March, 2010, Arizona Bike and Hike Trip

March 14th, 2010, Tucson AZ Mountain Bike Ride

On the 12th of March, my girlfriend Wendy and I packed up the Subaru wagon and headed south to Arizona for a week of hiking and mountain biking in Tucson and Phoenix. We left Boulder at 8 P.M. and arrived in Tucson at 10 A.M. the next morning.

After visiting with friends Saturday evening and Sunday morning, we headed up to the Catalina Mountains and rode the 50 Year Trail. We parked at the east end of Golder Rd and headed north on nice smooth singletrack that twisted and turned through the saguaro, cholla and ocotillo. As the trail climbed gradually it gained in its difficulty level. As we reached the northern end of the trail, we were riding up and down narrow trails that were deeply embedded, "The Chutes", in the bentonite clay soil. Thankfully it was dry.

The weather was fantastic, a nice 60 degrees with warm sunshine. Just what the doctor ordered for two winter weary Coloradoans.

From the north end of the trail, we retraced our route back to the car. All in all, we rode for a little over two hours. A nice warm up ride.

 

March 15th, 2010, Cave Creek, AZ Hike

On Monday, we headed over to the Cave Creek Recreation Area in north western Phoenix for a hike with Malmsey the Wonder Mutt.

It was another beautiful March day in the desert, 75 degrees and sunny. As you can see, the saguaros were huge.

 

March 16th, 2010, Phoenix Mountain Parks Bike Ride

On Tuesday, we rode the 100 Trail in the Phoenix Mountain Parks.

We started the ride at eastern end of

trail #100

at Tatum Rd. and rode west to the Dreamy Draw trailhead. After a lunch stop we turned around and rode back, but instead of retracing our steps,, we detoured to the north on a nice singeltrack, which took us up near the 40th street trailhead where we then rode south and picked up #100 and took it back to Tatum Rd.

 

The ride was rocky but not very technical. Just a lot of loose rocky double track. There were a couple of good climbs on the western end that made the ride worthwhile. That and the unnamed singletrack.

 

I definitely recommend a good full suspension bike on this ride.