There’s a big pool of water we have to cross to get over the Fort Pierce.
It’s late afternoon and we’ve been riding since morning. It’s hot. I would guestimate that we have been over 90 degrees for most of our ride and we are closing in on 7ish hours of pedaling. The pool is both an obstacle and a mile marker. We are headed to the top of the Fort Pierce and the fact that we are crossing it means we are close. Really close. About 4.5 miles left to go, but it’s been a long hot day. We’re all tired, about out of water and more than ready to check out.
ProZac and Mama Bear are ahead. Zac was out of water and headed off to remedy that situation and find our campsite. I’m cruising along with Connor and Womble, both on their first off-road overnighter. Both with extensive on-road touring experience, but as we all know, leave the pavement and things get interesting/rowdy.
Connor is in good spirits despite having run out of water. I ask if he wants to filter or if he just wants to roll the last few miles to camp before rehydrating. He opts for the latter and we drag our bikes down the bank to a much narrower section of the wash to cross. Womble rolls up and is soon in the water, refreshing himself with the coolness it provides.
4.5 more miles.
People that Show Up
You’ve all heard or read the quote. The percentage changes and who it’s attributed to may vary, but the gist is this, 90% (or whatever percentage is picked by the person quoting) of success in life is showing up. For a long time, actually, until recently, I thought this was stupid. Showing up is the easy part. You just show up. Finishing was always the hard part. My mind has been changed on this subject because I’ve learned that most people never fucking show up.
I’ve said it for quite some time, a lot of people love the idea of bikepacking, very few actually enjoy or will put in the effort to go bikepacking. It’s easy to see photos of people enjoying the out of doors on their bikes, sipping coffee in the crisp morning air while the sunrise pops on the amazing scenery around them. It’s quite another to ride your bike to that spot carrying everything you need for that photo op and then enjoy the experience enough to do it again. People enjoy and romanticize the concept of backcountry travel and suffering, but all they really want is the joy and beauty it provides without any of the discomfort.
And most people never even make it to the start line.
I’ve done quite a few trips that were planned specifically so people who told me they wanted to go bikepacking could get their feet immersed and see what they think. Most of the time, I’ve ended up riding by myself or with my friends who had already bikepacked and came along because they know how fun it actally is, even if that fun is not a Type 1 kind of fun.
Our ride to Rock Canyon was very much this type of outing.
The Cast aka People Who Showed Up
There’s the obvious, Moose. That’s me.
And then the 2nd most obvious, Mama Bear. She shouldn’t need any introduction unless this is your first time here. If it is, just read through some posts and you’ll know plenty.
ProZac was one of the founding members of the Alliance way back in the day. We started adventuring together in the early 2000s. This was his first official bikepacking trip. With plenty of other backcountry travel experience, this one fell firmly in the shake down ride category. Seeing where he could fit things, making sure the setup worked, etc.
Our next victim, I mean, member of the cast, was Connor. He started working at the shop just a few weeks ago. His touring experience includes riding from Florida to San Diego. He showed up for a gravel ride a few days prior to this trip and that happened to be his first gravel ride. He’s a strong rider, but this was his first off-road touring experience. Translating on-road setups for off-road riding can present certain challenges. He overcame those challenges with a smile and just kept pedaling.
And then there’s our star, Womble (not his real name, good luck getting that out of him). He started working at the shop about a year ago. He’s originally from Australia, has a big mustache and accompanying goatee. His stoke level is almost always at 11. He’d also done a bunch of road touring only to get married in Boise and somehow end up in St. Geezy. If you ever have the opportunity, he’s a fun guy to ride and/or chat with. His stories are, as far as I can tell, endless.
The Plan
Thanks to the Planner, Mama Bear and I had ridden this route a couple of years ago. It’s a great introduction to the vastness of the Arizona Strip without getting too far from safety. There’s water so hauling everything you need is unnecessary. There’s one big climb and a bunch of rolling terrain that gives you views of Sand Mountain and the Hurricane Cliffs. The latter of which would be our camping spot.
Seeing that everyone except Mama Bear works at Red Rock Bicycle, we would meet there. Then pedal out to the dirt and wind our way through the almost countless dirt roads that crisscross this chunk of forgotten land before finding our campsite at the mouth of the Fort Pierce, Rock Canyon. Said canyon is pretty spectacular. It cuts directly through the tall cliffs and is reported to be the location that Escalante and Dominguez went through. We would be using the Sunshine and Honeymoon trails to find our way over there. Both being historic Mormon Pioneer trails and probably native routes much earlier than those folks showed up.
The Ride – Getting out there
As we rolled out from the shop, it was obvious that it was going to be a warm day. I had originally picked this weekend specifically thinking it would be warm enough to get by with a minimal setup but cool enough that riding all day wouldn’t be an issue. The weather, despite having lived here most of my life, has been getting harder and harder to predict. This weekend ended up being on the hot side for October. It wasn’t long after we started pedaling that the temperature broke 80 degrees and stayed above through the rest of the day.
Heat and distance were our biggest obstacles. The former was the most formidable. We knew we would have water at the end of the ride, but we also hoped we would be able to finish quick enough that 3 liters would be plenty. With 45 miles to pedal, we were pushing the limits of that water. Except Womble who had way more than that and ended with agua to spare. The rest of us either ran out or were damn close to being out when we hit camp.
The distance was within reach, but it was also most of our cast’s first bikepacking trip. Riding loaded off-road can take a lot more energy than people expect. It was also a couple of people’s longest off-road ride ever. Combine those two things and we had ourselves an adventure. New gear, longest rides, water being an issue, there were unknowns even if we were never too far from town. And one of the rad things about this route is that you always feel like you are a long way from town. There just isn’t much out there and traffic on the roads we were rolling was minimal.
The heat started to become a thing more or less as soon as we hit dirt. A few miles in and we were searching for shade to have a snack and lower our body heat. We found a nice canyon/wash that dropped the temperature to nice. We snacked before heading on. Our next shade wouldn’t come for several miles when we hit Dutchman’s Draw. We stopped again for snacks and a breather before climbing the biggest uphill of our ride.
After the climb, the terrain is mostly flat with rolling hills, cruiser miles. We rolled, searching for shade and resting when we could find it. The heat was beginning to take a toll on our group. As we hit the junction to head back to the north toward the Hurricane Cliffs, the group was slowing. It was time to finish.
At this point, the trail gets rough. It goes through and then climbs out of a basalt canyon. Basalt is not something that is easy to build a road or trail through. It is usually accompanied by very fine soil that washes away leaving endless rocks. This was the case here. We had a couple of hike-a-bikes followed by some chunky descents that were questionable especially with some of our setups. We got through and then it was just time to finish.
After our crossing of the Fort Pierce, we rolled into camp just as the evening glow was beginning. There were a couple of nice water holes for filtering, rinsing off, and in Womble’s case, going for a quick dip. Once we were settled, hydrated and cooled down, the stoke level shot back up and everyone was stories and questions and what you normally would expect at the end of a long day.
Day 2 – Getting back home
Connor was scheduled to work, so he got up and rolled out early with somewhat sketchy directions from me.
The rest of us had a lazy morning. A breeze had picked up in the evening and worsened to a pretty good gust on occasion. Not the worst I’ve experienced, but it did make the night and sleeping situation a bit of a drag. Coffee in the morning was quite enjoyable as we watched the sun slowly rise and inch its way toward our camp.
Of the miles planned, the majority were crushed out on the first day. The route that the Planner had drawn returns on roads that are a bit soft rolling through sand and loose gravel. Knowing what was to come and the limitations of our group, we opted to parallel our route on the main road giving us a generally downhill ride on a dirt highway through Warner Valley. We were relieved to see Connor’s tracks once we were on the main road suggesting he would make it home or we would catch him at some point.
We cruised, regrouping regularly to keep the group intact and nibble away at our road stake.
And just as we were about to hit pavement, a hobo miracle happened. I happen to look over just as I’m passing what I assume is a beer can. To my surprise, it looks like it is unopened. I flip around and find that it is in fact intact and looks like it hasn’t been there for very long. We continue to the water tank and then the question is posed, “If you find a road beer, do you drink the road beer?” The only good hobo answer to that question is yes.
And it was good, a little warm, but good.
Finishing
Inertia – A tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.
Human inertia is what explains why showing up is the biggest obstacle to success. Once we rolled out from the shop, it would have taken more energy to turn around and stop then it would to finish. By being at the start line at the start time ready to roll, that was the initial moment where the energy changed and was now rolling forward. Sure, there were plenty of reasons/spots that could have caused any of us to not finish, like that crossing 4.5 miles from our campsite, but even then, we showed up. We did what most people don’t. We started.
And then we finished.
Seek discomfort. Embrace chaos.
