It is the beginning of March, so it must be time for Camp Tucson. Scott Morris put together this little trio of rides in Tucson a few years ago and it is now an annual event. Nancy and I completed the Reddington/Milagrosa loop a few times, so we opted out of that. We did the Tucson Mountain loop last year. So I was ready to throw down for the BIG Empire Rita loop.
However, Nancy had a run in with a Palo Verde a couple of weeks earlier in a little overnighter we did and her doctor advised her not to do a 100 mile rides. So that meant the 60 mile shortcut route was OK, right? We talked about it, but Nancy being Nancy we were going to ride - so we planned to do this "shorter" route.
One of the high points (at least in my mind) of the Empire Rita loop is the preride breakfast at Bobos. Amazing apple/cinnamon pancakes, chicken fried steak, biscuits and cream gravy - everything you need to power an endurance ride. Nancy reserved a camping spot at Catalina State Park for Friday night so we could be there in time for breakfast at Bobos, and we were good to go.
What surprised me most about breakfast was the amount of people who showed up. Last time we did Camp Tucson, we showed up for breakfast, but didn't do the big loop. As I recall only a few hardy souls showed up for that one. This morning we had like 10 people. Either the word was getting out about Camp Tucson or these people had just taken leave of their senses - or a little of both.
It may not look like much, but is the best pancake EVER.
The participants begin to gather.
The ride starts on the AZT going north. This is a really nice section of trail. Twisty, cactus lined, very AZ. Good stuff.
And they are off...
Pretty much the last time I saw Neil that day
Elliot is all pumped up
In order to do this loop, we had to go off of the AZT and on to a power line road. And we all know how those tend to be. Lots of up and down. Unfortunately, Shannon had experienced some tire issues on the short section of AZT a the beginning of the ride. We kept thinking she would catch up, but her issues turned out to be a little more time consuming than expected. She ended up making a navigational error and abandoning the route for some quality time on the AZT - which is always good.
Anyhow, we headed up and down the powerline roads. The quality of the road seemed to diminish as we headed south.
My usual view of Nancy when the climbing starts
Grinding up
Not sure how I got in front of Nancy to take this picture
Is Alexis ever NOT smiling?
We eventually dumped off of the powerline road onto some other dirt roads, which got increasingly more chunky. The track took us across this little stream, and then back. Apparently this was an oops that didn't get taken off the track. So, most of us crossed the stream, said WTF, then crossed back. Alexis had doubled down and continued downstream a ways. I'm pretty sure I heard her say some not nice things about Scott. Not the first time or last he's heard that. I think he enjoys it.
Despite being in the desert, we crossed water something like 4 times in a couple of miles. There is water out there - just need to know how to find it.
Scott at one of the many stream crossings
Cactus will pretty much grow anywhere
Up the road a bit I was following Elliot when he seriously irritated a decent sized Gila Monster by nearly running over it. These are pretty rare. I can count on one hand the number I've see out riding. This one actually hissed at me when I was snapping his pic.
What are YOU looking at?
There they go...
Once again we came to some water...
This crossing was a little more challenging. Deeper than the others. So, the option was to suck it up and just wade across...
Or discover an alternate route. I think it was Adam who found the alternate? Here is John taking advantage of the "keep you feet dry" route.
And back to some sketchy dirt road.
And gates. There were many gates.
When I got to the split off for the "short" route Nancy was no where in sight. Last I saw her, she was talking to Lee. I'm sure they were discussing riding in Europe since Lee has done that and we are getting ready for a trip to France. Anyhow, I kept rolling and eventually caught up to them. We talked about taking the short cut and how far the "full meal deal" was. Nancy was considering going all in, but I reminded her of the fact that we did not have lights and that her doctor would not approve. After some discussion, we decided to backtrack to the cutoff for the shorter loop. Lee had intended on taking that cutoff as well, so he headed back. John, of course, decided to motor on for the big loop. So, in the end Scott, Lee, Nancy and I did the shorter loop together.
Of course doing the short loop was not enough. Scott wanted to see if we could do this alternate route that looked like it went through on satellite maps, but did not appear to go through on regular maps. Trying out this sort of thing is what puts the adventure in these rides.
So, we'll just go here and see how it goes...
As we rolled down another dirt road we ran into some guy on a mountain bike riding in the other direction - alone. This was one of the more random and unexpected things we'd seen. We figured we were in the middle of fricking nowhere and didn't expect to see anyone - especially another biker - who seemed completely unsurprised to see us. That was pretty amusing. Then about 10 minutes later we were passed by a couple of pickups with ASU insignia on the side. This was turning out to be too crowded for my taste.
Nancy and I got to yacking and suddenly noticed that Lee and Scott were no longer with us. Apparently they had found some singletrack and followed it. Because, why not. Anyhow, we came upon a "village" of RVs and horse trailers. Again, wasn't expecting that.
The local wildlife
However, this route was heavy on headwind and sand. It was rather tiring. At one point we ended up on the old AZT - before the current trail was cut. I'm REALLY glad they made the new trail - it is much better than the old stuff.
Former AZT
Finally, we ended up at 83, and passed under in a nice little culvert. That meant we were almost at AZT. Yay!
Passing under 83
Back on AZT - in the excellent high desert grasslands
We hammered down a very enjoyable section of the AZT to Box Canyon road. From there we were faced with the Las Colinas section - which is much work and much HAB. None of us were eager to tackle this section, but we didn't want to take the road all the way back to the end. Scott had the excellent idea to hit the road to bypass Las Colinas and connect back to the AZT for the last section before Sahuarita Road (the end point). While riding down 83 was less than fun due to no shoulder and traffic, this turned out really great. That last few miles of trail were soooo fun.
A little climbing.
And finally the gate at Sahuarita road
We finished around 4pm. About that time Nancy was experiencing some pain in her neck from her previous injuries - so that worked out well. Wouldn't have wanted to go longer. Scott suggested a little food truck in Vail for some post ride Mexican food - yes, please. It was very no frills, but my carne asada burrito was great.
Nancy and I had the option of staying the night, but since it was early, we opted to head home. Bid Scott and Lee goodbye and headed back north.
Really great ride and weekend with biking friends. I still want to do the "big" Empire Rita loop - maybe next year.
We have an "interesting" ride planned with John next weekend. I suspect it will include some HAB. Just a guess...
GPX file here
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