Big Sur - Mogollon Rim - Fredonyer Pass

[tytrike]

terry
South Surrey, near Vancouver BC
 
A trip :-)
Part I: my profile
Part II: the route
 
 Big Sur, CA to Fredonyer Pass, CA the longer way via Organ Pipes NM, AZ then Grand Canyon NP, AZ.
This will follow the season of Spring the enter loop, won't it?
 
Leave home on Tadpole and BOB trailer loaded from South Surrey, BC on March 19,2008
Drive Tadplole and trailer loaded into a rented one-way van in Bellingham, WA
Drive to Palo Alto into the care of family who on March 23, deposit all at Big Sur, California.
March 24, I start pedaling some 2500 miles over 80 days (more or less)
 
 Part I:  Following is a description of my ways.
 My ways seems to work out differently than described, usually better if well advised.
 
 It's  Trike-Packing (equivalent of Back-Packing) on a Tadpole pulling a BOB trailer.
    Single person,    Self-supporting,     Sleuth campsites 3 of 4 nights.
     Trip legs are 270 miles each, pedaling  6 out of 9 days ,   doing 45 mi.& 2500 foot rise / day  
 
YES TO:
Trikers knowledge about trike useable roads
    State, County, 3 numeral, Named, Land Management, Forest Service, National Parks, Indian Nations Lands.
    Light traffic (days)
    Maintained gravel OK but not forever.
    ANY HILL is OK, but levels before sunset..
Sturdy simple gear and kits [I'm OK]
    Apt for 3 Seasons and rain
    Full(er) repair kit
    Water for 3 days
Cyclists campsites (1 of 4 nights)(Battery charging)
Local secrets (like hot pools)
 
NO TO:
Pushing the loaded rig
Trike unuseable roads:
    Interstates and most US Highways
    Any RUMBLE strips
    High volume, narrow shoulders
    Rutted 2-track roads
Urban areas
Eating out
Motels.
 
Part II: Here goes 2500 miles
 
LEG 1
Big Sure to Guadalupe.  East over the Coast Mountains, touch the farms of the Central Valley and rise to Tehachape Pass, the south tip of Sierra Nevada
LEG 2
***** From Tehachapi, I think I should head for Joshua Tree National Park (NP) and hang-out there a day or two.
The East Slope of the San Bernadino Mountains appears to be highlyl populated = many roads and unkown campsites.
Barstow may be an alternative?
LEG 3
***** From leaving Joshual Tree to crossing the Colorado to Gila Bend, AZ before going south to Organ Pipes National Monument (NM),
no matter which route and roads, it looks like a compromise. Nothing strikes me as preferred or even desireable EXCEPT it is the Sonoran Desert.
LEGS 4 AND 5
***** Splitting between Tuscon and Phoenix  to Catalina, AZ, I'd be looking at one of the edges of the earth The Mogollon Rim.  
 From my hours on the internet exploring this phenomena, maybe I'll just stay there ... anyway I added one leg to my trip to just hang out .
From Eager to Strawberry, several roads access the crest, SR260 partially follows the crest, partially drops below.  It looks like a maintained Forest Service Road goes from Strawberry to Forest Lakes right on the crest.  I'm thinking sort of a figure-8, high and low, over its 100 miles length.
LEG 6
Then, say Show Low ,AZ  to the Pertrified Forest NP over the Painted Desert on Navajo Nation Lands to Grand Canyon
LEGS 7, 8, 9
The rest of this trip is like being home, only I'll get to places I want to be only had made choices to go other ways.
Kanab, UT - SR14 above Zion NP - Cedar City - Extraterrestial Hwy,NV - Tonopah - Austin - Lonliest Hwy - Pyramid Lake - Susanville - Fredonyer Pass. (North tip Sierra Nevada)
 
 
The ***** legs above need more clarity , especially getting to  Joshua Tree and Organ Pipes.
 
If you have trikers knowledge about 3-wheeler useable roads, features to visit, local secrets, good cyclist campsites NAND about roads to avoid, places to skip... might you let me know?
 
 
terry
South Surrey, near Vancouver BC
tytrike@telus.net
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 


__________

Terry
Rides West Deserts, Mountains

This message was edited by tytrike on 1-28-08 @ 8:08 AM

[roadrunner]

Terry,

Quite a trip you've got planned.  I replied to your 2/2/07 inquiry before seeing this one, so I'll pass on some more thoughts.  I live in southeast Arizona and have ridden or driven the roads I'll mention.

There are no good routes eastwardly from Organ Pipe NM.  AZ-86 has heavy traffic, with many RVs.  I wouldn't ride on it east of east of Three Points.  Unless you have a particular reason to go to Organ Pipe (such as to reach the Mexico border) I would skip it.  The terrain and vegetation (except for the Organ Pipe Cactus) are the same as much of SW Arizona.  Also, I'd advise against steath camping anywhere south of I-8 or Tucson, because of extensive traffic of drug smugglers and illegal aliens.

If Organ Pipe is one of your objectives, here's the route I'd take from there to get to the Mogollon Rim: AZ-85 to Gila Bend, Maricopa Road (paved) through Maricopa to Casa Grande, secondary roads to Florence, AZ-79 to AZ-77 (I've ridden all those), and AZ-77 to Globe.  That roundabout route avoids the steep climb, very heavy traffic, and tunnel on narrow US-60 between Florence Junction and Globe.  I can't imagine why that route is on the Southern Tier.

There are two routes to the Rim from Globe -- (1) AZ-77 to Show Low and (2) AZ-88, AZ-188, and AZ-87 to Payson (which I've ridden).  AZ-77 is 87 miles of essentially no civilization, except a store at the bottom of the Salt River Canyon, a steep 2,000 foot down-and-up mini-Grand Canyon about midway.  That would test your "any hill is okay" statement.  You can Google the canyon for a description.

The other route, past Roosevelt Lake, has much less climbing and scattered points of civilization.

The gravel road along the Rim, all in pine forest, between Strawberry and Forest Lakes has a few National Forest campgrounds, some of which have drinking water.

It's a long way from the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert to the Grand Canyon.  The Navaho Reservation contains vast distances between anything but very scattered dwellings and trading posts.  Most of the places named on the map have little or nothing.  Getting to the Grand Canyon from Cameron is a 32-mile, 3,000 foot climb.  For a less grueling and more scenic route, I suggest you consider skipping the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert and riding from the Rim to Flagstaff, via Mormon Lake, then take US-180 and AZ-64 to the canyon.  The time saved would enable you to take in Zion and Bryce Canyon NPs (both spectacular) in Utah enroute to Cedar City (and make the ride to Cameron downhill).  Getting to Kanab from Cameron is about 170 miles of desert on US-89, with services only at Page, or about the same distance and 4,000 feet of climbing to Jacob Lake, followed by a great downhill.

Once in Utah, US-89 is a great riding road all the way to Provo.  

I've gone on way too long.  If you've got any questions, e-mail me.