Southern Arizona Ride
March 2020
March 2020
Tim, Jim and I had originally planned to attend the 2020 version of the Death Valley Noobs Rally (organized by Joel, another friend of ours). Unfortunately the COVID-19 virus was already becoming a larger and larger issue and the Rally was cancelled. We decided to have our own social distancing ride through Southern Arizona. We met bright and early a Tim's house in Mesa, just outside of Phoenix, AZ. Tim rode his relatively new KTM 790 Adventure, Jim was on his trusted KTM 950, and I rode my Husky 701.
We planned a 4-day ride, aimed basically southeast from Phoenix that would take us as far south as the US-Mexico border. Day 1 would take us to Benson, AZ. It seemed like it took forever to wind our way out of the greater Phoenix metropolis, and finally hit our first dirt road - North Barkerville Road leading to Willow Springs Road. These were easy, wide graded dirt roads and fun to ride. After just a short jaunt on Hwy 77, we ended up in Oracle for gas and lunch. It was there that we started to see the effects of the pandemic. Many of the restaurants were closed, and we ended up ordering food at a Mexican restaurant, but had to eat outside (no indoor dining).
As we were leaving Oracle, we noticed a subframe bolt missing on Jim's KTM 950, and spent a while hunting down a bolt that we could use as a replacement. Just south of Oracle, we turned on to Mt. Lemmon Road. Our original plan was to take a forest road off of Mt. Lemmon Road that would cut east, but we were stopped by a closed gate, and so we kept climbing up Mt. Lemmon Road, which was now basically a 4WD jeep trail. We ended up around 8000' in elevation with some occasional snow on the road before reaching pavement at the East Catalina Hwy. It was a chilly ride back down the mountain towards the east Tuscon area. Then it was a short jaunt east and the Motel 6 in Benson. Pizza and beer for dinner, and an early night.
The next morning we were able to eat take-out from McDonalds for breakfast, and were on the road again. A short stint of pavement, south on Hwy 90 and west on Hwy 82, and then we took a great dirt loop north of Hwy 82. The loop started on Granite Peak Road, and then cut northwest towards Mattie Canyon before turning back southwest and back to Hwy 82. It was a really fun set of dirt roads and trails. We made a quick detour to Sonoita for snacks and gas, and then returned east on Hwy 82 to turn south on Upper Elgin Road. We took primarily dirt roads south to hit West Lochiel and West Montezuma Canyon Roads, which we took east to west within a few miles of the US-Mexico Border. We crossed over Montezuma Pass, and then continued east to the Jonquil Motel in historic Bisbee, AZ.
We planned a 4-day ride, aimed basically southeast from Phoenix that would take us as far south as the US-Mexico border. Day 1 would take us to Benson, AZ. It seemed like it took forever to wind our way out of the greater Phoenix metropolis, and finally hit our first dirt road - North Barkerville Road leading to Willow Springs Road. These were easy, wide graded dirt roads and fun to ride. After just a short jaunt on Hwy 77, we ended up in Oracle for gas and lunch. It was there that we started to see the effects of the pandemic. Many of the restaurants were closed, and we ended up ordering food at a Mexican restaurant, but had to eat outside (no indoor dining).
As we were leaving Oracle, we noticed a subframe bolt missing on Jim's KTM 950, and spent a while hunting down a bolt that we could use as a replacement. Just south of Oracle, we turned on to Mt. Lemmon Road. Our original plan was to take a forest road off of Mt. Lemmon Road that would cut east, but we were stopped by a closed gate, and so we kept climbing up Mt. Lemmon Road, which was now basically a 4WD jeep trail. We ended up around 8000' in elevation with some occasional snow on the road before reaching pavement at the East Catalina Hwy. It was a chilly ride back down the mountain towards the east Tuscon area. Then it was a short jaunt east and the Motel 6 in Benson. Pizza and beer for dinner, and an early night.
The next morning we were able to eat take-out from McDonalds for breakfast, and were on the road again. A short stint of pavement, south on Hwy 90 and west on Hwy 82, and then we took a great dirt loop north of Hwy 82. The loop started on Granite Peak Road, and then cut northwest towards Mattie Canyon before turning back southwest and back to Hwy 82. It was a really fun set of dirt roads and trails. We made a quick detour to Sonoita for snacks and gas, and then returned east on Hwy 82 to turn south on Upper Elgin Road. We took primarily dirt roads south to hit West Lochiel and West Montezuma Canyon Roads, which we took east to west within a few miles of the US-Mexico Border. We crossed over Montezuma Pass, and then continued east to the Jonquil Motel in historic Bisbee, AZ.
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The Jonquil Motel is very quaint, and owned and managed by fellow motorcyclists. Due to the pandemic, all restaurants were closed for dine-in, so we ordered takeout and ate in the little courtyard of the motel. We had planned another full day of riding for the next day; but over dinner we decided to take just a short day ride out of Bisbee the following day and spend another night in Bisbee. So the next day we took a ride south, and rode along the border fence to Douglass, and then back to Bisbee. Later that afternoon, a few of the musicians in town set up on the back of a trailer, and held a little "beat the pandemic" parade through the town. We enjoyed more takeout for dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the evening. Then the next day, we just took pavement back to Mesa. We enjoyed the trip - good friends on a fun ride!
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