We ticked yet another portion of the Arizona Trail off the list by riding from Helvetia Pass up to a high point of around 5900′ and then back. The ride was mostly rugged singletrack with a few dirt road sections. 21.8 miles and 2795′ of climbing granted us the opportunity to see lots of backcountry beauty with no people.
This ride starts off Helvetia Rd and for the first mile we followed the wash about a mile until we turned left onto the Arizona Trail. The trail is narrow and pretty rocky in places but again, mostly rideable with good concentration. The switchbacks up from the original wash were quick and easy and then we sidehill traversed around every possible foothill out there. The only bummer about this section (and a lot of the AZ Trail) is all the cattle gates you have to open and close. It’s not a huge deal, but if there were little ride over ramps it would be sooo much better. I know, first world problems.
The fall color palette is on point as usual for this area. The orange and yellow sunlight tall grasses against that blue sky and rocky treed mountains had us stopping to gaze a lot. Mt Wrightson at 9452’0 is quite a demanding focal point! The turnaround point came after a particularly challenging rocky climb. We split a bar here and then turned around for the mostly downhill ride back to the start.
We still have no boondocking neighbors anywhere near us and it sure is quiet. I like sitting out in the afternoon and evenings. Sometimes I just sit and stare, no reading or podcast listening, just relaxing. We haven’t watched tv in probably a year, but we do get some over the air channels here and will hopefully get to watch a football game tomorrow! We even splurged and with our last grocery pick up we ordered a bag of tortilla chips and some salsa! Living large I tell ya.
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