Cycling Alamo Lake Day 1: to Arizona Peace Trail


Sagebrush, Saguaro, and Sweat
Map
Loading...
Statistics for today
Distance 60.00 kms 37.28 miles
Climbed 727 meters 2,385 feet
Ride time (hours) 5.80 -
Avg speed 10.3 kph -
Statistics for trip to date
Distance 1,507.39 kms 936.41 miles
Climbed 10,896 meters 35,748 feet
Ride time (hours) 116.87 -
On this page

Tuesday, November 7th, 2017

So the plan for the day is to start making my way towards Alamo Lake. I've pieced together a rough itinerary of paved and unpaved roads, then trails to more unpaved roads using OSMAnd. The morning does hold one pleasant surprise: the first 15 miles of Shea Road are paved. I wasn't expecting that. At a canal the pavement stops. This is my last sure-thing water source until I reach Alamo Lake. There may or may not be cattle troughs along the way but I can't count on them. I ignore the ominous signs, jump the fence, and filter enough water to leave with 8 liters. With the lower temperatures I'm hoping that this will see me through the (hopefully only) two-day ride to the lake.

Click for a larger version of the picture
Starting the day on pavement.
Click for a larger version of the picture
Saguarito! I've missed you enthusiastic, Gumby sentinels of the desert.
Click for a larger version of the picture
...and it won't be back any time soon.
Click for a larger version of the picture
Yeah but, well, um... I'm riding a bicycle in the desert and I need water.
Click for a larger version of the picture

Shea Road is nicely graded until the turnoff for Planet Ranch, then it gets uglier. I meet a woman here in a white pickup with government plates who asks me if I'm okay. Yup, I do this all the time. Be safe then, she says. I think there is some kind of mine up the road she has come down. She will be my last human sighting of the day. The reason the road has gotten uglier is that it's heading straight up a wash. A wash means thick sand, that coupled with the prolonged climb makes for a slow slog. I reach a crossroads, there's that Arizona Peace Trail sign again. I guess I'm going to be following it for a while. I turn north towards Planet Ranch. Here the road goes a lot faster, even though at times it's in a wash, because it's mostly downhill.

Click for a larger version of the picture
The return of the Sonoran Desert, with a touch of Utah.
Click for a larger version of the picture
I love these landscapes. The possibilities seem endless.
Click for a larger version of the picture
Into a wash.
Click for a larger version of the picture
Click for a larger version of the picture
Click for a larger version of the picture
There's that Arizona Peace Trail thing again. I was on it for a bit east of Alamo Lake a few weeks ago.

Planet Ranch is a mix of newish-looking houses (3 of them) and ruins. I don't see anyone around. I spy a cattle trough in the distance but I don't check it out because I'm still okay with water. I traverse the Bill Williams "River" (read wash, no water here) on County Highway 133. The road climbs up the other side of the "river" basin and meanders north through a gate. BLM Signs are everywhere in front of the washes and side tracks saying "closed". This is private property, they seem to be working on some kind of reclamation project.

Click for a larger version of the picture
Click for a larger version of the picture
Click for a larger version of the picture
Saguaros mix with chollas. Sonoran with Mojave.
Click for a larger version of the picture
Click for a larger version of the picture
Click for a larger version of the picture
Spooky rock walls line the washes.
Click for a larger version of the picture
Roller coaster.
Click for a larger version of the picture
Last wash before Planet Ranch.
Click for a larger version of the picture
Ruin of a house, Planet Ranch.
Click for a larger version of the picture
Riparian ecosystem in the Bill Williams River (or more appropriately: wash, there's no water here).
Click for a larger version of the picture
Marker on an electric pole. Installed not all that long ago it would appear.
Click for a larger version of the picture
Click for a larger version of the picture
Lots of padlocks but the gate is open.

Continued on next page.

Strava data