An Arizona Christmas....

Boy it's been a long time since I've had a real vacation. Now, my vacations don't look like a lot of peoples idea of a vacation, but for me I cant think of a better way to spend my time. I really didn't have much of a plan for the period between Christmas and New Years, I knew I didn't want to hang around the house, I'd only end up working and besides the weather was going to be craptastic.
The weather in the Phoenix area looked to be pretty pleasant for most of the week, it would be cold to start but progressively warmer as the week went on. My plan was to bikepack for as much of it as I could. My left knee had been giving me some issues since being in a walking boot for all of the month of October, I'm hoping it's just a muscle imbalance thing and not a torn meniscus like I think it is.
So I hatched a plan to ride from Apache Junction to Sierra Vista and back with the option to bail out off of the AZT if my knee was not going to co-operate.
 I managed to get out on late  Friday for the start of my trip to Phoenix. The weather was horrible nearly all the way, massive thunderstorms and wind for much of the trip. I quit counting the amount of cars stacked into the guardrail at 15, I bet I saw nearly that many again just in Los Angeles. By Saturday afternoon I was sitting in my campsite at Lost Dutchman State Park. I figured I would start here, If I needed to bail out and do John Schillings' Queen's Ransom route instead of going to Sierra Vista, this would be a fine place to start and finish.

Rainy start to my vacation. 

The rain had been following me from California to Phoenix pretty much non-stop. I managed to get a quick spin on some of the trails around the campground before the rain started. The rain only lasted a few hours in the desert, but I knew that meant a likely change of plans for the morning as I'd likely not want to be on trail for the first few hours. That was OK, I was good with riding up the highway to the Picketpost Trailhead and then seeing how it looked from there.

Picketpost Trailhead

Thirty miles up the highway into a nice little headwind was certainly a good test to see where my knee would be. By the time I reached dirt I knew it was not going to go well. The trail looked good, only puddles and mud for the first 100' or so, after that it was prime AZT singletrack, actually some of the best conditions I've seen on this section of trail. It was cold, I never did lose my leg or arm warmers and just barely felt comfortable without a jacket on. The scenery was spectacular and I was the only soul on the trail, first tracks and not another human or animal was seen, this was going to be a very special Christmas Day.

Snow off in the Mazatals

Prime AZT singletrack.

It really doesn't get much better than this.

Water in the desert.

Spectacular trail and country.

You can see trail in the upper right.

Stunning.

The route from Picketpost out to the Kelvin / Ripsey trailhead is one of the best sections of trail I have ever run tires on. The scenery is spectacular, the trail building is top notch with some sections I just can't believe someone had the balls to build this! There's not much walking on this 36 mile section of singletrack, but the little there is was starting to show that my knee was not going to make it out into the Tiger Mine section of the AZT.
With the decision being made by my body, it was apparent that I'd be doing my second lap of the Queen's Ransom this year. This was just fine by me, I knew I could likely get it done in 2-3 days and that would leave me a few days to explore some of the trails around Phoenix I had not yet ridden.
I managed to make it out past the Ripsey trailhead and past the top of the climb on Florence-Kelvin Hwy before I finished for the day. It was cold and I knew it would be a rough night as this time of the year even if you ride a couple of hours in the dark, you still need to spend a good 10 hours in your sleeping bag, plenty of time to get cold.
I rolled down the dirt road towards Area 52  for a few miles before I scared myself a couple of times in some of the huge ruts in the dark. I didn't want to be at the bottom anyways so I settled down for the night.
As expected, the night was cold, but manageable, likely down in the low 30's. I set the alarm for 6 so I could get going right at dawn. I knew I'd have to do a decently long day to get through the maze of urban trails and roads before I'd get to a suitable place to crash for the night.

Area 52 out there.

View back towards where I had traveled the prior day.

Remnants of a prior time.

The day rolled out as expected, though I'd have a few unexpected surprises due to death mud and high water here and there. McDonald's in Florence was a welcome sight. I don't eat many burgers, but after a couple of days of bars and nuts a burger can be a welcome sight. I usually try to find a little dive when I roll into town, but Florence is a place of convenience, it's existence in this world only to support the prisons that surround it.
More death mud on my way to San Tan regional park made for some interesting route finding. Last time I did this route we all got busted for rolling across tribal land, John rerouted this years route off of tribal land and it was all new to me. As I rolled this new section it made me yearn to be back out in the back country. I'm always disappointed returning to the trappings of human existence in this world, the amount of trash and garbage dumped on the outskirts of town was really disconcerting.

Getting the tent dry after a damp night. 

San Tan Park

San Tan Park

It was nice to get back on trails at San Tan Park. The washes were actually rideable after the previous days rains and the scenery in this park are really a nice addition to the area. It had been a really nice day, much warmer than the day before, shorts and short sleeves were the theme of the day. I made my way through the park and into the urban areas of Queen Creek and Mesa on my way out to the trail system at Hawes.
 John has linked up a series of irrigation canals for the majority of the miles across the urban sprawl of Phoenix. The peace and quiet of these stretches along with the warm evening breezes were just what I needed as I got closer to a 100 miles for the day. I managed to make it through the high dollar subdivisions at the entrance of the Hawes trail system before it got dark and was looking  for a flat spot to crash soon after.

This was a cool little treat in the evening light.

TRW?

TRW?

This night would be much better, the warm evening breezes lasted most of the night and it was nearly daybreak before I actually started to get a little cold. Up and going for the final push into Gold Canyon for the day on some really fun trails was a great way to start the morning.
The Hawes and the Usery trail systems rolled out as I had remembered, fun and punchy. The trails were starting to dry out and get a little slippery, much different than the previous days trails tacky goodness.

Hawes

Usery

Goldfields

Goldfields

Superstitions

Jacobs crosscut

Gold Canyon Trails?

Gold Canyon Trails?

I rolled into Gold Canyon about 1PM and made the decision not to continue over to the Picketpost trailhead for a full loop, I'd do the Gold Canyon stuff and bail on the roads that head back over to the AZT at Picketpost so I didn't have to do as much highway back to my truck in Apache Junction. Back at the truck and I was off to get another campsite and much needed shower at Lost Dutchman State Park.

Sunset from Lost Dutchman State Park

Since I had finished the Queen's Ransom route in 3 days I had another 3 days to explore the area. I'd really never taken the time to ride the many parks in the Phoenix area out of either a lack of time or lack of knowledge. I'd done some research before I came out and was pretty sure I'd be able to find my way around a couple of places I'd like to visit.
 McDowell Mountain park was my first choice for a little bit of recovery, everything I'd read about it told me it would be an easy mellow day in the saddle. McDowell is over in Scottsdale, about an hour from the campground but traffic was light and I made it there in no time. A nice gentleman at the entrance kiosk gave me a map of the Competitive Loops and the overall park. I made my way around all the trails in the Competitive Loops and headed out for the main park trails. Even though some of the trails were marked difficult they all seemed pretty moderate to me. I found some nice tight singletrack up in the Scottsdale Preserve that was a nice diversion. Overall a really nice mellow day that I somehow managed to get 55 miles in.

McDowell Mountain

The next day I decided to stay close to camp. I figured I'd just do a mellow day and keep it around 20 miles or so. I poked around up to the Wilderness boundary of the Superstitions and then headed across the highway to the Goldfield Mountains and Bulldog Canyon. I poked around on some singletrack and dirt roads until I came out at the eastern end of Bulldog Canyon. I mistakenly thought that I could take this over to the Usery trail system and loop back home in short order. Boy was I wrong. 55 miles later and a long slog back to camp in near darkness was how I ended my day. Saw some really cool stuff and outside of not being able to find a connecting trail had a great time.I'll definitely go back when I have all day to explore.

Cholla forest beneath the Superstitions

Gold Field Mountains, I made it up into that box canyon before being turned around.

Bulldog Canyon

Bulldog Canyon

Bulldog Canyon

Bulldog Canyon

Goldfield Mountains

Sunset over the Superstitions.

Friday was my last day to ride. I packed up camp and headed over to South Mountain Preserve. It was a bit out of my way for going home but I'm glad I made the trip. SoMo is a very rocky, technical and popular riding, running and hiking area. I arrived at about 9 am and the place was already starting to get crowded. Everybody was super cool as I rode my way up the chunky National Trail. My plan was to do this out and back, but boy was it a tough go with nearly 325 miles on my legs already. It really is a spectacular trail, filled with really hard moves and short, really powerful climbs. I made my way to the end and turned around to head back.
After climbing back up to the saddle I decided to head down the Pyramid trail. This was a shit ton full of fun, some walking but overall a blast. At the bottom I was given a couple of options. I could cruise back to the car on the tame Desert Classic trail or hike a bike back up to the saddle on the Telegraph Pass trail. I chose to head back up even though it required a pretty good hike with my bike on my back. Surprisingly my knee was pretty good going uphill, it was anything downhill that was near impossible.
Once at the top I continued back down National to my truck. This was a super fun, albeit tough trail and I was happy to see the bottom.

National Trail

National Trail

National Trail

All in all a great Christmas vacation and I'm so glad it all came together.