Advanced 2 Nighter: Sky Islands Odyssey East

17750 South La Cañada Drive,Sahuarita AZ 85629

18 February, 2023

Description

***If you would like to join this ride but it is cost prohibitive or you do not own all the gear, please let us know. Are You Ready for the Adventure? To bring things together for our bikepacking ride series, we're headed down to do Sarah Swallow's Sky Islands Odyssey East Loop. We've come up with our own slightly modified version of the route. The plan is to park at Good Shepherd UCC Church in Sahuarita. We'll ride around 350 miles with 2500 feet elevation gain and camp at Kentucky Camp Cabins (water is available here). The next day we'll do another ~45 mile ride riding down the AZT through Gardner Canyon (Go around available via Fish Canyon to the 83) with a resupply lunch stop option at Senoita and dry camping off Hershaw Road. For the last day, we'll be doing a ~45 mile ride through Patagonia with an opportunity for resupply as well as breakfast/brunch in Patagonia followed by a big rough climb through Solera Canyon to get back to our vehicles. Plan on being able to carry 5 Litres of water per day as well as 1.5 days worth of food at a minimum. This ride is advanced bikepacking with Challenging terrain, rough climbing with hike-a-bike sections, remoteness and dry camping the 2nd night highlight the challenges. The terrain is mostly gravel roads with some rough and sandy sections. We recommend a minimum of 50mm tires. Ride Pace is ride at your own comfortable pace. This is not a race. We generally ride at a party pace with many meetups and stops so we can re-group. Campfire Cycling also always has a mechanic that rides in the back of the ride so no one is left behind. Additionally cold temperatures during both nights camping at around 4500 feet necessitate colder weather gear. Average lows in Patagonia during February are reported at 30 degrees. So being a little higher up, anticipate a low of 20 to 25 degrees. A 20 degree bag and insulated pad, as well as down jacket, long underwear and wool socks is the general recommendation though this of course varies depending on how hot or cold you sleep. We will be contacting everyone who signs up for the ride to make sure they are prepared for the challenge. Please sign up if you plan on joining us. The weather can be prohibitive in February, so if it is overly challenging we may have to cancel.