As someone who suffers from seasonal affective disorder (aka short dark winter days can really affect my mental health), I try to get out of town and somewhere warm in late February or early March when it's not quite spring yet and it seems like winter will never end. And also, before Spring Break. This year, I decided to head to southern Arizona (and Utah... seriously, southern Utah has my heart and so if I decide to quit life again, you can find me in Escalante and Boulder, Utah) to poke the cacti and bask in the sun.
Typically, I don't do the road trip thang for bikes, except to drive somewhere, park the car, then do a long ass bike tour for X number of days, and then drive back. Since this was a solo sojourn, I decided to do a lot of driving, camping, biking to places from camp, and the moving on. I had tried to design half a dozen shorter bike tours while giving me the flexibility to see more, but had been so busy my brain juices just didn't have it in me. So I cobbled together this sub-24 bike overnight from some intel from Dirty Freehub, but made it a nearly 100% gravel route instead. While the folks from Dirty Freehub also hail from Bend, Oregon, they spent several months exploring Arizona this winter and I was thankful for the fruits of their labor!
This was really a lovely isolated route and I did not see a single soul on my ride except for a single Red Cross support van. As a queer woman of color, I felt a little nervous about riding so close to the border, but had no encounters with Border Patrol agents. The highlights included seeing a herd of mule deer, a pair of pronghorns, a gajillion birds, and a playful pair of
coatimundi!
I did a fair amount of research in advance, and while it would be easy to load up on water and dry camp most anywhere, I decided to stay at
La Siesta Campground in Arivaca for ease and because of the awesome reviews. I was so glad I did! Steve, the warm and welcoming owner, made sure I was taken care of. Since I had made a reservation in advance, he was expecting me... and he seemed joyful to see me and without hesitation ushered me into a pop up trailer to stay instead of the tent camping I had planned. See, I had been biking in 30 mph winds all day and it was just getting worse, so he didn't want me to have a hassle with my tent. With showers, shelters, two little ponds with a pair of hilarious ducks, and half a dozen cute cats and kittens, I settled in with a beer I had picked up in town for a relaxing evening.
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| Some of this route has smooth happy dirt roads. |
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| Some of it is chunkier and lots o' loose gravel. |
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| Stupid traffic out here. |
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| Signs of welcoming in this tiny town. |
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| My luxury digs for the night at La Siesta. |
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| Serious luxury. |
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| Happy hour. |
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| Sunrise and my favorite hilarious most spoiled duck duo. |
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| Downhill for days! |
A few notes for bike tourists:
- There is no overnight parking at the Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge headquarters/visitor center... you just need to park in a dispersed camping spot. Spots 75 and 76 are super close to the visitors center and made for an easy starting and ending point.
- While I know many folks play it by ear, making reservations in advance for La Siesta Campground (https://lasiestacampgrounds.com/) will let the owner Steve know to expect you! I truly recommend this spot for some R&R... especially if you want to bikepack glamp it a bit!
- The Mercantile in Arivaca is pleasantly stocked with more than the essentials. Like, vegans rejoice (even though I am not vegan), they had all the meat alternative you could want.
- Arivaca also feels safe for QTBIPOC folks with plenty of signage and messaging in town in support of Black lives and LGBTQ+ lives. I felt incredibly welcomed here, from the cashier at the Mercantile to the owner of La Siesta.
