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