TR: Bikepacking Phoenix and the Gila River canyons

[evdog]

A friend of mine in Phoenix spent a couple years putting together a dirt loop from the east side of Phoenix up to the Hawes and Usery Mtn trail systems above the Salt River, through Gold Canyon and then over to the Arizona Trail for 40 miles before taking dirt roads back to finish the loop. He called it the Salty-Gila Tour. 220 miles of desert riding. He ran it last year in 3 days and they had to cut off some bits to save time. This year the plan was 4 days to allow for a more leisurey pace. I was able to join, along with fellow SoCal rider Chris doing his first bike pack. I bikepacked part of this loop (the Picketpost AZT segment) last year and was looking forward to getting back as well as check out singletrack in some local Phoenix networks.



John lives in Queen Creek which is south east of Mesa. Our day 1 started with 20 miles of neighborhood bike paths, canals and a bit of pavement to get us up to the first trails.

We would eventually be riding in the mountains in front of us here and camping south of the Superstitions which you see on the right. The canals were actually cool to ride along as there were tons of huge carp you would see lounging in the warm water.



We had to stop and do a lap at the Mesa bike park. It has a respectable pump track and skills area, plus 3 separate jump lines of increasing difficulty. The bigger one has some pretty legit gap jumps. Great to see more cities accepting this type of riding.



Soon enough we were at the Hawes trail system. I don't know the names of the trails we rode, there were a bunch we connected as we navigated east to Usery Mtn.



Got some nice views of Four Peaks



Pretty fun trail system that would be good for a few hours riding, with great scenery to boot





Chris climbing up the backside of Pass Mtn at Usery



We were warned the trail descending off Pass Mtn was pretty technical, and it lived up to that billing



We were able to ride most of it



But had to walk a few parts since we can't lower seats while using a rear seat bag





The Superstitions come into view. We will eventually traverse across the slope above the houses you can see below the mountains



We picked up some horse trails in Apache Junction that get us past a bunch of pavement



Then climb up into the Goldfields, a little known open space that will link into a couple trails and take us over to the base of the Superstitions. We are getting to the golden hour and still have close to 20 miles to go.



It was very cool back in there, aside from the existence of the road there was little sign of people



Back on singletrack



Last light



We had a couple segments of singletrack in the dark, then a bit of pavement and some doubletrack to get to our dinner stop, De La Cruz Mexican Grille. Great food, definitely a worthy stop. We hit up the shopping center next door for supplies for the next day and then had a short few miles up to our camping spot at Gold Canyon.



For me I think this was our hardest day (toughest climbing). Stats show 69mi, +4,400/-3,600. Got to ride some cool new-to-me trails though, so can't complain about that.

[evdog]

Day 2 would take us from Gold Canyon to mid point on the Arizona Trail. The original plan was to camp down by the Gila River but we changed that to camp up on a saddle overlooking Martinez Canyon. Part of the reason for the change was to avoid riding the most scenic part of the trail in the dark. The other reason was John & I both wanted to camp up there, hoping both sunrise and sunset would be awesome.

Waking up below the superstitions was awesome. Camping at a vortex for maximum karma points.







A bit of breakfast and we were off to ride some loops in Gold Canyon



Tucson has the tequila tree, Gold Canyon has a dead seguaro stuffed with whiskey bottles



The desert is nice and green right now





John had to stare down some longhorns and then talk them off the trail and out of our way



Saguaro squeeze



Gold canyon is one of the best trail networks in Phoenix, well worth it if you get the chance to ride it



dropping in





Micro moab



We get to ride a brand new trail just a month or so old which takes us to the back end of the trail system



From there it is onto dirt roads south toward the village of Queen Valley - lunch and our last re-supply



The golf course in Queen Valley had cold beers, cold cokes, and a hot dog stand. The small convenience store a block away had filtered water and most everything else we needed.


(pic by John)

There was a couple fast miles of pavement before jumping onto a forest road that took us past endless shooting areas. The dirt seemed to take forever but soon enough the shape of Picketpost mountain came into view.



And with that we were on the Arizona Trail



Late afternoon approaches. I don't think I have ever done this ride with clear skies



The sun tried to poke through but never really did.



So the hope of an amazing sunset over Martinez canyon was gone. Which was fine, since we wouldn't make it there until after dark anyways.



We just took our time and enjoyed the trail. This segment I think is in my top 5 rides for sure. A must do...





Last light...



I had packed a couple beers in my ice filled camelback which kept them nice and cold til we got to camp. Definitely worth the weight after a long hot day!

Stats for the day were 44mi, +3,950 / -2,600. For a shorter day the tough climb on the AZT at the end made it feel a lot harder than the numbers suggest.

[grinch]

had to check this after last yrs. good stuff......again. cool setups on the bikes

[joetron]

Duuuuude. This is awesome.

[Dantheman]

Those saguaros are straight up awesome. Sick!

[springsproject]

Sick!

[evdog]

Clouds persisted into Day 3 so there was no amazing sunrise. I don't mind because it would hopefully mean lower temps.

Our camp for night 2. There was little flat ground so Chris had put his tent up right on the trail. We assured him no one would be hiking up here overnight nor would anyone make it up this far on the trail before we were up and moving in the morning. But sure enough, before sunrise a couple backpackers came hiking through. They had camped about 1/2 mile away from us and had to set up camp on the trail too so were quite understanding.



Looking back up Martinez Canyon from just beyond camp. You can make out the trail we descended the night before


(pic by John)

For my money this is one of the most beautifully rugged areas anywhere







Beyond the final overlook we get the final descent to the Gila River







The sun peeks through briefly as we descend





We came across a few fallen saguaros. Time to start building roll-overs!



Great view of Dale's Butte, named for one of the original visionaries of the AZT





Our destination for tonite is the base of the rock outcropping in the distance. However, we will have to traverse 16 miles of AZT to the east first, then make our way back west where John is pointing



First things first though, filter water out of the Gila and have some breakfast. We would run into a couple other bikepackers from Durango here as well.



The segment of AZT along the Gila River is overlooked in favor of what we had ridden already this morning, but it offers some great singletrack and views too.



More saguaros



There are 3 main climbs on the segment which can suck depending on how your ride is going so far. It was nice to hit them with fresh legs for once.



Topping out the last climb above the Gila River Bridge



Wildflowers are starting to pop already



Rest stop and water fill at Wilson's trailer court. A spigot here is offered freely to AZT users



Beyond the rest stop it is a matter of a couple mile climb up AZT to the Kelvin trailhead then ~15miles of dirt road. 4.5 miles of which is a numbing climb up the Florence-Kelvin Highway. Chris triumphantly tops out the climb



Fortunately after that it is mostly downhill. We hit last light as we prepare for the final descent.





Lights on and we are off....



Stats for day3 are a seemingly easier 42mi, + 4,600 / -6,200

[alewi11]

Good stuff. I did about 20 miles on the AZ trail when I was down there in December. It's really nice riding.

[evdog]

Day 4 was one I was looking forward to.

The place we camped below is known as Area 52, an incredible rock playround I had read about many times. On the prior year's tour John & co had to take the bypass around it. We would not do that this year, and had a GPS track to help us navigate since there are no trails.

Camping down low in the brush meant we would waken in the shade. Should have known the presence of grass would make for a damp night and it turned out to be chilly and wet. We spent an hour or so drying out once the sun came up. Staying on the open wash may have kept us dryer but presence of nearby campers all with ATVs it seemed unwise, and sure enough around 10pm they came ripping up and down the wash.



Despite having a GPS track there was no obvious route up onto the rock. We picked the least sucky approach and scrambled up. Once 25-30 feet high things opened up.



After a couple false summits we got a good look at the place



Looking back east, we camped on the far side of the ridge



Looking north, you can make out Dale's Butte from day before



To say we rode Area 52 would not be entirely truthful. We rode sections, the rest of the time we had eyes on GPS trying to figure out how to navigate from one spine to another, crossing canyons and HABing down off plateaus. Here we stop dead at a steep drop off wondering where we missed a turn.


(pic by John)

We soon get back on course by HABing down a steep chute to another canyon bottom



The track took us up a rideable wash then took a hard right up. Wait, are you for real? John points out some of the sharp things to avoid...



I'm half convinced our source intentionally sent us up some random heinous ravine just to see if we were dumb enough to follow a track. I've always wanted to do that on Stava. But up we went. Chris's bike is so heavy John had to help him heave it over some of the rocks. This may be the nastiest hike a bike I've ever done, far steeper than it looks.



Up top we come to a cool waterfall



Time to refill



Things get more rideable up top. But don't let up your guard. John had a misstep off a rock ledge and shoulder-rolled a cactus before planting a hand on another



While the area looks rideable most spines and fingers of the rock end up at steep dropoffs, seemed like the route provided to us on GPS was the most efficient way around. Even with that the route was never obvious and there was always opportunity to find our own way



Final descent was the most rideable, open part


(pic by John)

Finally off the rock it is onto some rocky and sandy jeep road for the next while



Cruising under some trees along the Gila



A few turns and some short/steep climbs and we drop down to the Gila for a while longer



Crossing at the diversion dam



From there it was some pavement, dirt road and more pavement into Florence for lunch. Then more dirt road after. Rest stop W of Florence



There was some more dirt road and a bit of pavement over to San Tan Regional Park. We had to alter route where an old doubletrack into the park was now fenced and marked private property. We had to hoof it in up a crappy wash for a mile to get to the singletrack at dusk. From there it was all good...



Turns out John had been carrying a celabratory flask which he broke out at the top of the final climb



A local rider Arturo met us for the singletrack portion and was able to get the much needed group photo before the final descent



After that it was a fast 7 miles of pavement back to the start.

Stats for the last day were 58mi, +2100/-1650.

Total stats for the whole trip - 213mi, +/-14,600

I had ridden Gold Canyon and AZT Picketpost to Kelvin before and knew that those would be great. But the rest of the trip definitely exceeded my expectations. While days 1 and 4 had some canal/road riding that wasn't exciting there was a lot of roads that were really cool, remote and scenic. Being able to tie this into one big, mostly dirt loop is excellent to say the least. I would definitely do this route again. Hoping next time for an epic sunset/sunrise over Martinez Canyon though.

It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to put a route like this together. Big thanks to John for making it happen!

[406]

Very nice tr! I like the idea of bike packing and getting cold beer and yummy food at the end of the day. Love the shaka cactus.

[TBS]

Cool trip. Always meant to ride that area when daughter lived there...
Thanks for posting that up!

[jamal]

Awesome. I need to get some bikepacking gear together.

[TahoeBC]

Great trip report, thanks for taking the time to put it together

[WaistDeepGroomers]

YES! Righteous TR. Big effort to put together the content, so thanks for sharing. How was the experience climbing & handling with all that extra gear hanging around?

[rip]

Awesome tr! I really what to start doing rides like this with my fatty in AK this summer. Do you feel like you had everything you needed packed in the handelbar, frame, and seatpost bags? Or do you have to pack pretty light?