It is the end of February and temperatures have been holding at 10-15 degrees above normal (well into the 80s). The upcoming weekend had the Gila 100 and John's 4 day bikepacking loop that he calls Queen's Ransom (which always makes me think of Queensryche). The Gila was just too tough and John's ride was too much time for either of us to take off at this point. So, Nancy suggested we do a little bikepacking from Picketpost trailhead on our own. Well, yeah. So we planned to get out in that area for the weekend. It occurred to me that John's ride was going to be going through the same area at about that time, so I checked with him to see if we could meet up for the night. Turns out their day 2 campsite was in a place that worked perfectly for what we wanted to do.
However, there was a problem. Nancy had a wreck (not her fault) during the 24 hours in the Old Pueblo which ended up ripping the hydraulic line off of her fork lockout. The geniuses at Rockshox set that fork up to be locked out as the default - so she had a very expensive rigid fork. The fix just required a few parts. Unfortunately, some procrastination and a screwup by the vendor meant we were not going to have parts before this ride. Nancy called up the nice folks at Pivot and asked if she could demo a 429SL. They said "sure", so we were good to go!
Enough setup. On to ride day.
We made our usual stop at the Shell/McDonalds so that I could get my endurance fuel (McGriddle and coffee - thanks to John for introducing me to that magic combo). As we were pulling out we saw Bart and Ray. They were getting ready to do a Ripsey loop - which Bart had never done. We talked a bit and then headed out.
Nancy trying out the new (borrowed) ride at the PP trailhead
It didn't take long for the trail to get a little techy and for Nancy to realize that her setup wasn't going to work for bikepacking. Even with the rear "locked out" she was scraping her seatbag on the tire. So, we re-apportioned her stuff (mostly meaning I carried it) and stashed the seatbag on the side of the trail.
So, what can Jeff carry...
Onward.
Picketpost mountain
I rolled on as Nancy tried to figure out how to ride this gizmo with gears and full suspension. It didn't start well. While I was trying to get some cows off the trail (they did NOT want to move) she crashed and ended up with the bike on top of her. Fortunately she was able to extricate herself without my help as I was out of earshot.
What're YOU looking at
Such a beautiful desert
On we went, mostly climbing.
Horseshoe gate latch
There she goes
You can see the trail in the distance
Big
The trail goes right by a couple of rock spires
Where's Nancy
Finally, out of that canyon and over to the "big descent". This is about 2000 feet of descending (with some climbing mixed in) down to the Gila River. Down we went, into the abyss.
She's down there somewhere
The flowers think it is spring
Down we go
Blue and yellow - a great combo
While I was taking pictures of flowers Nancy had her second crash. But this one involved blood. Apparently she hit one of the cut off stumps of a Palo Verde, below her helmet. She ended up with a 2 inch slice behind her ear and a nasty head banging. She was a little concerned about concussion - so we hung out for a while trying to decide if we should head back or go on down to our camp spot for the night (about 1.5 miles away). After some chilling (though it was quite warm) we decided to go down to the camp spot, find some shade and rest for a while.
Bad tree!
The Ocotillo are blooming - even though it hasn't rained for a while
relaxing in the shade - absorbing the views
Nancy made it down to the camp spot OK so we decide to set up camp, drop our stuff and roll down to the Gila (about 2.5 miles away) to get water.
Now that's a pretty nice camping spot
Rolling without BP gear makes you feel light
Nice map down near the river
When we got down to the river there were some people on the other side blasting music and hanging out with their kids. So much for relaxing by the river. We filtered water and headed back up to the camp spot.
Gotta love the rock features out here
Get it!
When we got back, Sean and Vance were there. They were way off the front of John's bikepacking ride. A word about that. He created this loop from his house that takes in some really great areas (Hawes, Gold Canyon, AZT), but takes 4 days. First year it was just him. Next year he got someone else to come along. But this year there were more than 10 people who came out. So it is officially a thing.
Camp is starting to grow
The master of ceremonies himself on the left. Nancy hiding in the tent.
As more folks showed up it just got better
We had a little campfire and lots of great conversation. Almost everyone rolled in before dark. Not that I don't love spending quality time with my wife, but it was awesome hanging out with old friends (and new) this night. It was a great group.
Morning time
We saw off most of the group and then headed out on our own - time for some climbing.
Uppity, up
Yeah, we need to go way up there
We did the grind back up to the "top" - which is by no means the end of the climbing. However, cresting the top I noticed my back tire felt a bit squishy. Yep, definitely losing air. Stopped, put half a bottle of Stan's in and rolled. Still squishy. Stopped again, put the rest of the Stan's in and found a small puncture in the sidewall - small enough for the sealant to work. Got that sorted and rolled on.
Time for a trail side repair
Pretty good scenery while doing repairs
Pictures just don't do this valley justice
Plenty of climbing to do still
One of the rock spires we ride by
Climbing is fun?
Once out of that valley you come to a junction where the trail briefly goes on a jeep road (about 12 miles from Picket Post). There is a new water cache there. Not sure who is filling it, but yay! for them. This particular cache is challenging to get to, but is in the middle of a very long stretch with no other water options.
water = life
From here it is one nasty climb then lots of great downhill (with other minor bits of climbing mixed in). This is where you start thinking that you are getting close, but Picket Post mountain is still not even in sight.
Once we got over the ridge where you could see Picket Post mountain we met up with a group on horseback. They had just discovered the trail and had lots of questions. After some discussion we took off on some great downhill sections. I was rolling along just behind Nancy. All of a sudden I saw a very irate (and rather large) rattler in the trail in front of me (Nancy had run it over). My first reaction was heavy braking, which turned into laying the bike down and sliding toward the increasingly incensed reptile.In order to not slide into it, I pushed off to the left of the trail which allowed my arm to collide with a larger barrel cactus. Youch! That did not feel good. Better than being bitten by a rattler though. Pulled out some spines, retrieved my bike and on we went.
I actually did remember to stop and get Nancy's seatpack, which we had ditched at the beginning of the ride - so that was good. Strapped it to my pack and we finished off the ride.
Most rides we do are problem free, with the only challenges being to our lungs and legs. This one, however, all kinds of things went wrong. Hopefully we got all that out of our system. However. at the end of it this is an amazing section of trail to get to ride on and we had great fun with the folks doing the Queen's Ransom ride.
GPX file here
