Arizona Trail - Passage 14 - Tiger Mine Rd to Freeman Rd
December 17-18, 2013
Let me preface this by saying I did not enjoy much about this passage on The Arizona Trail. Very difficult with a fully loaded bike, not maintained at all, hard to follow the trail in many sections and not a well designed passage in my opinion. Almost 30 miles with roughly 4,000 feet of elevation gain.
Passage 14 is shown in RED. On the left is the 24HOP course for an idea of location. Scott Morris' TOPOFUSION was used to generate the map. What a terrific piece of software:-)
Dick Bryant wanted to see part of this passage and thought he would ride along for the first 10 miles or so then turn around and head back to his vehicle. Little did he know:-) The Trail Head is about 1.5 miles north of HWY 77 just outside of Oracle, AZ. Virtually impossible to miss if you drive in far enough on Tiger Mine Road.
Looking north, just about a mile or so into the ride. We are headed about 28 miles out there. Fairly barren, understatement, and most certainly in the middle of no friggin where.
Off in the distance you can begin to make out Antelope Peak. The Freeman Road destination is just past Antelope Peak.
This was taken shortly before Dick decided to return to his vehicle. It took us way longer to go in 5 miles than we had anticipated. Much of the trail in the first 1/2 is full of steep switchbacks covered in 4-6 inch rolling rocks (baby heads), dropping into washes, followed by equally steep exits from the washes heading to the next climb. Lots of hike-a-bike so far.
Along the route are several of these abandoned wells and storage tanks.
In the center, way off in the distance, is Antelope Peak. The end of this passage is just past that peak.
There are some really nice views but you certainly pay the price getting to them. Plenty of climbing to this point.
This is just before the big drop into the gigantic Bloodsucker Wash. You can see Antelope Peak in the distance. Yep, gotta climb up out of that bad boy wash. I hear that before the AZTrail you had to stay in that wash for many miles. That would really suck:-)
The only somewhat dependable water source on Passage 14 is Bee Hive. That assumes you want to treat the water before using. I carried almost 200 oz of water and used most of it.
Unfortunately, many of the Arizona Trail signs have been destroyed, knocked over or intentionally placed in misleading places. This is happening only where jeep roads cross the trail. Because the trail is faint in many places and does follow jeep roads on occasion, I got off trail several times. Only by checking the GPS was it possible to eventually get back on trail. I became pretty damn upset a couple of times. Learned to stop at virtually every crossing and investigate. This shot shows a downed sign.
My intention was to reach the Freeman Road water cache on day 1 and then use day 2 for the ride into Kelvin. Didn't happen. Camped at the end of day 1 about 7 miles short of the Freeman Road water cache. This was in the area of Antelope Peak, roughly 20 miles, a zillion times stopping to find the trail, many hike-a-bikes and a lot of frustration.
Early on the second morning, after deciding to start out in the dark, I reached the Freeman Road (also called Bakerville on some maps) water cache. I wanted to kiss it, not so much for the water as for what it represented, an exit point for me from the Arizona Trail! This cache is stocked mainly by the trail steward, Bev Showalter. It has/had around 10 gallon jugs of water inside.
I used the steel water cache as a table to heat up a much needed warm breakfast of Oatmeal and tea. Sat for awhile and decided my best option was to give up heading into Kelvin and instead ride to Dudleyville where Cathy (my very understanding wife) could pick me up.
Since returning I've spoken with several really good, seasoned, world class endurance bike packers. They are able to ride this passage and the next (passage 15 into Kelvin) in one day but not without some serious effort. While the experience was physically difficult, emotionally trying and extremely frustrating, I guess I'm glad I did it. Won't do it again and will not advise any of my friends to do it, but then again I'm not even close to world class.
