Forests and Falling on the Southern Tier in Arizona

The Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) Southern Tier route goes through Tonto National Forest east of Tempe, Arizona. Many cycle tourists instead choose to ride straight to Globe, Arizona on Highway 60. It's a shorter route with less climbing, but this section of highway has little to no shoulder space and the long Queen Creek Tunnel, which cyclists report is dangerous.

We decided to stay on route. After Phoenix, we'd head up through the forest. It would be hot, and we'd have to ride fewer miles on climbing days and carry almost three day's worth of food and water—but we felt (mostly) confident we'd make it. Turns out it was hotter and more difficult than we anticipated.

We cycled about 197 miles bicycle touring from Phoenix to Bylas, AZ, bringing our total mileage up to about 931 miles. We covered this distance from September 28 to October 2, 2017 (days 24–28 of our trip). Here are a few of the highlights from this section of our Southern Tier bicycle tour.

Leaving Phoenix

Riding out of Phoenix and through Tempe was very smooth. Cities can be terrible to cycle in, but we had nice bike lanes outside of downtown Phoenix and the ACA's route kept us on fairly quiet streets as we made our way east.

We got an early start the morning we left Phoenix because we knew we had a climb in the second half of the day—and because it was supposed to get pretty hot. We felt the heat by 11:00 am, and the uphill began when we turned north toward Tonto National Forest.

It was so sunny. The blue sky, white clouds, and red rock were all gorgeous, but the heat was too much. While we enjoyed certain aspects of the desert, we did not like that it was always so difficult to find shade.

We arrived at Usery Mountain Regional Park for lunch. We didn't want to pay for a picnic spot or go off route in the heat, but it was important we get more water and cool down in the shade. We stayed a little longer than a typical lunch break to avoid biking more in the hot afternoon sun.

Cycling Uphill to Tonto National Forest

We kept riding and finally hit our peak elevation—about 2,000 feet—for the day, after about 1,000 feet of climbing. Most of it wasn't too steep, thankfully, but the sun really took its toll on us.

The downhill into Tonto National Forest was breathtaking. Neither of us expected it to be so beautiful, and it was great to experience it on our bicycles. I couldn't stop taking pictures of the mountains. At this point, we thought the hardest part of the day was over and felt relaxed and accomplished.

The rest of the ride was difficult: there was more uphill than we thought, and the sun was relentless. We walked some short, steep sections, but we finally made it to Butcher Jones Recreation Area. Free camping is allowed beyond the fence at this site, so we walked to the camping area and found a spot to pitch our tent. Then we walked back to the recreation area, which had a beautiful little beach on Saguaro Lake. We made our dinner at a picnic table and enjoyed the sunset before tucking in for the night.

That was a rough night of sleep. The area gets a lot of off-road vehicle activity, but we didn't expect it to happen so late into the night. We were kept up by multiple trucks and cars that drove by—and we hoped no one would decide to have a problem with our campsite. Doug also saw a skunk right outside our tent! He made a psst noise to get it to go away, which thankfully didn't frighten it enough to spray us. We were also woken up twice by a herd of animals running by. The first time they ran by, we were a little spooked because we had no idea what they were. Were they wolves? Coyotes? The second time, a car's headlights shone on the animals, and we saw that they were horses! We slept pretty soundly after that.

In the morning, we had one of the best experiences of our trip. We packed up just before dawn and walked to the lake for coffee and breakfast. At about 7:00 am, the herd of horses came running out from the forest to drink at the lake! It was such an amazing sight. They hung around for about fifteen minutes and were so close to us. Apparently they do this every morning, so there was a handful of other people who came to watch. One man told us they were wild horses! What an experience.

Getting out of the Heat and into a Car

The horses left, and we started pedaling. Our first two miles were straight uphill, and they weren't too bad because it was early and still cool out. We had about 3,000 feet to climb during the day, but we didn't anticipate how hard it'd be. We'd climbed mountains in California, so we thought we'd be fine.

The heat picked up early, and we quickly got hot. We regulated our water intake because it needed to last us through the day and most of the next day, but we drank too much because of the heat. The climb was also so steep and long. There were a couple short-lived downhill spots that we appreciated.

Overall, the ride was beautiful. There were clouds out, so we had some brief breaks from the sunshine. By lunchtime, Doug felt a little dizzy. We stopped to rest and eat lunch where we were: on the side of the road under an underpass. We've often eaten on the side of the road, but this was one of the worst spots (at least it was shaded). At this point, we weren't sure if we'd make it the whole way, and we felt concerned about our water supply lasting at least 24 more hours.

We rode a few miles before stopping in the parking lot at Sunflower, which seemed to be a farm or a mine of some sort. We were deciding to hitchhike when a couple in a pickup truck pulled into the parking lot. They were meeting their daughter to give her some furniture. The wife started talking to us about the heat and how busy the road was because it was Friday, so I asked her for a ride. She said yes! She was going with her daughter anyway, which opened up space in the truck for us. The husband drove us about sixteen miles to the intersection of the next road we were to turn on.

We felt like God was really watching over us because the ride came without almost any effort, and the driver was going our way. We also passed a lot of construction on the drive, and there was no bike lane for a while. With all the traffic, we were glad to be in a car for that section. Sometimes it feels like quitting to take a ride, but everyone does these trips their own way. We had to remind ourselves that some people don't even go through the forest, and that's okay too. It wasn't worth it to us to possibly run out of water—we're not quite that adventurous, I guess.

We got our bikes out of the truck, hooked up our panniers, and rode a few more miles to Jakes Corner. This is a town with a store, an RV park, and a bar. I asked the owner of the RV park if we could pitch our tent in there, and he was nice enough to provide a spot for ten dollars. We were still exhausted, so we went to the bar for cheap beer and even cheaper fries for dinner.

Arriving at Roosevelt Lake . . . and Climbing Our Way Out

We had coffee and breakfast at a picnic table out front of Jakes Corner before starting our day. It was a beautiful, sunny, cloud-filled morning, and we were excited for a much flatter ride. The route to Roosevelt Lake had a lot of ups and downs, but no steep inclines like the day before.

There was a grocery store in Tonto Basin, so we stopped there to stock up for the next couple of days. It was a nice little town in such a lovely location that it probably would've been fun to stay there and meet people, but we needed to get further. The approach to Roosevelt Lake was awesome. This part of Arizona is just stunning—in September it was still partially green, and the red mountains reminded us a lot of Utah.

We crossed the Roosevelt Lake Bridge and soon pulled in to the Roosevelt Lake Marina, where we thought we were going to camp for the night. Its website shows that it has inexpensive tent camping, but when we got there we couldn't find any shade, water, or toilets, so we decided to ask about nearby camping at the Roosevelt Lake Visitor Center next door.

The woman there said we could camp at any of the state park campgrounds for free because we were on bicycles, so we decided to enjoy this benefit and ride five more miles to Windy Hill. We're pretty sure she wasn't right because we never saw any online information about free cyclist camping and the Windy Hill camp host had never heard of it. However, he didn't charge us, so we camped for free!

After pitching our tent, we cycled about a mile to the lake and swam for a bit. We then used the (free!) campground showers before making dinner. Nearby coyotes howled throughout the night and in the early morning.

The next day, we had 1,800 feet to climb in just a few miles, so we got up before sunrise and were on the road by 8:00 am. This was a long, slow climb, but we made it without walking. We were proud of ourselves for cycling the whole way—especially after we couldn't finish the mountain a couple days prior.

Falling in Globe

We had a nice, uneventful ride the rest of the way to Globe. Once we got to town, though, I felt pretty unsafe on Highway 60. There were a lot of cars traveling pretty fast, and there was no shoulder. We pulled on to the sidewalk and kept riding there, but that wasn't fun either as the driveway ups and downs were extremely bumpy and often in disrepair.

After stopping to do laundry at a laundromat, we continued on the sidewalk. We came up to a bridge where the sidewalk narrowed, but I was pretty sure we could fit. At the last minute, I noticed there was a huge crack in the sidewalk just before the bridge, so I tried to slow down as much as possible. Unfortunately, that made me go over the bump too slowly to control the bike easily, and my right back pannier hit the bridge wall. This knocked me off the sidewalk and into the road on my left. It was one of the more frightening events of the trip. Thankfully there were no cars at that moment because I was fully in the lane. I came away with a deep indent in my knee—the asphalt didn't puncture the top layer of my skin, but it did cut me underneath. My knee ached for the rest of the day, but otherwise I came away fine!

Enjoying Small Towns

We made it to the RV park we camped at in Globe, which was right next to downtown. The town was cute, and we took ourselves on a walking tour. Pretty much everything was closed because it was a Sunday evening, but we still enjoyed reading about the history of the once-bustling mining town and its buildings.

We'd ridden about 100 feet the next morning when I realized my back tire was flat. Doug got to work to try and find the culprit, but he couldn't figure out why it was suddenly so low on air. He pumped it back up, and we were on our way.

Most of the day was spent cycling through the San Carlos Apache Reservation, and we were feeling great when we made it to Bylas in time for lunch. There isn't much in Bylas, and we knew our camping options were at the police station or in the ten feet between the highway and the fence. We were sitting around by the one store in town trying to figure out whether or not we'd keep riding to the next town (35 miles away) when a pastor invited us to stay indoors at his church. He said he frequently hosts cyclists and other travelers—we were glad he spotted us!

What's Next

Most of you know about Border, the kitten we found in New Mexico. We found him the day we left Hachita, so he'll finally make his first appearance on the blog in the next post!

Follow my blog on Bloglovin, if that's your preferred blog reader.

#Arizona #Phoenix #Desert #BicycleTouring #SouthernTier #Travel