4 Day Off-road Adventure

 This adventure started out with fairly low expectations. The goal was to pair down my luggage from 80 lb to 50 or 60 lbs. If I was only heading out for 2 or 3 days then I wouldn't need a change of clothes for each day. Just extra socks and shorts. I knew I could get by with less and save some weight. Managing the motorcycle off-road it depends on being able to overcome the top heavy bias of the luggage.

The North Face duffel was too much. Gone now are the camping pillow  some cookware, and winter clothing.

I set out east from Bisbee and in Douglas I chose to go east on 15th Street which eventually turns into The Geronimo Trail. It's a combination of dirt and rocks and gravel that runs along the US border with Mexico and then veers North somewhat to intersect with Highway 11. That's more dirt road that takes you to a town called Animus, New Mexico. It's about 70 miles at approximately 20 miles per hour.

In Animas, I headed east on paved State road 9. This road runs parallel with I-10 40 miles to the north. I stopped in a cheetah New Mexico at a small filling station that had homemade burritos from Irma's Restaurant 40 miles E in Columbus New Mexico. The most unique thing about this fuel stop was meeting others on their own adventures. Two young emergency room MDs were bicycling south from Silver City on the Continental Divide road. There was another gentleman I met there who'd been hiking for 6 years, he said. He was young and told me that his new shoes were troubling him, and he was seeking a ride to Lordsburg to pick up a different pair. The doctors described the Continental Divide road as navigable by motorcycle as well as bicycle, and having done a little research about this trail, I noted the waypoints they relayed, and decided that would be my adventure for the next couple of days.

That night I traveled out to the state park in columbus, spent the night and then had a breakfast at Irma's restaurant. Her burritos from the night before were delicious, but I was paying the price of the hot spices. I headed for the first waypoint I noted from the night before and found myself on a wonderfully meandering dirt road headed north toward silver city.

Bear Scare!

 I've had a couple of mini adventure campouts last week and this. Last night got a little scary. After camping Monday night a bit north of Morenci, I'd continued north and then east on 260 from 191 near Springerville. 260 runs west through Show Low out to Payson. Getting closer to Payson,  I turned south on a dirt/paved road that runs about 60 miles on a wonderfully scenic route through Tonto NF to Roosevelt Lake. Still up in the mountains, I found a campsite with a fire ring and level ground. I made a little dinner right away, and cleaned up all of the food. I set up my tent, built a fire, and after the sun set, I was just sitting quietly next to the fire. 

I turned on the weather radio and almost simultaneously, I heard some twigs breaking in the forest. I turned down the radio and all was silent. When I turned the radio back on, I could hear the crunching through the leaves and pine needles again. Hmm...I thought. While searching for firewood earlier, I'd seen some fairly fresh bear scat. So with this movement in the woods I was now on high alert. I pulled out my flashlight and started to scan the trees. And sure enough, there were four glowing little eyes sort of weaving and bobbing, watching me. My blood started pumping. I was somewhat alarmed as these two sets of eyes, about 25 yards away, each seemed to be about a foot apart. And I thought bears eyes were generally pretty close together. So unless it was actually a cow or something, (which it definitely was not), they were pretty large bears. I stood up and grabbed the thickest stick I could find in my stack of wood and banged it against a thick log. It made quite a loud crack again and again as I yelled, "No! Bad bear! Bad bear!" And eventually the glowing little eyes disappeared. I was trembling for a while, and kept doing 360° scans of the area for the next hour. I feel silly, but I certainly considered which direction my motorcycle was pointed and how quickly I could jump on and take off. Unfortunately I'd have had to leave the tent and other equipment until I could come back the next day. But it turns out that wasn't necessary and I had a moderately restful sleep inside the tent, wearing my boots, riding suit, and helmet! I had to keep telling myself, "Jeff, they've gone away." And truly they had. It was about 4:00 a.m. this morning when it started to get light, and at 32°, I headed back south towards Roosevelt Lake and Globe, all gear safely packed. Isn't that wild! I guess one additional precaution I could take in the future is to try to camp near other people. It pays to be aware of your surroundings.

3-day Roadtrip through Southeast Arizona

15 miles north of Tucson is the town of Oracle. Oracle is about half the size of Bisbee, Az, with only 3500 residents. The elevation is 2000 ft higher than the city of Tucson at 2500 ft, and closer to the elevation of Bisbee. The Willow Springs Ranch is made up partly of a State Land Use Area, west of Oracle. With a Land Use pass, the area is open to free camping, but has no facilities. There are no natural water sources, although there is water for the cattle that roam the area. The sunsets are majestic, and there are normally no people for miles. There is little vehicular traffic, and that mostly on weekends. I saw several RVs pulling trailers carrying 4x4 off-road vehicles. All vehicles generate large quantities of dust as they pass, given the lack of moisture available. This trip was my first multi-night camping trip with my new pick-up truck camper. The accommodations were basic but adequate. I spent the one night and then headed SW back through Tucson to the Buenos Aries National Wildlife Refuge. 

Located 8 miles north of the border town of Sasabe, Az, BANWR, (Buenos Aries National Wildlife Refuge), is a 100,000 acre semi-aquatic refuge for animals and birds during migration. Though not often sighted, pronghorn are present as part of a wildlife rehabilitation project. There are many bird species wintering here and it makes for grand birding walks. On this trip I again only spent the one night, but got to sharpen my pick-up truck camping skills. Using devices that use the small 1 lb. canisters of propane allowed me to adequately heat and light the camp area. I did manage to use tarps to secure a small indoor space for heating, with due concern for appropriate ventilation. Although some public areas have restrictions for campfires, none were in place for BANWR this night.