, or to continue all the way back to the cars and spend the night there. We figured it would be more fun to camp out up near the highway. So, up we went.

The river is down there somewhere

I love this country. So remote. So beautiful.

We eventually found a little clearing off the dirt road a ways that was suitable for spending the night. 

Inflating the sleeping pad

 We had our various meals, enjoyed a more modest campfire and got to sleep good and early. Around 3:30 am I noticed the sound of something small falling on my bivy - multiple times. Then a rain drop hit me in the face. Say what! Zero percent chance of rain. No way is it raining. Dug out my phone and turned it on. Looked at a weather app and saw a large green area heading our way. Woke everyone else up and we decided, since no one had rain gear of any type, to get up and go back to the cars before it got worse.

Scrambling to pack up before the rain got heavy.

Max was ready to go in about 60 seconds, with Chad right behind him. Nancy and I followed up and we all hit the road out for a bit more climbing. It continued to rain steady, but not heavy. Once we hit FK Hwy it was some up and down with lots of down, so we made the final 12 miles of the trip in 1 hour flat. You can make pretty good time when properly motivated. When we got back to the cars at around 5:30am it was still raining a little - but not too bad. So, once again, our plans were altered - but this time by nature. And we ended up needing those lights after all. 

We didn't do huge miles this weekend, but we did see lots of cool stuff. I can now check Area 52 and the Coke Ovens off my "places to go" list - with the expectation that I will visit again. Some people  have difficulty dealing when things don't go according to plan, but the changes we made on the fly helped to make this a very memorable weekend. Seeing cool stuff on a non-stress ride with friends - doesn't get better than that.