Arizona, South Mountain Park, Pants Hats and Mountain Lions

A business trip to Arizona offered the opportunity for a ride and a chance to check another state off the Frizbo Fifty list.  Typically I plan to arrive the evening before a meeting, but instead I booked the earliest flight out of O'Hare and started researching biking possibilities in the Phoenix area.

My first concern was the weather forecast, 105 degrees in Phoenix!  I know they say "It's a dry heat," but to a mid-westerner 105 degrees is intimidating.  I imagined cramping up 15 miles from the car and wandering the desert wearing a pants hat.  I learned later that the locals don't get worried until the temperature hits 110 degrees.

I narrowed my research down to two bike trips.  The first required a two-hour car drive to Prescott, AZ where the temperatures were expected to be in the 80's or a short drive from the airport to South Mountain Park in Phoenix where the 80's would be the day's low.

At 16,500 acres, Phoenix’s South Mountain Park is the largest municipal park in the world and features over 60 miles of single track.  After a phone call to the very helpful staff at Cactus Adventures who assured me, yes 105 was warm but my death was unlikely if I drank plenty of fluids, I reserved a mountain bike for 10am in the morning.

Surprisingly my flight from Chicago was early and I was in the rent-a-car and on my way to the bike rental.  I made a quick stop for a Subway sandwich and 3 quarts of Gatorade -- the first of which I chugged immediately.  "Man, I better get hydrated!"  The guys at Cactus Adventures had my 29er ready and gave me a trail map, a fill-up on my water bottle, and directions to the trail head.   

"Whew, 105 degrees!"

After a 5-minute bike ride from the bike rental, I bushwacked through a wash and onto the Desert Classic Trail.  The heat was intense, but the bike generated just enough of a breeze to keep me cool as long I was not going uphill.  But as soon as the path climbed, slowing me down, I felt like I entered a furnace.  Fortunately, the Desert Classic Trail is generally level and as I acclimated, I started to really enjoy the ride.

Rented 29er in the Sonoran Desert

I must not have made much of an impression with the rentals guys because after only 45 minutes I reach the landmark they suggested as a turn-around point.  Too soon to go back.  At the top of the ridge is the National Trail but the climb looks really difficult on the map, so I decide to explore the Telegraph Pass Trail which also shows some elevation (route) and see how far I can get.  Before long I am carrying the bike up a natural staircase and really feeling the heat.

I am reminded of another desert excursion in the Anza-Borrego Desert a few years back.  On that occasion I was hiking by myself on a secluded trail.  At the trail head was an ominous sign warning that all hikers should drink a gallon of water every 5 minutes (as interpreted by a mid-westerner).  So I start chugging water and continue on my hike.  After a half mile or so there's another sign warning that this is mountain lion habitat.   If you are approached by a lion, make yourself look big, make loud noises and if attacked, fight back.  So I continue hiking, chugging water and now am continuously scanning the mountainside and boulders for an ambush.  By this time I am massively over-hydrated and I need to relieve myself, but that will provide the lion a perfect opportunity for a surprise attack!

Looking back, I obviously overreacted.  As it was springtime, the temperatures were relatively mild so I didn't need so much water and if any mountain lion was watching me, they would have been frightened off by the odd behavior of this strange human stopping every quarter mile and peeing in a 360 degree pattern while holding one arm over his head and shouting, "That's right! That's right! I'm BAAAAD!"

Today, the fluids are going pretty quickly.  I have already consumed the two quarts of Gatorade in my backpack and am down to my 20 oz. water bottle.  I have climbed quite a distance up Telegraph Pass, but it still looks like it might be a long way to the top.  I can tell from the map there's a park road at the top of the ridge and from there it's a downhill ride to the ranger station and water, but I'm not sure I can make it.  Just at the moment I'm about to give up, I see the roof of a car slide by above the rocks.  "That's not so far!"  One more push and I'm at the top!

Top of Telegraph Pass, South Mountain Park, AZ

The park road is a smooth two lane blacktop winding down the mountainside with no traffic.  After the climb, coasting with a nice breeze is magical.  I glide with barely a turn of the crank down the 5 miles to ranger station and right up to the drinking fountain -- no pants hat for me on this trip.

Cooling off on the way down!

The north side of the park offers fewer trails so I take to the roads to link up with the trails on the east side and then down on single track to the road back to the bike rental.  During the trip I consumed 128 ounces of Gatorade and 104 ounces of water and didn't pee once in 4 hours (circular or otherwise).  Say, it is a dry heat!

-- Frizbo 

South Mountain Park Route

State:	Arizona
Date:	2010-09-29
Route:	South Mountain Park, Phoenix, AZ
Distance:	34 miles

Indiana, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Oak Savannah Trail, IN

On a beautiful day in early September I drove to Oak Ridge Prairie County Park near Griffith, IN.  I was anxious to get started so I mistakenly paid $10 for non-resident parking.  Later, I saw plenty of free parking outside the park.

Calumet Trail, IN

The country park is the trail head for the Oak Savannah Trail which goes 10 miles west to Hobart, IN.  From Hobart, you can catch the Prairie Duneland Trail for another 6 miles and then a short road ride gets you to the Calumet Trail which runs 9 miles along and through the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (route).  

Northern Indiana is surprisingly well-endowed with bike trails.  For example, from Griffith you can also go east on the Erie-Lackawanna Trail.  The trails are well-marked, but you'll want to print some Google maps of the roads between trails so you don't get delayed looking for the trail head.


A young girl in Hobart saw me consulting my map and helpfully explained, "The bike trail is by the Dairy Queen!"  I imagine the Dairy Queen is the center of her universe and all points are measured by the distance to the nearest Blizzard, but her hint was not helpful because I had no idea where the Dairy Queen was either.

Central Beach, Indiana Dunes

At the end of the Calumet Trail are a couple of nicest beaches anywhere.  Mount Baldy is a mountainous sand dune with beautiful views and a steep face perfect for running down, but if you don't want to carry your bike up sand dunes, you'll want to go to Central Beach at the end of Central Avenue.  A short walk from the end of the payment gets you to the water and Central Beach rarely has the crowds and litter you'll find at the nearby state park.

On this day, the sun was out and the wind had pushed in all the warm surface water into the shore so it should have been an ideal day for swimming.  However, the big storms from the day before has kicked up the waves -- I mean they were rocking! -- and despite a fairly large crowd at the beach, no one was in the water.

Central Beach, Indiana Dunes

As I ate my lunch, a group of twenty-somethings came along and immediately headed into the water.  As I watched them enter the waves I wondered if they were swept out to sea by a riptide would they know to swim parallel to the shore to escape the outgoing current?  With the possibility that they would futilely swim against the riptide, I contemplated a rescue plan of creating a flotation device by filling my spare inner tube with my portable CO2 pump.

I learned about riptides first hand during a family vacation to North Carolina in 2006.  We had rented a beach house on the Outer Banks and we were hoping to perfect our boogie boarding skills.  It was a good time for boogie boarding as Tropical Storm Beryl was 150 miles due east and the surf was up.  We had scouted the beach for the spot with the biggest waves and were really enjoying ourselves when we heard a faint "Help! Help!"

At first we didn't understand what was happening until we saw a girl swimming in who was obviously upset.  I then realized that there were many people out beyond the breakers calling out for help.  I told Matt and Lauren to get the rest of our floaties (we had quite a collection by then) and I immediately swam out with the raft.

I first came upon a young girl, maybe 11 years old, swimming in while crying.  I gave her my raft.  Next I came upon a boy, a few years younger, and attempted to rescue him with a life-saving stoke I learned in Junior Life Saving years ago.  That proved useless.  I realized I couldn't do anything without the raft the girl was swimming away with.

"Wait," I called out.  "We need the raft."  She hesitated and then kept going.  I asked the boy, "What's your sister's name?"

"Michelle," he answered and then we both called, "Michelle, wait!"  Finally, she stopped and waited for us.  Probably one of the bravest things she's ever done.  When I got them both on the raft, the boy turned to me and said, "Please save my dad, he's a really nice guy."  The girl just continued to cry.

North Carolina's Outer Banks on a calm day

I looked out to sea and saw just a head bobbing in the big waves well offshore.  He looked like he was struggling. I knew I couldn't do anything without a raft, so I told the kids we'd have to get him together.  The kids were brave as we paddled back out.  As we got closer, I could see his head going under water with each wave. "Hold on one more time! You can do it!" I called out.

Finally we reached him with the raft.  As we paddled in, the father said with desperation in his voice, "Don't leave us."

When we were within shouting distance of the shore, Mona called out, also with desperation in her voice, "Matt and Lauren are still out in the surf."

"Crap, while I'm saving this family, my own children are drowning," I thought.

It turned out after I left Matt and Lauren at the beach, they had collected the remaining floaties and headed out to do their own rescuing -- Lauren with the River Rat inner tube and Matt with two boogie boards.

As a rescuer swam by Lauren, she offered him the inner tube, "You're a faster swimmer than me."  He accepted the raft and later we saw him bring four people back to the beach with it.

Moments after giving up the tube, Matt arrived with the extra boogie board for Lauren and that's how I found them -- calmly paddling in on the boogie boards.

Back on the sand, I asked one of the rescued teenagers if they swam out too far.  "No," he answered. "We were just pushed out into deep water!"  A classic description of a rip current!  A few minutes later the beach patrol arrived.  In the end, no one was hurt.  If we count the four people on the inner tube, the Frisbies saved seven lives that day.

The Outer Banks sand was too hot for this pampered dog's paws!

Looking back, I think the sister and brother probably would have made it back to shore on their own, but the dad was in real trouble.  I also learned that you can't save anyone without some kind of flotation device which is why I was contemplating filling my spare inner tube with my portable CO2 pump.

Back at the Indiana Dunes, after 15 minutes of watching the young people have the most amazing time among the waves without being swept away, I stripped down to my biker shorts, and took the last swim of the summer.  

-- Frizbo 

State:	Indiana
Date:	2010-09-04
Route:	Griffin to Indiana Dunes, Central Beach
Distance:	60 miles