Introduction

Southeast Arizona is a fantastic but little known bike touring destination. It's the place where Apaches resisted Spanish priests and conquistadors. Where miners struck it rich in Tombstone and Bisbee. Like the Big Bend area of Texas, it's an enchanting desert/mountain region well south of the Southern Tier bike route. Few bicycle tourists pass through.

I biked across southern Arizona in 2012 and, like most cyclists, followed the Gila river farther north. I completely missed southeast Arizona. The region is not convenient to visit because it's isolated by I-10 and a vast roadless area to the north, and the Mexican border to the south. It's not on the way to anything-southeast Arizona is a destination you choose to visit.

My original plan was to do a spring 2016 tour from Jacksonville, Florida to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The objective was mostly to pedal through "my" last 3 U.S. states: Georgia, South Carolina, and Delaware. I bought 3 ACA Atlantic Coast maps and investigated some detours to coastal islands. Most of the time the ACA route is very far away from the ocean. I just wasn't inspired. My final 3 states will have to wait.

Instead I planned a shorter tour in Southeast Arizona which is a different universe from the flat, lush, humid, and sometimes crowded east coast. The tour is a loop starting and finishing in Tucson, March 27 to April 7, 2016. I pedaled only 466 miles in 12-days, allowing time for hikes, museums, and naps.

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I think it's easier to visualize the route if you click the button in the upper right of the map and select "Terrain".

I have great admiration for bicycle travelers who create great tour journals during a bike tour. I've never even attempted it and think I would seldom have the time or energy to do it well. Like all my tour journals this was created after the tour, allowing me to create better photos and more factual prose.

The tour is in a high desert region that straddles the Sonoran desert to the west and the Chihuahuan desert to the east. Isolated mountain ranges pop up, the northern remnants of Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. The highest mountains are forested.

Once I get away from Tucson the elevation is always above 3000 feet. More than half of the route is above 4000 feet elevation. The highest road of the tour is 5900 feet elevation near Bisbee.

This is my 4th all-motels tour but with careful planning I was able to do two long hikes in remote areas. In Madera Canyon I stayed at the historic Santa Rita lodge to do a hike to 7080-foot Josephine Saddle. The long detour and hike at Chiricahua National Monument were made possible by staying 2 nights at a bed and breakfast 12 miles outside the park.

The route includes several miles on I-19 access roads between Tucson and Nogales. Also 26 miles on the shoulder of I-10. Fortunately 3/4 of the distance on I-10 is downhill. It's nearly impossible to do a big loop in southeast Arizona without going some distance on I-10.

Points of interest:

San Xavier mission8 mile hike at Madera canyon
Tubac Presidio and Tumacacori Mission historic sites
Nogales
Sonoita
San Pedro river wildlife corridor
Fairbank ghost town
Tombstone
Bisbee
10 mile hike at Chiricahua National Monument
Benson
Kartchner Caverns State Park
Cactus Forest Loop in Saguaro National Park east unit
Air Force boneyard in Tucson

Saguaro National Park on the last day of the tour.

Getting To Tucson

I bought an Alaska Airlines bike box well in advance and boxed the bike at home. My wife drove me to the Eugene airport with the boxed bike on the roof rack. The temperature was in the 40's with intermittent rain. Had to wrap the box in a tarp. That was a nuisance.

I flew from Eugene to Tucson on United Airlines which charges $150 for bicycles (double the Alaska Airlines bike fee). The round trip fare for me was $379 but the round trip baggage fees were $350! I changed planes in San Francisco. Both flights were on a Canadair CRJ200 regional jet. The 40 inch tall bike box barely fits in the 43 inch tall cargo door.

*Track Town USA* promotional poster at the Eugene airport.

I arrived in Tucson at 8 PM, well after dark. The temperature was 70F. Breezy, very dry, no clouds. Can't complain about that!

I dragged the bike box 1/4 mile from the baggage carousel to the hotel shuttle pickup area, then rode the free shuttle van to Quality Inn Tucson airport, about 2 miles from the terminal.

The box has a few tears and scrapes but the bike was not damaged. I assembled the bike in the room and asked the motel to store the bike box for the return trip.

Friendly sign in my room at Quality Inn Tucson Airport.

I had a hard time getting to sleep because I injured a muscle on the ball of my right foot. The sore foot shouldn't affect cycling but it might be a problem for the long hike on day 2.

Arizona is in the Mountain time zone but doesn't observe Daylight Savings time. This time of year Arizona and Oregon have the same time because Pacific Daylight Time = Mountain Standard Time. That makes it convenient when calling home, but the sun rises and sets an hour earlier than "normal". I'm accustomed to daylight until 8 PM in Oregon but it gets dark at 7 PM in Arizona. The early sunrise never seems to be any help.

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