Bikepacking trip report: Southern Arizona (mostly pics)

[mtechnica]

The plan originally was to do this route:

https://bikepacking.com/routes/sky-i...sey-west-loop/

But we ended up "exploring" (getting lost a few times because we were dumb and didn't start off using ride with GPS).



(note the entire first day and some other parts of the ride are missing, the old garmin 510 isn't very reliable and sometimes deletes rides)

All told we camped 4 nights and rode 5 days. For the most part the route was considerably more difficult (steeper and more frequent climbs, looser surfaces, long stretches of badly rutted roads) than expected. So for the 5th night we decided that instead of camping, I'd ride back to Patagonia and get the car then we would stay in a hotel! No regrets!

It was good to get away from everything for a while.

Anyway here are a few pictures.



(not much gear but I also had a backpack)



(you can see the UFOS in this pic above the hills)

[velotel]

That looks awesome, makes me want to do it, with a fat-tired road bike of course, too bad it's a bit far away from me. That night sky alone makes it worth all the effort. Excellent

[dbnm]

Looks amazing. Hope you had tubeless tires. Goat heads are a b*tch.

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by velotel

That looks awesome, makes me want to do it, with a fat-tired road bike of course, too bad it's a bit far away from me. That night sky alone makes it worth all the effort. Excellent

It was an adventure for sure, definitely "a bit" far away from you though.

Originally Posted by dbnm

Looks amazing. Hope you had tubeless tires. Goat heads are a b*tch.

Yes to tubeless tires

[HenryA]

Excellent!!

Thanks for sharing.

[floxy1]

Very nice. I’ve ridden a lot in AZ but never there. If you’re keen on another AZ bikepack route this one is a real gem.

https://rockyroad5050.wordpress.com/...o-250-and-350/

[charliedid]

Nice

Love the night pics

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by floxy1

Very nice. I’ve ridden a lot in AZ but never there. If you’re keen on another AZ bikepack route this one is a real gem.

https://rockyroad5050.wordpress.com/...o-250-and-350/

Thanks I’ll check this out!

[martinez]

Yes to more of this content !
How did your bike/gear do?

[KJMUNC]

Awesome....was riding out there over Thxgiving week and have always wanted to take the turn off Mt Hopkins over to Patagonia. I rode up Mt Hopkins this time instead but will save this route for the next trip. Looks incredible!

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by martinez

Yes to more of this content !
How did your bike/gear do?

My bike was great except I need a more comfortable saddle for rides like this. So I think I’m going to switch to a brooks cambium. It would have been nice to not have to wear a backpack so I’m considering trying out a rack that mounts to a thru axle, then get the salsa thing where the top of the rack clamps to the seat post. I already have panniers and don’t need to put a lot of weight in them. In my backpack I mostly had my puffy jacket and a few other larger/light items. But if I had a more comfortable saddle the backpack might not have bothered me much at all since I’m so used to riding with it. Besides that the apidura saddle bag and handlebar bag are really nice albeit small. The revelate top tube and stem bags are amazing imo.

Personally I felt like the MTB was a better choice for this trip than the gravel bike. For the most part I had an easy time on the worst parts of the terrain and I could still keep up on paved parts. The gravel bike with 48c tires was plenty capable though.

One nice thing about going with two people is being able to split up the gear. I took the entire tent and the two person sleeping pad, and she took the two person sleeping bag (which is lighter than two single person bags) and most of the food.

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by KJMUNC

Awesome....was riding out there over Thxgiving week and have always wanted to take the turn off Mt Hopkins over to Patagonia. I rode up Mt Hopkins this time instead but will save this route for the next trip. Looks incredible!

Just watch out for Ruby road... it was quite rutted!

[Likes2ridefar]

Seems I’m missing some phenomenal riding down south of me!

Thanks for sharing.

[Hilltopwalters]

Used to live in good ol' Zona. Got too hot for me but I got a lot of wild stories of being a kid out in the desert and in the bush. Great pics, givin' me proper homesickness.

[SpeedyChix]

Looks like it was a great trip!