Las Colinas – Arizona Trail
Today we were back on the Arizona Trail riding 26 miles with 1600′ of climbing. This was an out and back from the Gabe Zimmerman trailhead heading towards Sonoita. We saw all of one person today and were happy to wind around the desert, up over and around the foothills. This section is fast and flowy without much in the way of technical sections. Good fun and a way to enjoy the scenery and sun.
Saguaro National Park
We took our mountain bikes to the shop for a much needed tune up after over 3 thousand miles of use this year. No worries, we have our gravel bikes as a backup! Most of this ride was on pavement and it was fun to explore a new area.
Starting from East Saguaro National Park we rode 37 miles with 2050′ of climbing. Spanish Trail has fairly good pavement and bike lanes so we started out heading towards Colossal Cave Mountain Park. We hung a left on Pistol Hill for an out and back of around 9 miles on a rough gravel/dirt road. After hitting private property we had to turn around and head back.
Back at the park we used our National Park pass to get in and ride the 8 mile loop of the park. Cactus Forest Drive is a one way loop constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) between 1936 and 1939. Saguaro NP East sits up against the Rincon Mountains with 8,664 feet Mica Mountain and is quite dramatic. We were in cleats and riding clothes, but will be back to do some hiking, as there are countless options. We are lucky to be able to spend time here with family and are having a great time.
Leave a Reply