wing, I saddled up for a mountain bike ride on the local forest roads. That didn't last long, however, 
as I realized within the first two miles of uphill that there was something seriously wrong with my rear derailleurs and I had to abort. Here's a picture of me staring at my useless bike in dismay. I had intended to stay another night, but sitting huddled in my campsite trying to keep warm wearing every piece of clothing I own didn't sound appealing and I left for warmer altitudes.
This turned out to be the best decision of the day. As if drawn by a higher force, I made my way to the Cave Creek/Seven Springs area northeast of Phoenix. To get there from Prescott, one drives south down Hwy 17 and then through an upscale housing community called Carefree. The land along Hwy 17, by the way, is sandwiched between the Castle Creek Wilderness and Tonto National Forest and is one of the most dramatic and scenic strips of road I've ever traveled. It is almost completely undeveloped and features typical Sonoran desert backed up by towering peaks. With all of the development in the Phoenix area, I hope that this area continues to be protected.
Seven Springs flows through the southwestern tip of Tonto Nat'l Forest and is a traditional spot for Phoenicians since the 19th century to visit and get a respite from the torrid summer heat. In the 30's, the Conservation Corps built two campsites on its shores which access an amazing set of multi-use trails. I picked a nice looking site and spent the afternoon making some necessary repairs to the bike. The weather was considerably better here and I was able to shed a few layers.
Morning broke clear and warm and with a mended ride (and ego), I set off to
discover the local scene, backcountry style. I pedaled out on Trail#4 and rode a loop that proved to be a nice three hour tour. (chorus) A three hour tour. The path with the boring name turned out to be an extremely exciting ride. Everything is singletrack here, not too steep, and with plenty of twists and obstacles to test the skills. Coming back and somewhat tired, I misjudged a turn badly and in a natural reaction to mitigate the fall, I slid the bike and put my left hand down to protect my body. Unfortunately, a cactus got in the way. It took a good 15 minutes to remove the needles that the thing had spit into my arm. Let's just say that this suburban California boy now has some respect for desert foliage....and a love of Seven Springs.
Nursing my wounds, I left the Cave Creek area and backtracked through Carefree to Phoenix. I am not a big fan of luxury housing developments but Carefree is so unique (to me) that I stopped several times to gawk at some of the hundreds of futuristic looking, southwestern-style homes that have been built in the rolling desert hills below Lone Mountain. The communities are guarded so I couldn't get close enough for a good picture of the really huge homes dug straight into the rock of the hills. I'm sure the 14 layers of dirt
on my body had something to do with the guard's reluctance to let me in to look around but the accompanying picture presents a good example of how most of the "smaller" pueblos look. One thing I liked about Carefree was that despite the gaudy development, the surrounding natural landscape has been almost entirely preserved and the area has a very natural feel and is full of life. It is in contrast to many other luxury developments I've seen before that contain houses which do not blend with the land at all and sit on lots which have been intentionally cleared of the natural surroundings that make the places so beautiful in the first place. Clock the dizzough, git tha hizzouse for shizzow.
I meandered my way through Phoenix to Tempe (near ASU) where I shacked up in the local Motel 6 to put the pieces back together. Tempe, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Glendale, and many other local townships all run together into one huge sprawl that is the greater Phoenix area. It is a spread-out town but a comfortable one which is well managed. What was most encouraging to me was that the open space near to the city and available for recreation is plentiful and easy to get to. White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Estrella Mountain Regional Park, South Mountain Park, McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Buckeye Hills Recreation Area, the Hieroglyphic Mountains, Tonto National Forest and three (can you believe it!) U.S. Wilderness Areas are within 30-60 minutes of central Phoenix. It is a literal playground for the adventurous.
I made two separate mountain bike forays at South Mountain Park and I couldn't get enough of the superb trails there. South Mountain is obviously dear to the locals because it was full of people. Hikers and bikers alike were out there in
droves enjoying the sunny and cool (to them) 90° days when I visited. Luckily the park is so big that it swallows up the crowds and solitude is not too hard to find. Not that I need it cause I'm starting to talk to myself. The trails are rated by difficulty and many are technical singletrack, some of it expert only. In the photo, the Phoenix skyline sits behind me as I pose from a vantage point on the Mormon Trail. I don't think you can see the skyline, though, because inexpensive digital imaging cannot capture distant details very well.
Before I left town I managed to catch a little nightlife on the ASU campus. I'm not too fond of rolling into a bar on a Saturday night alone in a strange town but I had to mix it up a little. Traveling alone gives me freedom and lots of time to contemplate life but it does have a downside. Knowing little of the area, I sought out some live music and went to the Green Room to see Jesus Chrysler Supercar, a local band that, well, will probably be staying local. The Green Room is not your typical college bar and the Tempe area rocker denizens far outnumbered the co-eds and football players there. I ended up plowing through about 5 Heinekens with this seriously strung-out dude named George that I met. I think we talked about the good old days when there were real bands like the Crüe, Ozzy and Tesla to bang to. (Williamson, don't deny your past.) I ended up bypassing The Rig in favor of a taxi to get back to the idyllic freeway-bordering RV park where I had set down my tent for this particular evening. Don't drink and drive, and keep the fo' from crashin'.
I wish I could have stayed a little longer in Phoenix proper, but the call of the wild pulled me out. As I said, one doesn't have to go far from the city here to be back full-force into nature. I stopped on my way out of Tempe and Mesa to enjoy a Sunday
afternoon in McDowell Mountain Regional Park. McDowell is in a Sonoran desert setting and is really breathtaking (except for portions that were burned badly in a 1995 wildfire). One thing that I never realized before visiting Arizona is how alive the desert is. Even in my photo (at right) of a typical area near McDowell Park, the land looks pretty lifeless. But when you walk around in it, observe it and camp a few nights there, it presents quite a show. Huge Saguaro cacti house tons of birds, coyotes yip and howl at night and flowers bloom amid the scrub. I paid my $15 (outrageous) to camp at one of the sites in McDowell, about busted my hands trying to get tent stakes into the rocky soil, and watched the sun set over the desert.
In the morning, I discovered another enticing aspect of McDowell: the competitive track. The Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department has been very progressive in providing open space use and availability for the various and often conflicting activities in which people desire to participate. Some places are for controlled hiking and riding. The competitive track is built for speed. Runners, bikers and horseback riders are all invited but on this trail, faster must yield to slower. I've never seen anything like it and I couldn't leave without a try! Luckily on a Monday morning, no one else was there and I was able to run the track without fear of being mowed down from behind. It was a good thing, too, because I came out of the starting gate imagining that I was Johnny X-Racer only to hit the wall hard about 2 miles in. I just dogged my way through the last half of the 8 mile loop. I'm sure that I was on pace to shatter the course record through the first ten turns, though. Very, very fun.
Onward to Tonto!
as I realized within the first two miles of uphill that there was something seriously wrong with my rear derailleurs and I had to abort. Here's a picture of me staring at my useless bike in dismay. I had intended to stay another night, but sitting huddled in my campsite trying to keep warm wearing every piece of clothing I own didn't sound appealing and I left for warmer altitudes.This turned out to be the best decision of the day. As if drawn by a higher force, I made my way to the Cave Creek/Seven Springs area northeast of Phoenix. To get there from Prescott, one drives south down Hwy 17 and then through an upscale housing community called Carefree. The land along Hwy 17, by the way, is sandwiched between the Castle Creek Wilderness and Tonto National Forest and is one of the most dramatic and scenic strips of road I've ever traveled. It is almost completely undeveloped and features typical Sonoran desert backed up by towering peaks. With all of the development in the Phoenix area, I hope that this area continues to be protected.
Seven Springs flows through the southwestern tip of Tonto Nat'l Forest and is a traditional spot for Phoenicians since the 19th century to visit and get a respite from the torrid summer heat. In the 30's, the Conservation Corps built two campsites on its shores which access an amazing set of multi-use trails. I picked a nice looking site and spent the afternoon making some necessary repairs to the bike. The weather was considerably better here and I was able to shed a few layers.
Morning broke clear and warm and with a mended ride (and ego), I set off to
discover the local scene, backcountry style. I pedaled out on Trail#4 and rode a loop that proved to be a nice three hour tour. (chorus) A three hour tour. The path with the boring name turned out to be an extremely exciting ride. Everything is singletrack here, not too steep, and with plenty of twists and obstacles to test the skills. Coming back and somewhat tired, I misjudged a turn badly and in a natural reaction to mitigate the fall, I slid the bike and put my left hand down to protect my body. Unfortunately, a cactus got in the way. It took a good 15 minutes to remove the needles that the thing had spit into my arm. Let's just say that this suburban California boy now has some respect for desert foliage....and a love of Seven Springs.Nursing my wounds, I left the Cave Creek area and backtracked through Carefree to Phoenix. I am not a big fan of luxury housing developments but Carefree is so unique (to me) that I stopped several times to gawk at some of the hundreds of futuristic looking, southwestern-style homes that have been built in the rolling desert hills below Lone Mountain. The communities are guarded so I couldn't get close enough for a good picture of the really huge homes dug straight into the rock of the hills. I'm sure the 14 layers of dirt
on my body had something to do with the guard's reluctance to let me in to look around but the accompanying picture presents a good example of how most of the "smaller" pueblos look. One thing I liked about Carefree was that despite the gaudy development, the surrounding natural landscape has been almost entirely preserved and the area has a very natural feel and is full of life. It is in contrast to many other luxury developments I've seen before that contain houses which do not blend with the land at all and sit on lots which have been intentionally cleared of the natural surroundings that make the places so beautiful in the first place. Clock the dizzough, git tha hizzouse for shizzow.I meandered my way through Phoenix to Tempe (near ASU) where I shacked up in the local Motel 6 to put the pieces back together. Tempe, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Glendale, and many other local townships all run together into one huge sprawl that is the greater Phoenix area. It is a spread-out town but a comfortable one which is well managed. What was most encouraging to me was that the open space near to the city and available for recreation is plentiful and easy to get to. White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Estrella Mountain Regional Park, South Mountain Park, McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Buckeye Hills Recreation Area, the Hieroglyphic Mountains, Tonto National Forest and three (can you believe it!) U.S. Wilderness Areas are within 30-60 minutes of central Phoenix. It is a literal playground for the adventurous.
I made two separate mountain bike forays at South Mountain Park and I couldn't get enough of the superb trails there. South Mountain is obviously dear to the locals because it was full of people. Hikers and bikers alike were out there in
droves enjoying the sunny and cool (to them) 90° days when I visited. Luckily the park is so big that it swallows up the crowds and solitude is not too hard to find. Not that I need it cause I'm starting to talk to myself. The trails are rated by difficulty and many are technical singletrack, some of it expert only. In the photo, the Phoenix skyline sits behind me as I pose from a vantage point on the Mormon Trail. I don't think you can see the skyline, though, because inexpensive digital imaging cannot capture distant details very well.Before I left town I managed to catch a little nightlife on the ASU campus. I'm not too fond of rolling into a bar on a Saturday night alone in a strange town but I had to mix it up a little. Traveling alone gives me freedom and lots of time to contemplate life but it does have a downside. Knowing little of the area, I sought out some live music and went to the Green Room to see Jesus Chrysler Supercar, a local band that, well, will probably be staying local. The Green Room is not your typical college bar and the Tempe area rocker denizens far outnumbered the co-eds and football players there. I ended up plowing through about 5 Heinekens with this seriously strung-out dude named George that I met. I think we talked about the good old days when there were real bands like the Crüe, Ozzy and Tesla to bang to. (Williamson, don't deny your past.) I ended up bypassing The Rig in favor of a taxi to get back to the idyllic freeway-bordering RV park where I had set down my tent for this particular evening. Don't drink and drive, and keep the fo' from crashin'.
I wish I could have stayed a little longer in Phoenix proper, but the call of the wild pulled me out. As I said, one doesn't have to go far from the city here to be back full-force into nature. I stopped on my way out of Tempe and Mesa to enjoy a Sunday
afternoon in McDowell Mountain Regional Park. McDowell is in a Sonoran desert setting and is really breathtaking (except for portions that were burned badly in a 1995 wildfire). One thing that I never realized before visiting Arizona is how alive the desert is. Even in my photo (at right) of a typical area near McDowell Park, the land looks pretty lifeless. But when you walk around in it, observe it and camp a few nights there, it presents quite a show. Huge Saguaro cacti house tons of birds, coyotes yip and howl at night and flowers bloom amid the scrub. I paid my $15 (outrageous) to camp at one of the sites in McDowell, about busted my hands trying to get tent stakes into the rocky soil, and watched the sun set over the desert.In the morning, I discovered another enticing aspect of McDowell: the competitive track. The Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department has been very progressive in providing open space use and availability for the various and often conflicting activities in which people desire to participate. Some places are for controlled hiking and riding. The competitive track is built for speed. Runners, bikers and horseback riders are all invited but on this trail, faster must yield to slower. I've never seen anything like it and I couldn't leave without a try! Luckily on a Monday morning, no one else was there and I was able to run the track without fear of being mowed down from behind. It was a good thing, too, because I came out of the starting gate imagining that I was Johnny X-Racer only to hit the wall hard about 2 miles in. I just dogged my way through the last half of the 8 mile loop. I'm sure that I was on pace to shatter the course record through the first ten turns, though. Very, very fun.
Onward to Tonto!
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