Ups and downs in the desert

I'm in Globe taking a rest/planning/prep day...my legs are happy.  From Tucson I climbed Mt. Lemmon on pavement and enjoyed a nice night up top 
Plenty of sweating on this trip and it's been important to plan water availability.  I can carry 9L if needed, but haven't yet.  After buying a sandwich in Summerhaven at 8k elevation I dropped back down and made my way to Oracle.
That's the 4wd road in the distance.
I've been hosted by Warmshowers people in Sierra Vista, Tucson, Oracle and now Globe.  Warmshowers is a network of people who travel by bike and the wonderful people who provide a place to stay, a shower!, good conversations and often a meal.  The socializing is always interesting and nice after riding solo and it's excellent to meet people with sometimes very different lives.
The route passes by many mining towns like Winkleman.  That's the tallest free-standing structure in AZ, a smelter smokestack.  The smelter closed a few years ago with significant impacts to the town.
It rained a week+ ago and the desert's blooming.  Yesterday featured the hardest section so far, with some hike-a-bike through a wash and on a 20% grade.  (For the cyclists...6 miles averaging 9%, 2 averaging 12%, and .25 averaging 20%, which finally stopped the pedalling.  Loaded bike around 70 lbs.)
Nice view at the top...
And back down to get a treat...
From here it'll be 4-6 days to Flagstaff depending on the route I'm about to plan now.  Then grocery shopping and maybe a nap.

Comments

  1. jasonodApril 8, 2026 at 1:41 PM

    Awesome. I’ve heard of Warmshowers- another bike-packing friend is a member who’s hosted riders in Salida. I think it’s a goofy name but a great concept.

    ReplyDelete
  2. paulApril 8, 2026 at 8:26 PM

    Anne and I did Mt. Lemmon (unloaded) and that was an amazing ride. Ride on! Warmshowers as a solo traveler sounds like a real nice feature for some company and usually good company.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ReadHeadedCyclistApril 9, 2026 at 5:34 AM

    Glad you found water!!!
    Good to have.

    ReplyDelete

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