After that it’s a twenty mile drive back to the car rental agency, where we drop off the Whale, give it a last grateful pat on the snout, and bike back to our casita. The rest of the ride to the car goes fast - fifteen miles, all level or gently downhill once we make it over Pistol Hill. Call me! Actually, she’s not in this frame because I didn’t think of it in time, but she was hollering from the top of the ridge on the right, by the parked cars. It’s great having a partner with a healthy set of vocal cords. We chat, I explain that I’m dead-in-the-desert hillwise, so she coasts down to rejoin me. She wants to discuss the ride plan because it looks like the road continues on from up there, but apparently it hasn’t worked to call me. When I look up she yells Phone, so I get it out and give her a call. It’s Rachael, 200 yards off and on the ridge above me, shouting my name. While staring at the bike in futility, I hear my name called from the distance. I’m starting to draw a parallel between him and our Very Stable Genius: if there’s something wrong with the bike, I blame it on Mo anything else bad though is probably Trump’s fault. Mentally, I’m cursing Mo and the San Diego Bike shop. I have no luck at all though - none of the obvious adjustments makes any difference at all, so obviously I’ll have to drop in at a bike shop before we tackle any real hills. I do the best as I can, and make it until about two hundred yards from the end when I give up and pull off the road to pull out the tools and see if I can adjust my front shifter while Rachael continues on to the top. No problem at all for Rachael, and no problem for me either until it stiffens toward the end and I discover that I can’t shift into the lowest chain ring. It’s a modest climb, maybe six hundred feet over five miles. We have no plans to explore the park or look for its colossal cave - it’s just a destination point for the ride. HeartĪfter lunch we continue on the Old Spanish Trail, then branch off onto Colossal Cave Road, which climbs a bit before ending at the parking area for Colossal Cave Mountain Park. Eastbound on Old Spanish Trail Road, toward what I still assume is Tanque Verde Peak until someone corrects me. Today’s is a somewhat short loop, so we decide to add a few miles to explore this road, and along the way we find a perfect spot for lunch sitting on a rocky shelf beside shallow Rincon Creek. Midway through the the ride, we come to a short spur road that angles off into the hills before degrading to dirt. It also passes right by the eastern component of Saguaro National Park, which we’ll hopefully be back out to see in the coming days. Circling the eastern edge of the city, it passes mostly through open desert and scattered ranch houses. An excellent shoulder for its entire length, it sees plenty of cycling traffic. The Old Spanish Trail Road is a minor highway, but a great one for cycling. Tucson, if you don’t know anything about it’s geography, lies in the middle of a broad basin perhaps thirty miles across surrounded by four mountain ranges. In fact, if you spin your neck around you’ll see mountains in all directions. When we come to the Old Spanish Trail Road, we turn east toward a different range, the Rincons. Other campgrounds in the area include Catalina State Park, Colossal Cave Mountain Park and Picacho Peak State Park.We follow The Loop for several miles, heading generally north toward Mount Lemmon. Tucson is also just 13 miles away if you want to visit the city. There’s also some nice wildlife viewing opportunities in the area. Outdoor activities include hiking, mountain biking, picnicking, horseback riding, stargazing, hunting (archery only) and photography.
You cannot have wood forest, bur charcoal fires are permitted (confined to grills). Campers will find many large Saguaro scattered among the campsites.Ĭampground amenities include drinking water, modern restrooms (flush toilets) and an RV dump station. The busiest time of year generally runs from November through April.
The campground now takes reservations, but H-Loop are first-come first serve. There are 130 campsites with electric hookups (30-amp) and 5 tent only campsites in Loop B.
Gilbert Ray Campground (Tucson Mountain Park) has 135 campsites and is located in a beautiful Sonoran desert on the west side of the Tucson Mountains.
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