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| My Setup using the Aero Spider Rack! I even had full use of my dropper. |
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| Link to Trailforks map of route |
A few weeks later Yoko and Ko who were on the 101 backpacking trip with me were planning a three day bikepacking trip. I saw there post on the facebook group Arizona Bikepackers. I sent her message asking her about their plans and that I was interested in joining them. We had about two weeks to plan. They had dates in mind but no route or any other plan. March 20-22. I put in PTO at work and we started planning. Ko and Yoko almost gave up on their bikepacking idea and were just going to go ride in sedona for a few days. I said we can do this! We quickly decided on the Maricopa trail. This is an urban route around Phoenix, AZ that connects our county parks. Some of it is remote but a lot of it is urban and within reach of services. I know the western part of the trail because my in-laws live right off the trail! We decided we would start at Spur Cross trailhead and head west. This would allow us to complete the most challenging section on day one. On day two and three we would have a lot of canals/road. It also would give us hopefully good places to camp. I mapped out a 100 mile route really doubting we would do all of that route. I figured we would maybe do about 80 miles total. But I put it out there! We didn't have a big plan of where we were going to camp each night. I just had a general idea of where we should camp. I also started looking for grocery stores and food along the route. We would have lots of options. John Schilling did the entire Maricopa Trail and all of the spur trails last year. We used his blog post as inspiration and it was helpful with insight on where to maybe stop to refuel and camp.
Heidi and I were talking the week of the trip! She wanted to join in. She had less than a week to get ready. A trip that Yoko and Ko didn't think they could do was now coming together. All of us were new to bikpacking but ready for the adventure. Our only trip was just a few weeks earlier. But we learned from the best and we figured no better way to figure things out other than to just get out there and do it!
With Creative loading we were able to get all of our bikes and gear into Yoko's Van. We were thankful her friend offered to shuttle us up to the spur cross trailhead. After fueling up on coffee at Local Johny's we were ready to head out on this adventure.
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| Spur Cross Trailhead: We are all set and ready to embark on this three day adventure. |
We hit the single track right away with a challenging climb. Two people on the trail recognized us from John's blog post about our biking 101 trip a few weeks earlier. It was fun chatting with them for a few minutes. John was following our Garmin live track and giving us tips along the way. The four of us were on this adventure but we had a lot of help along the way to make it a success.
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| Heidi rolling over one of many gates |
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| Heidi's setup |
We all rocked the same rear rack! It works great for especially for small and XS frames. All four of us can't use seat bags due to clearance. To close to the back tire. So these racks work great.
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| Ko's Set up |
Ko and Yoko both were on VK enduro bikes. They rocked it. The best bikepacking bike is the one you have! Be creative and make it work if you want to get out there and explore.
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| Yoko's set up! |
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| Top of spur cross climb. One of my favorite viewpoints |
We were happy to be at the top of the Spur Cross climb. About 2 miles of a rocky climb. Much different on loaded bikes! But the view is amazing at the top.
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| Ko and Yoko navigating another gate! |
I thought the challenging trail was behind us as we headed into New River. We headed up a climb with a lot of hike a bike. I tumbled down the hill on the other side. The sky was getting dark. It wasn't supposed to rain. I started really second guessing leaving all my rain gear behind including my hammock rain fly. I love my adventure buddies. They quickly figured out we could all crash in two tents if needed. As we were trying to outbike the storm Ko crashed hard in a wash. Got her bandaged up and headed into Anthem for lunch.
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| One of many stops to re-adjust our gear. We were all still dialing in our setups. Look at those dark ominous clouds. I won't leave my rain gear behind ever again! |
After lunch we headed to Fry's to get more bandages for Ko. I was getting frustrated that it took so long to get our check and we were stopped a long time. Blessing in disguise. The sky opened up and it poured. We stood outside Fry's under the awning thankful we weren't riding in the rain. Next time my rain gear is coming with me no matter what the weather is showing! We were stopped so long John checked in with us to make sure we were ok since our little dot on the garmin live wasn't moving. We finally headed back out and found a perfect spot to camp somewhere between Anthem and Lake Pleasant. I even found a tree to hang my hammock. I hung it in one big tree! These girls know how to end a long day on the bike. Lots of laughs and toasts around the fire!
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So many laughs and good times around the fire! Best way to end the day. Chears! |
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I can't believe I chanced finding trees to hang my hammock in the desert. So happy I made it work. I couldn't find two trees next two each other. After a lot of attempts I was able to hang it in one tree! |
The next day we headed out towards lake pleasant. Ko's friend was our next trail angel with mcdonalds! He helped tighten our racks on our bikes and we adjusted gear. I even ate mcdonalds. I had the inside of an sausage egg mcmuffin. It has been probably 25 years since I had mcdonalds but it tasted good!
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Chowing down on McDonalds. |
One nice thing about doing an urban route is your have great options to refuel along the way. We stopped at Sprouts in Peoria for lunch. Just after lunch we ran into narly wind. I felt like I wasn't even moving. We had to stop a lot to give ourselves a break from the wind. These girls are amazing. Not even a peep about giving up. We just pushed on into the wind. We had one goal in mind and that was to make it near white tanks. One reason was because we were currently in a very urban area and not a place you wanted to camp for the night. I couldn't believe we did it. After a super long day in the wind we made it about a 1/2 mile from the park. We scoped for a place to camp and after a mile or so we finally found a great place. I had an awesome tree to hang my hammock in. I can't believe a was able to sleep in my hammock both nights in the dessert. Good thing since I didn’t bring my tent! It was so windy I was afraid my hammock was going to flip with me in it. Thankfully that did not happen. John again helped out by watching the weather. He gave us intel that we shouldn't have much wind the next day. I was so thankful to get that news. I wasn't looking forward to anymore crazy wind.
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| Heidi trying to shield herself from the wind and eat dinner. Camp the second night. |
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| The sunsets were amazing. This was my camp the second night. Found two awesome trees to hang my hammock. Perfect. I slept so good. |
The next morning we had a couple bikers come through as we were packing up. We heard them same as they rode by "wow never seen anyone camp here before." We just laughed! Such a pretty time of year in Arizona. We saw some amazing wildflowers along the route especially in whitetanks. We got some water in the park and then coming going. My in-law's live about 6 miles outside of the whitetanks right on the Maricopa trail. It was a great stop. They were amazed by our set ups. My father in law cooked us hot dogs and we polished off a bag of chips!! It was a great stop to refuel.
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| I loved all the wildflowers |
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| Bikes all lined up at my in-laws. They loved seeing our setups. |
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| My father-in-law jumped into action and made us costco hotdogs for lunch. The best! |
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Marcia and Cary my in-laws. I think they thought we were crazy but I enjoyed sharing my adventure with them. |
I wasn't a fan of all the miles that followed. Lots of urban riding with lots of streets. It was also getting hot. This was our hottest day out of the three. We were trying to find any shade we could. Finally we reached Estrella Park. I didn't want to leave the air conditioning inside the little giftshop. The cold gatorade hit the spot. The hilly trails of Estrella were challenging with tired legs and loaded bikes but I really liked the area. I have never been on that side of the part and want to go back soon. Our end point was near. We could see Phoenix Raceway as we climbed up the last hill. I couldn't believe it we were ahead of schedule. Originally I had us ending at Phoenix Raceway. I was skeptical we would make it there. I should have never doubted this group for a second! Not only did we make it there but now we were ahead of our ride! We were shy of 100 miles at that point. I am so glad Heidi pushed us forward to complete 100 miles. We called Yoko's friend and changed our pick up place. We quickly did an audible and continued down the maricopa trail. This part of the route I didn't have mapped out so had to do some route finding with trail forks. I am so glad we did. It was amazing and perfect trails to end out three day trip with. This was the first time I had biked through Tres Rios Wetlands. I couldn't believe we were still in Phoenix. It was like another World. The trails were flat and perfect to end on.
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| Almost done but had to take some more pictures. Crazy wetlands in the middle of a desert! |
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| Well earned margaritas. Enjoying dinner at Los Dos Molinos on our way home! |
So glad the four of us decided to embark on this adventure. We learned so much in the planning and the execution. So many laughs on the maricopa trail! I can't wait till the next time.
