RR: A Bikepack About Nothing

**schillingsworth** · 03-07-2021, 11:57 PM

Rarely does Nothing add up to something, but last weekend not only added up to something, it far exceeded all of our expectations. Exploring is good for the soul, get on your bike and go. Anywhere, really. It doesn't have to be Nothing, but you may want to check it out.

Our plan was a 2+ day bikepack NW of Wickenburg on almost all dirt roads. We'd go by Alamo Lake, Kaiser Warm Spring and the funny placename of Nothing, AZ. We were treated to riding among Joshua trees all three days, found lots of old mining sites and most of the creeks were running well enough to filter water.

Full ride report is here with a truck load of pics: A Bikepack About Nothing

Robert & Mike lead it out on Alamo Rd. scattered with Joshua trees.

Full moon riding meant no need for lights on this wide, smooth dirt road. It was awesome out there and almost 30 miles of slightly downhill easy riding to get in the groove of the ride.

Took this shot at 2a using my Google Pixel 3a phone set to Night Shot. No filters. It was that bright.

Robert was so stoked to see the Santa Maria River flowing!!

Found the Magic Bus.

Climbing away from Alamo Lake on good jeep roads.

Most of the mines we came across weren't closed off, this one didn't go too far down the chute, but was cool to see.

The biggest of 3 natural arches we spotted along the route. Looks like it could be named Dogbone Arch.

Came across the newly-learned-about AZ Peace Trail. We overlapped about 6 or so miles of it.

Mike drops into Joshua tree canyon as we called it. We had no idea we'd see Joshua trees mingling with Saguaro, Ocotillo, Cholla and all the rest of the Sonoran Desert plants. It was amazing!!

Starting down a massive descent towards the Big Sandy River seen in the left distance.

We had to improvise a bit, but the Big Sandy River provided a great riding path, right down the middle of it.

To be continued...

**schillingsworth** · 03-07-2021, 11:58 PM

...Continuing

Not a lot going on here.

Met a bunch of locals.

Camped near Kaiser Warm Spring. So relaxing after a long day in the saddle.

Making our way towards US93. Most of the sandy bits were rideable, the walking ones weren't too long.

Found an area of slickrock to play around on.

Active windmill on a windy Sunday was pumping groundwater to a nearby overflow tank. We gladly topped off. Thankfully, the wind wasn't much of an issue, believe it or not, mostly a tailwind!!

A lot to do about Nothing.

We wisely cut a couple miles of heinous looking 4x4 road off the route for a quick zip down the shoulder of US93.

Back along the Santa Maria River, connecting to our final climb back to the start.

Massive Joshua trees return.

One final bit of powerline riding in the fading light. Again, we rode three or four powerline segments and all were really good. A true anomaly in AZ!!

This route definitely rides best in the clockwise direction. Strava link.

These 2-3 day rides of late have been an absolute blast!!

**springsproject** · 03-08-2021, 06:54 AM

Looks like a great route. I'm living vicariously through these bikepack TR's lately.

**huckbucket** · 03-08-2021, 07:16 AM

So awesome! Thanks for sharing.

**climberevan** · 03-08-2021, 09:20 AM

Very cool!

**chaka** · 03-08-2021, 01:59 PM

always love your stuff Schillingsworth! thanks for capturing and sharing. Also like the Coors jersey

**geomorph** · 03-08-2021, 02:03 PM

Nice pictures, I can't read the captions on desktop though.

**jacob_dbu** · 03-08-2021, 02:32 PM

Talk to me about your rig! Looks awesome, the rig, the landscape, the trip, all of it.

**bennymac** · 03-08-2021, 03:25 PM

Nicely done - thanks for posting the stoke!

**schillingsworth** · 03-08-2021, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by thejongiest

Talk to me about your rig! Looks awesome, the rig, the landscape, the trip, all of it.

The rig is a Binary Bicycles SSP Ti 29er that I've been doing a long demo with. Taking it out on the AZT300 this Thursday. The bike can be geared or singlespeed, 29 or 27.5. It's more than likely going to be my next ride.