Too bright to see without special eye wear, the eclipse begins

Debi and Che Che, welding helmet is handy for viewing eclipse

Julie rocks the welding helmet

We noticed the eclipse made incredible shadows through the tree

Shadow detail

Ring of Fire

So sweet!

D+B

Here are some photos from our leisurely stay in Albuquerque, NM…

George

On Thursday, may 17th we all piled into the van and went up to Elena Gallegos Picnic Area for an afternoon walk and picnic.  It is always exciting to get a birds eye view of the place you staying and this picnic area provided just that.

View of ABQ

A nice shady spot along our walk

Our picnic spot

Sandia Mountains

We also got a chance to do some riding on the Paseo del Bosque Bike Trail which was a nice way to get around town and do some shopping.

Bosque bike path

Years ago, Ron designed and built bicycle frames.  Some of them hung prominently in the house.

Bikes should always hang in the home!

Another custom frame

On Friday, we left Ron and Leslie’s and went over to Kit Carson park to be among the enormous Cottonwood trees we spotted a few days ago. We played frisbee and had lunch and watched the world go by. That afternoon we picked up the north bound Rail Runner train to Santa Fe to visit with friends.

Kit Carson Park

Railrunner

Up Next: Annular Eclipse and Santa Fe

Peace,

Debi and Bryan

Leaving El Morro

Art Gallery in the town of El Morro

A few miles further and our only turn of the day was onto the Chain of Craters Back Country Byway or County Road 42. The road was a little rough and full of deep sand in spots. There was no traffic anywhere in sight. We took a small detour to visit a recreation area called Big Tubes managed under El Malpais National Monument. George from El Morro National Monument Visitor Center suggested it as a place to hike and have lunch so we gave it a try.  All the caves in El Malpais National Monument are closed due to the risk of white nose syndrome affecting the local bat population-hasn’t happened yet. We were able to hike out a ways into the lava fields. This was an inhospitable place and you would not want to get lost out here  - you may never be found. Our hiking trail followed small piles of lava rock cairns and brought us to the entrance of Skylight cave and a place called seven bridges. This area consists of a 17 mile long, horizontal lave tube that has collapsed in places leaving bridges here and there. The hiking was rough and we didn’t get too far when we decided to turn back. The lava rocks hold heat and it just felt so bizarre on them. El Malpais (say el-mal-pie-EES) means “the badlands”, easy to see how it got it’s name. This area is real close to the continental divide and the weather gets finicky in the afternoon. Dark clouds loomed and we decided to get back on the bikes and push on with our little side loop off the main road.  It was a primitive road and slow going with deep sand in sections.  We finally connected back with the byway and continued on.

No cars….just bikes

Love the brilliance of cactus flowers

lava land

Tiny Bryan gives us some perspective on one of the natural bridges over a lava tube

Hot trail through the lava

Bryan holding strong in the sand on the primitive road

Rain clouds surrounded us for the rest of the day….it seemed as if the sky stayed clear just above us.  We just about finished the road, crossing a section of the Continental Divide Trail.  We camped 6 miles from the end in a quiet field with scrubby trees providing a wind break.

One of the craters in the chain

The bikes taking a break at the Continental Divide Trailhead

Sunset at the campsite in El Malpais

cooking dinner

Chain of craters sunset

With beautiful scenery and not a single car the whole day we loved every bit of the route.  If you’re considering taking it, on bike it’s a challenge and by car it would be even tougher. 4WD and high clearance are essential. Water isn’t available so carry plenty.

The next morning on Saturday May 12th we finished up the byway and got on some pavement, NM 117 and had a pretty much downhill route all day.  We took our time on this scenic road traveling through more of El Malpais. We were on the east side of the Monument. The scenery was jaw dropping…..rock faces with beautiful colors on one side of the road and then the lava beds on the other.

morning byway ride-pretty rough in parts but wide open scenery

Beautiful rocks surprise us in the distance

up close

Hard to keep our eyes on the road

sandstone from an ancient ocean

La Ventana, New Mexico’s largest natural arch

Beautiful country we live in

Just one more

Rock face texture

We camped at a free BLM campground called Joe Skeen.  We had a covered pavilion and plenty of afternoon left to read and relax. Sunday morning we departed and made our way to a section of Interstate 40. We had about 100 miles left to get to Albuquerque.  Plenty of reservation land in this area and we had marked a couple casinos on map because of their tremendous buffets.  We had a huge meal at Sky City Casino. Nothing satiates a hungry cyclist more than an endless supply of vittles especially when it is grilled salmon, shrimp and apple pie.  It was mother’s day and we shared our meal with many celebratory families.

Following a long break at Sky City Casino we continued onward and camped at the Dancing Eagle Casino RV Park.  Most of our route was on the old historic route 66. When we arrived at the RV park, which was essentially a parking lot, but for $10 we were given peace of mind and a voucher for a shower across the street at a Travel Center.  Lots of amenities here-groceries, restaurant, rv park.

Route 66

Casino camping

creativity with securing the tent

The next morning we left early and pedaled to Los Lunas, just south of Albuquerque. This part of the route included an unavoidable section on I-40 which actually turned out to be ok as we made good time.We decided that rather than bike directly into ABQ we’d take advantage of the Railrunner-a bike friendly commuter train. We hopped on the 3:15 train with plenty of smiles welcoming us on, totally hassle free for cyclists.  Bikes can be put in the front of every car with no extra charge! We arrived in ABQ to find our friend Ron waiting for us at the station ready to escort us by bicycle to his home.  We were looking forward to staying with Ron and Leslie, Leslie is Bryan’s Aunt Jan’s sister.

Bikes happily situated on the Roadrunner

Now some down time in ABQ,

Debi and Bryan

Desolate area south of St. Johns, AZ

Downtown St. Johns, AZ

We took the long road out of St. Johns

Our last hours in Arizona were filled with open range and long roads. We had one more landmark to look forward to, a junction called Witch Well. This would be where we turn and cross into New Mexico, clip a corner of the Navajo reservation and then begin our ride across the Zuni Indian Nation.

Taking a breather in Witch Well

Wind mill in Witch Well

Good bye Arizona! It has been a glorious few months and we have been awed and astounded every day. See you manana!  We quietly crossed into Mew Mexico. A few horses, cattle and sheep dotted the landscape. Our route was low on traffic except for a convoy of amusement park trucks heading east. As we rolled into Zuni Pueblo we turned right onto Pia Mesa St. and headed into the heart of the pueblo to re-supply at Halona Plaza the the only supermarket in town. All the people we chatted with were very nice. The store had everything – well worth the stop. By this time it was 3:30pm and we were not sure how much farther we going to ride. After loading up on groceries the weight was back on our bikes but now we had yummy vittles to carry us forward for the next few days.  We dodged rain all afternoon and we’re lucky to not get wet as the isolated storms were dumping all around us.

NM 53 heading east

Approaching Zuni Pueblo

One of the many light rain showers that missed us

Natural Arch on the Zuni reservation

We stopped occasionally for snack breaks and sanity checks. We  kept on riding east on NM 53 and the traffic disappeared. We rode into and through the small village of Ramah. Not a whole lot going on here but there was a small cafe and Post Office. Leaving Ramah we crossed a a satellite section of the Navajo reservation that was riddled with packs of barking, chasing dogs. For the most part they stayed out of the road and Debi would yell at them to keep them at bay.  As the afternoon turned into early evening the sun was slowly setting and the light seemed eternal. As the sun set we decided to ride on to El Morro National Monument to either stay at their campground or the El Morro RV park. We weren’t sure. The campground at the monument was on our map and could be seen with satellite view on google maps but there was no information about it on the website.  When, after dark we came upon the entrance to the monument we decided to try it first before riding another mile onto the RV park. The campground was open and was only $5 a night, had water but no showers and wasn’t the least bit crowded. Perfect. It was 99 miles to get here and were looking forward to a day off! We stayed up late and celebrated with salmon and rice.

Sunset near Ramah, NM

Thursday, May 10th, we woke to a sunny morning with birds all around singing to our delight. We had a leisurely morning and then locked our bikes to a tree and walked off to the visitor center to see what was shaking and to do a little hiking. Hiking always feels good after riding a bunch of miles because it uses different muscles and slows us down. The trail system at El Morro is not large, maybe 2.5 miles total but it is definitely not to be missed. We walked out the back door of the visitor center and headed toward inscription rock and an ancient pool of water that drains from the box canyon above. El Morro was a crucial water hole for travelers for the past few hundred years.  While they lingered, many signed their names into the rock. Before travelers came through Ancestral Puebloans lived on top of El Morro.

Campground at El Morro National Monument

Rock formations viewed from campground

Near inscription rock

Petroglyphs on inscription rock

More petroglyphs

hiding in the warm rock wall

Trail up to the top

Budding Oak leaves

Cool stonework on one of the many trail switchbacks

Epic cloud day

Looking across the box canyon from the top

Little trees – Little clouds

Looking down into the box canyon

Carved stone steps on the trail

Round Kiva

Ruins

The staff at the visitor center were exceptional. Thanks especially to George who gave us great advice and made a call for us for the riding conditions we would see in El Malpais. That night we had a camp fire and cooked some sausages over it.

Sunset at El Morro

Next, we ride through El Malpais on the Chain of Craters Back Country Byway on our way to Albuquerque.  Stay tuned and thanks for following along.

Bryan and Debi

Old Safford bridge at sunrise

Debi climbing up out of the Gila river valley

Bryan climbing in the cool morning

Downtown Clifton near train station

Old narrow gauge locomotive on display

Clifton Cliff Jail

Now, a little background on the Coronado Trail National Scenic Byway. It’s a 120 mile journey that roughly follows Coronado’s path as he searched for the “Seven Cities of Cibola” about 450 years ago. The trail ascends 5000 feet in elevation in 60 miles from Clifton and Morenci heading north. In the entire route we would climb over 10,000 vertical feet- whew! Along the way the route travels through many “life zones”, referring to the variety of vegetation types that correspond to changes in climate, soil, moisture, and elevation. The life zones that exist on this byway are the same as one would see on a trip from Mexico to Canada! 

The route took us up and over the Mogollon Rim and on to the Colorado Plateau. We’ve officially left the desert.

From Clifton we immediately started climbing for about 4 miles to Morenci. This is one of the last “company” towns in America, it’s unincorporated and it’s there only because of the mine. In fact the first Morenci town was movved back in the 60s to make way for mine expansion. It was hot in Morenci so we stocked up on groceries and found a shady spot under a tree in the center of town and relaxed for a bit. We organized our gear and stocked up on water-as it would be our last water source for 77 miles. We had 18 liters, enough to get us 77 miles to Hannagen Meadow-mostly uphill.

Beginning the climb to Morenci – Already in the mine

For the 8 miles leaving Morenci we pedaled up through the mine. It was completely surreal. This is the largest copper mining operation in the Northern Hemisphere. So as you log on today to read this blog post, morer than likely the copper in your computer or handheld device came from this mine.

Just getting started

Gaining some elevation

Riding under active conveyor belts dumping rock in massive piles

Tunnels too

Looking back at some of our switchbacks up the through the mine – note previous tunnel in photo center

At one point, we passed a repair area for the super heavy duty dump trucks that were crawling all over the mine like ants. Note tires in foreground of next photo and size of dump body in relation normal sizes trucks and people.

Dump body repair area

Close up

Waiting for a dynamite blast above

The blast

Unimaginable scale

More of the mine from a pull off at the top

Debi riding out the northern reaches of the mine

Just on the outer edge of the mine we spotted a big horn sheep. No photos as it was too far away. A woman at the thrift store in Clifton said the sheep are like pets up in the mine. While we were checking out the sheep a couple pulled up in their truck, they couldn’t believe we were biking this road. We chatted for a while and before they left us they gave us 2 ice cold v8 juices and some trail mix, wishing us lots of luck. We continued climbing and reached the first National Forest Campground on the route-Granville. It was completely in the woods, lush and cool. It felt lovely and refreshing after being in the hot sun for the last few days. We set up camp and feel asleep to the quiet of the woods.

Looking south on the Coronado Trail (mine is just out of view)

Ribbons of low traffic asphalt

Finally getting into the forest

We got a leisurely start the next morning, knowing that it would just be more climbing with some amazing downhill in between. It was low traffic all day with the majority being motorcycles. This is a popular motorcycle route due to the extreme number of curves-something over 350 turns in total. We rode almost over the summit of Rose Peak situated at 8200 feet. On the descent Bryan had such speed that he ran over a small squirrel!

Debi riding out of Granville campground

Finally, some downhill!

An easy grade

Little purple cactus blossoms

In and out of the forest at 7,000′

Looking south from close to the summit of Rose peak – elevation 8,200′

We finally made it, just barely to another National Forest Campground called Strayhorse, 6 miles below the Mogollon Rim. We had the place to ourselves. We cooked dinner, and let our bodies recover from all the uphill.

We got an early start the next morning on Sunday May 6^th. We immediately started climbing. We took a long break at Blue Vista Viewpoint-the highpoint on the route at 9,300′. It felt just spectacular to think we had gotten up there by our our strength.

Tree riddled with arrows

View from Blue Vista – elevation 9,300′

After the break we went down through burned area that was loaded with wildflowers. The Wallow Fire burned last year at the same time the Horseshoe 2 fire burned at Chiricahua. The Wallow Fire burned over half a million acres, the largest in Arizona history. We found the burned landscape here to be quite different from Horseshoe 2 fire in the Chiricahua Mountains.

A few miles later we made it to Hannagen Meadow Lodge-our first water source in 77 miles and a great place to have a meal after riding like we did. We had pork and beans for lunch, yummy! We pedaled back just a little to stay at the National Forest Campground at Hanngen Meadow. We spent the rest of the day doing our laundry, reading and enjoying the Alpine Forest. We went for a short hike in the Blue Range Primitive Area in the evening and slept soundly in the cool temperatures.

Hannagan Meadow

Free national forest campground at Hannagan Meadow

Hannagan meadow at dusk

Our first water and BBQ source in 77 miles

Elk rack

The next day we left Hannagan Meadow and began our long descent into Alpine, AZ. We rode through miles of burned forest. This fire, the Wallow fire, burned 500,000 acres all started from an unattended campfire. This was the largest wildfire in Arizona’s history.

Burn damage with flowers on the forest floor

Bryan coasts in

Burned on one side of the road with some initial logging

Some parts of the forest were untouched

Other parts were not so lucky

500,000 acres burned – caused by an unattended campfire

Beginning our descent into Alpine, AZ

In Alpine, we found a small grocery store with a laundromat. We hung out on their picnic table and ate some chips and salsa. The town was quiet with low traffic. There were a couple of restaurant/bars open and a small cafe that sold fresh fudge. Super yummy! We still had one more small climb up to Alpine divide where we were to camp. Once we arrived at the campground we noticed that this one was managed by a local group and supplied water in a large portable tank. Normally, this would be great but since we just hauled a bunch of water up and the price tag was ten dollars we decided to push on and forgo the picnic table and pit toilet. We wound up disperse camping a half mile form the campground in a nice sunny spot far from the road.

The next morning we descended into Nutrioso which roughly translates into Beaver-Bear.  After breakfast on some sunny church steps we made our way into the towns of Eagar and Springerville where we found a brand new library and a Basha’s grocery store. We were now officially finished with the Coronado Trail and alive and well on the Colorado Plateau.

B+D

Up next: Crossing into New Mexico

Black Hills Back Country Byway

Spotted at beginning of byway, snake coil and track?

Only 2 cars passed us all day and it was about 90 degrees with dry desert like conditions. Thankfully with the heat there was absolutely no humidity. We climbed the rough washboard/gravel/dirt road for 6 miles. It took us about 3 hours, we drank lots of water and marveled at the scenery.

Tiny Bryan

Debi climbs in the heat

Prickly pear

Scrubby scenery

When we reached the top, there were a couple covered picnic areas. We quickly chose one, inhaled lunch and then promptly took a nap in the shade. We were beat!

Post nap the ride was mostly downhill, super fun and fast. Along the way we saw glimpses of the Morenci Mine which was in our future down the road the following day. In the distance we could also see rich green trees in the valley, our destination for the night. It’s called the Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area.

Morenci Mine in the distance

Sure!

Gila Box

We hung out at the picnic area at Safford Bridge for the rest of the hot afternoon sun. Our campground was just a ½ mile away-Owl Creek Campground managed by BLM.

Bit more green down here-Gila River

On the old Safford Bridge

Shadowglyphs

The Gila River lies below our campsite

Making dinner, the campground to ourselves

We had a relaxing evening and watched the moon rise.

B+D

Up next: The Coronado Trail, Route 191 Clifton to Springerville

The ride to Apache Pass was easy and beautiful with the sunrise. We turned on to Apache Pass Rd. and located a great horned owl nest that our friend Karen had tipped us off to, thanks Karen! Wow, she was just sitting in the nest, sleepily looking at us.

Sunrise over Chiricahua Mountains

Looking towards Dos Cabezas and Apache Pass

Sleepy Great Horned Owl

We ran into a couple employees from Chiricahua National Monument and said goodbye again to Jason and Steve. We climbed our way through the pass, noting smoldering spots from the previous day’s burn. It didn’t look too bad because there wasn’t much fuel for the fire, just open grassland. We felt good about delaying a day as we imagined the air quality to be pretty low the day before.

Warning

Burn spots from Tuesday May 1st fire

Ocotillo in bloom along the way

We took a break for breakfast at the Fort Bowie trail head. While we were munching a whole fleet of firefighters pulled up. They all marched off the tend to the remains of the fire. They were all looking sooty and strong.

Marching off to make sure the fire is out

It was downhill all the way to Bowie, AZ. To think that 6 weeks had passed since we were on our bikes before just seemed wild, like yesterday. In Bowie we mailed a box of stuff home from the post office-including the jeans we purchased to wear as part of our uniforms at Chiricahua. We stopped for water at a small store and while we were filling up a giant donkey ran across the road and past us down a dirt road-totally bizarre. Bowie was kind of a ghost town, but with people still in it.

For sale in Bowie

We left Bowie in the dust and rode through miles of pistachio and pecan groves. We were on a sandy dirt road for about 9 miles, had a great tailwind and eventually turned to pavement. We traveled the next 33 miles on BLM land, practically by ourselves. It was awesome. We stopped and had lunch at Hot Well Dunes Recreation area. Unfortunately it was just too darn hot to take a soak in the hot tubs there. Maybe next time.

Pistachio plantation

Sandy road

Paved road in the wilderness, all to ourselves

Hot Well Dunes

We continued our ride for a total of 90 miles! We went to the grocery store to prepare for the next couple days. We then proceeded to our destination in Solomon outside of Safford to stay with a warmshowers.org host. Our host fed us an amazing barbeque chicken dinner and showed us how scorpions in his backyard light up with a blacklight flashlight. Far out.

Just another day back on the road. We rested up and left the next morning after a nice breakfast with our warmshowers’ host’s parents. We pedaled away next to newly planted cotton fields with GPS guided equipment sowing the fields.

Cotton field

D+B

Sunset from Sugarloaf Mountain in Chiricahua National Monument

We just completed 6 weeks of volunteering at Chiricahua National Monument. We’re getting back on our bicycles early Wednesday morning May 2nd and heading North! Stay tuned for our upcoming travels in Arizona and New Mexico.

Peace,

Debi and Bryan

On Sunday, March 25th we had the opportunity to take a hike with our friends Jim and Casey. Jim is from Montana and is also a volunteer here at Chiricahua National Monument. Casey is a local and her family’s property borders the park. With Casey in our party we were able to access some private land and hike out of the park, up over Whitetail pass and down into the valley. In order to set this one up we staged her cool 1980 Ford Currier on her side of the pass and then we drove back around to the park in Jim’s vehicle.

Here are some shots from the day:

Passing through numerous gates to stage the truck

One or two slight obstacles

Casey and Debi crossing a creek bed

Ahh, parked...perfect

Now, it was back around to the park to get started hiking. We started up Bonita creek. This area had suffered from the wildfire last summer and was quite a bit ashy and dusty.

Debi, Casey and Jim starting up the creek

Cat track on the way up to the pass

Sand Verbena is one of the first flowers to come back after the fire

Gnarly trees that were consumed by fire. Notice new growth of oak saplings already waist high in less than a year

Downed and burned tree with a fresh Yucca plant pushing out from under it

More flowers at the base of an unburnt Alligator Juniper tree

View form the top of the pass - Sulpher Springs Valley and Dos Cabezas Mountains in the distance

Debi, Jim and Casey hiking down the from the pass

Debi and Bryan getting a bumpy ride pack to the park

Our great shuttle drivers - Casey and Jim!

Thanks you two for making this day trip happen! We really enjoyed it! See you both down the road.

B+D

The Kitchen

We FINALLY spent some time documenting all the gear we’re carrying right now.  It’s subject to change-possibly even tomorrow.  Sometimes it seems like too much and other times not enough.

“Perfection is a road, not a destination. Every time I live, I get an education.”
– Burk Hudson

Not sure who Burk Hudson is, but we completely agree.

Check out what helps us survive on the road on our Gear page.

Debi and Bryan