I sometimes wander back to the maps area at Summit Hut and stare at all the amazing trails around Tucson that I haven’t yet explored. For months, I’ve had my eye on the West Fork trail between Sabino Canyon and Romero Pass. The trail traverses the massive and remote Sabino Basin, flanked by the Catalina…
Category: Trails
An Easy Overnight Loop On Mount Lemmon
Last week I decided that I really wanted to do some backpacking on Mt. Lemmon. I wanted some water and shade to escape the heat of Tucson and my partner wanted some easy mileage as he had just done 15 miles the day before we headed out. As we approached the Catalina Highway we were…
Cracked Code
In the jagged basalt-lined valley of Paradise Forks, there’s an orange tower that has split off the wall, leaning at just an angle to create the ultimate training climb. At the bottom, the space between the wall and the block is only a sliver to squeeze fingers into, but over 70 feet it gradually widens…
Paradise Found
This is how much I love Paradise Forks, a climbing area at the upper reaches of Sycamore Canyon about an hour outside Flagstaff: when friends and I were driving the four hours from Tucson to get there, we didn’t even turn on the radio; we just bounced up and down on the car seats yelling,…
The Princess & The Pinarello – Italian Travels By Bicycle
This hill sucks. It sucks more than the last one, but less than the ones that will come after: the fifty shades of punishment that only the Tuscan countryside can deliver. I’m slumped in the saddle of my nimble little Pinarello race bike, shoving my feet against the pedals one at a time. At the…
My Heart Meets the Heart of Tuscany
When you’re trying to recount the newest most amazing trip you’ve taken in your life, it can be hard to start at the beginning. Details of things loved and mishaps overcome come rushing in all at once. So instead, I’m starting in the middle of Italy, with the day Logan and I saddled up in…
Wirepass to Lee’s Ferry: A Trip that Almost Happened
Our trip started on a Tuesday when we left Tucson headed for the Paria/Vermillion Cliff’s Wilderness area. After a long drive north to the southern edge of Utah we arrived at the White House trail head and campground around 10pm. We dropped an impromptu camp in front of our cars and got to sleep. Our…
Bike Tour from Sonoita to Bisbee
As a “dry run” for our cycle tour through Italian wine country, we decided to take a tour through Arizona wine country, and on our two day trip we found more beauty and challenge than we had bargained for. We started in Sonoita, with Logan’s parents graciously playing the role of our shuttle drivers. They…
Italia!
It all started when a customer walked in the store for something simple–I think it was sport beans or vitalyte for a cycling event–and told me about L’Eroica. His eyes got that faraway dreamy stare as he told me of this long ride through Tuscany on historic white gravel roads called the “strade bianchi.” Three…
Mt Humphrey’s Sunrise Summit
We left Tucson around 3pm headed for Flagstaff. We had two options for our hike. We could either find a campsite, get a good night’s sleep and start early in the morning OR we were considering having dinner, getting a few hours of sleep and starting around midnight, putting us at the summit around sunrise….