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Biking Off Road in Green Valley: DeAnza Trail 4

 

Dawn breaks over the pecan grove on the east side of the Santa Cruz River as I start my ride from my first official DeAnza trailhead. There's an interpretive sign and everything.

 
Artist's rendering of DeAnza's expedition and the real Elephant Head Rock in the background. 

Trail markers lead me south, through desert scrub and riparian areas--washes, arroyos, and what not.

 
The Santa Rita Mountains and trail marker.

Trail overgrown with monsoon greenery, and trail markers seem to lead directly onto a golf course. There's no mountain biking allowed on most golf courses, so I go down into the sandy Santa Cruz River. Some hard packed sand is easy to ride, but I struggle through some deeper sandy sections. Walk a bit, ride a bit. Take a few snapshots of dried mud. I see lots of golf balls in the riverbed sand.

 
Former mud now dried and curled like paper.  

The golf course is about 20 feet above me because the river has cut away the banks here. I wave to a woman walking her dog along the top of the bank. I'm walking my bike. I ride for about 50 yards, then get stuck walking in deep sand. "If she can walk her dog up there, I can ride my bike," I decide. And I walk my bike toward the steep bank.

My feet sink into the sand. By sink, I mean up to the middle of my shins. Quicksand! My bike is not sinking. But both feet are sinking deep with every step. I am only about 3 feet away from the grassy edge which I know will support me. My mind races: I can't believe I'm stuck in f**king quicksand! I could call out for help, but the dog-walking old lady wouldn't be able to hear me and if she did, she couldn't rescue me. I think of her dog: Run Lassie, go for help! Meanwhile, I posthole toward the grass and I make it! 

 
What 10 sinking footprints in quicksand look like. See how quicksand looks like regular sand? 

I use the adrenalin rush to bound up the grassy hillside with bike shouldered like cyclocross, leap over golf course vegetative debris (cactus, grass clippings), and stumble onto the fairway. I sit down to knock the mud off my shoes. I sit directly on an ant colony. Lovely.

My shoes are still muddy!

I happily remount my bike and continue south along the DeAnza Trail which follows the edge of the golf course. Ah, this is much easier than riding in the sandy Santa Cruz.

I use the newish trail bridge to cross an arroyo, and weave south through tall grass on a great trail. I cross another steep-sided arroyo to a turkey vulture nesting area. Too late for foreboding.

 
New DeAnza Trail Bridge with view south. 

I enjoy the desert's second springtime with flowers and cactus fruit.

 
   

I want to continue south, but I must get to work this Tuesday morning. My return trip is quick and easy, now that I'm following the trail above the river, instead of in the river.

 
DeAnza Trail follows the top of this "cliff." Evil quicksand lurks about 20 feet below.

Back at the interpretive sign and parking lot, I tell my exciting quicksand tale to a Pima County road crew member. He and his colleagues await the road work phone call and enjoy breakfast in the shade. He reacts to my story with a wipe of his mouth to dislodge the last bits of egg mcmuffin.  "Do you ride on the golf course?" he asks. I hesitate and want to yell "the golf course is NOT THE POINT OF THIS STORY," but intsead say: "Yes, on the way back."

I need to work on my storytelling skills.

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail runs from Nogales, AZ, to San Francisco, CA.

De Anza Trail miles: 6

Total De Anza Trail miles: 40

Total ride miles: 12

Tucson Tumamoc Hill Climb and De Anza Trail View

 

Tumomoc Hill stands west of its famous Tucson sister: "A" Mountain. There's no car or bike access to the top, you must walk or run.  The hill has been a research station since 1903 and is currently managed by the University of Arizona.

Today, I walk up the hill under threatening skies, so the trail is not mobbed like some mornings.  It's 6:50 am, and I must speed walk up and down to make the 7:30 am cut-off time. Don't want to disturb the research stationeers. 

The morning air is cool for Tucson--about 78 degrees, but I still work up a sweat. It is steep. 700 feet elevation gain in 1.5 miles.  Click on the map below to view path and elevation.

I hear shuffling steps from behind me, so I walk faster to stay ahead of the jogger. She eventually passes me.

 
Uphill jogger and downhill walkers, with view of Catalina Mountains. 

 

A runner pounds down Tumamoc Hill.

I pass research buildings, some built in the Civilian Conservation Corps style, using local volcanic stone, wood frames, and metal rooftops. More recent storage buildings were built on the cheap: stucco and sheet metal.

 
Research station building, ocotillo, and top of Tumamoc. 

Saguaro and another old research building.

 
A less appealing research storage building.

Switchbacks steepen and I pass volcanic rocks with dried moss designs reminiscent of the real petroglyphs found on this hill.

 
Moss grows on the north face, then it dries out.

 
Petroglyph picture from Tumamoc: People and Habits.

Ruins of a  Hohokam village from 2,300 years ago is on the hill, but not accessible from the walking path. Here is a link to the Trinchera, the ruins of a wall that surrounded the village on the hill. The wall is known as "Arizona's oldest public works project."

I reach the top filled with communications towers and enjoy the view in all directions. The breeze cools my sweaty brow.

Well after the time of the Hohokam, the Tohono O'odham Indians lived along the Santa Cruz and saw the first Spaniard expedition come through en route to San Francisco in 1776. I'm not walking or biking the De Anza Trail today, but I have a view of 100 miles of the Conquistador's route. From the top of the hill, I can see De Anza route: from Tubac to Tucson in the Santa Cruz River Valley, then north and west, continuing along the Santa Cruz River and what is now Interstate 10.

Barrel cactus in bloom with view north toward the Catalinas.

I follow the female jogger, who paused for a hilltop rest, down the hill.  She inspires me to jog a bit, which seems easy, until my thighs protest. So I resume speedwalking.

I see a partial rainbow pushing through the dark clouds in the western sky. It's raining in other parts of the valley, but not on me.  I reach the bottom of the hill by 7:40 am, a 50-minute roundtrip.

Walk and learn about the hill's cultural past and biological present through evening "Tumomoc Talks."

Commuting the De Anza Trail 3

 

  
Sahuarita's Sandy Santa Cruz River. 

This morning, I imagine De Anza travelling on the west side of the Santa Cruz River, not the east side designated "auto route" on Mission Road. That would make my commute to work 6 miles longer with a climb up Helmet Peak. Not up for that today.

My commute begins with a cruise down 6th Avenue through Tucson and South Tucson. Bad Odors! Blech, I smell a ginko biloba tree with smashed stinky ginko pods somewhere along the sidewalk. I'm all for pleasant streetscapes, but please, no stinky ginko! Memo to South Tucson: Remove this offensive tree.

I continue south past assorted used car and used tire retaliers, fighting a slight headwind. I pass the road to the airport and vice corner: Tobacco Barn and Desert Diamond Casino. I'm now riding on Nogales Highway.

The Tohono O'odham Nation is next with Lazy Acres Mobile Home Park, a few horses, a few hay bales, and lots of empty space. In 1774, De Anza hired an O'odham translator to guide him through southern Arizona. He paid the translator as much as his Spanish soldiers. It was worth it:  a native named Luis warned Anza in the O'odham language that he might be in danger from the natives near Yuma.

But Yuma is far from here. I parallel the railroad tracks and enjoy the Santa Rita Mountain view.
 
Union Pacific Railroad spur crosses the Nogales Highway. 

As I approach the Town of Sahuarita, I turn west and ride the northern edge of the pecan groves. I turn south into Rancho Sahuarita, bedroom community of happy young families and assorted trails including one called the De Anza Trail.

I turn onto its broken pavement heading south, with pecan groves on my left and open space, also known as "flood plain" on my right. Beyond the green-from-monsoon-rain flood plain, Mexican tile rooftops sprawl across the former Sonoran desert to the copper mine tailings pile. Little did Conquistador De Anza know what the Sonoran desert would become. Copper, cotton, and cattle--the three Cs of Arizona.

 

Front to back: Open space, stucco, copper mine, mountain, sky.

FICO pecan groves along the De Anza Trail in Sahuarita.

Monsoon rains create mud puddles and muddy cracks that spit out baby toads as I pedal past.  The Colorado River Toad is know for its toxic skin and venom that is poisonous to dogs and people. So don't lick them, even if you have heard about the hallucinegenic properties of toad toxin!

 
Click to enlarge; can you see the Colorado River Toads in this picture?

 
Pecan trees use a lot of water, but not as much as copper mines.

The owners of the pecan groves plan to develop "Sahuarita Farms" which is nothing like a farm and a lot like a housing development, but with pleasant Santa Cruz River walking and biking trails.

I ride near an overflow channel of the Santa Cruz River and admire the flowers and mountain scenery.

I continue south and hear a truck coming from behind me. He and his co-pilot dog drive on the bike path instead of on the dirt road.

 
Looking north on the De Anza Trail; a truck driver who can't read.

 I turn west onto a neigborhood street, then the De Anza Trail abruptly turns north. I realize I have been riding on the IMPOSTER De Anza trail. The trail that is circular. De Anza never rode in circles. Conquistadors just don't do that.

I turn south, because it was the path of De Anza, and more importantly, the direction of my office. I ride through the road construction zone without incident, reach my office, take a quick shower and I'm ready for work.

De Anza is everywhere in Sahuarita.

I've ridden about 20 miles in the Conquistador's route on my morning commute. The Santa Cruz River remains dry, but tall green grasses and blooming creosote mark the middle of the Sonoran monsoon season. I'll retrace my route on a humid ride home on this August afternoon.

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail runs from Nogales, AZ, to San Francisco, CA.

De Anza Trail miles: 20

Total De Anza Trail miles: 34

Total ride miles: 20

North to Marana! De Anza Trail 2

 
Water in the Santa Cruz River!

A lush little stream flows on the northern edge of the quarter-mile wide Santa Cruz River banks. Swallows dive up and down around the bridge, ducks paddle in the water, and a road runner zips along the sand. So what if the water is only because of the wastewater treatment plant upstream?

 
Silverbell Road is part of the De Anza Auto Route. 

Today's De Anza epic piece includes the official auto route along Silverbell Road and a pleasant paved path through Marana's suburban landscape of Mexican tile roofed houses, a golf course, and a gravel pit. Such exciting resources that De Anza may not have imagined on his way to Alta California back in the 18th century.

 
Marana golf course with gravel pit machinery peeking from behind the berm. 

The golf course and gravel pit are close to the location of De Anza's camp on October 17, 1776. De Anza described that day as "having traveled five leagues and as many hours over good terrain with reasonably good pasturage, halt was made for the night in the neighborhood of a small range which the Pimas call Tututac." Today, this mountain is called Picture Rock because of its petroglyphs.

 
Picture Rock, Marana suburbia, dry portion of the Santa Cruz River. 

De Anza, however, could not enjoy the scenery or sing Kum-ba-yah around the campfire. He had to catch fugitives and be a tough Conquistador: "At the time when we set forth this afternoon two muleteers deserted us, and I entrusted their apprehension to the justices of Tuczon, who came to bid me goodbye. At eight o'clock at night six Pimas of the last pueblo came to camp and brought one of the fugitives. I immediately had him given a beating, and for this reason the soldiers called the place where we camped for the night the plain of El Azotado."

For more about De Anza, check out this trail map of Pima County.

Marana celebrates history with mosaic markers scattered along its roads and ball fields.

 
De Anza: Conquistador, yet Christian.

 
Marana even celebrates its fossil record from the Phanerozoic era.

 

The bike path along the Santa Cruz ends abruptly, because of road work for the new I-10 overpass and assorted road widening, traffic light installation, and general dust cloud creation.

 
Barricades block my path, for now. 

So I do a U-turn, ride back to the bridge, and take one more glance at the water below. I scope out possible mountain bike rides in the river bed and along the upper river bank.

 
View straight down from the Cortaro Road bridge.

I return to Silverbell Road, turn south into the wind, and ride home to Tucson.

De Anza Trail miles: 10

Total De Anza Trail miles: 14

Total ride miles: 34

Biking the De Anza Trail: Epic In Pieces Photo Essay, 1

 
River trail entrance with "A" Mountain in the background.

My Epic in Pieces begins with a 6 am cruise along the Santa Cruz River Park in Tucson; I also celebrate the beginning of the FIFA World Cup 2010 by wearing my vaguely Italian Coppi Team jersey.

The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail runs from Nogales, AZ, to San Francisco, CA. De Anza forged this trail in 1776, leading almost 300 people across the deserts of Arizona and California to start European settlements in northern California. My 75-mile bicycle epic will follow his journey between Nogales and Tucson using built and unbuilt trail and portions of the De Anza "auto tour." The Santa Cruz River will be my dry companion. Each week, I will ride a little or a lot. If enthused, I will extend my journey with De Anza north toward the Gila River, then west to the mighty Colorado River.

With this epic, I return to the original purpose of the blog:  describing local adventures that can be done before and after work or on the weekends.

Enough history and projections, let's ride!

Dirt trail heads north to downtown Tucson.

De Anza moved his Spanish fort from Tubac to Tucson in 1776 and called it "San Augustin de Tuquison."

 
Santa Cruz River looking north.

 
Santa Cruz River looking south, still no water.

Art, for art's sake.

 
The shady paved trail leads to....

 
a shaded playground. Kids aren't up yet at 6:45 am.

 
Some adults exercise on these contraptions, I choose not to. 

 

I ride my bike, de Anza rode his horse.

 
Faded sign tells me I'm on the De Anza Trail.

 
Sign describes Acequia (water channel) project near "A" Mountain.

 
Flags of many nations at world plaza.

 
 More art: Meet me by the flying yellow horny toad.

 

 
"A" Mountain tells me I'm almost done with today's piece of the epic ride.  

I finish just in time to go watch the first World Cup match: Mexico v. South Africa. Viva Mexico!

De Anza Trail mileage: 4

Total De Anza Trail mileage: 4

Today's mileage: 10