Catalina State Park - Winterlude 2021 - CycleBlaze

January 3, 2022

Catalina State Park

You would think that with nothing else to do with our days but take a ride, eat, and keep up with the blog that we’d do a better job of it.  There’s been a lot on our mind the last few days though that we’re not ready to discuss yet, so here we are behind again.  It’s a problem.

The solution?  Blow off today’s entry and catch up again.  It’s a good day for it, because it’s just another ride out Oro Valley like we’ve done a few times already.  This one’s a bit different because we kept going a few miles more to the entrance to Catalina State Park, something we haven’t done before.  Exciting, but not so much so that it needs much elaboration.

The big news of the day?  Three items.  First, after only two days Rillito Wash is dry again.  Second, Rachael spotted what she thought might be a coyote in the newly dry wash; and I think she was right, but the poor thing was so emaciated and half-starved that it feels too mean-spirited to even include a photo.  And third, at the moment anyway it’s a poor plan to take the underpass beneath Oracle Road on the neat bike path out of the state park, a path we’ve never taken before.  Maybe next time.

Amazing. I took a shot from the same spot yesterday and the whole left channel was a rushing river.
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Bruce LellmanIt's beautiful, all newly washed and sculpted without footprints yet.
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2 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Bruce LellmanActually there were a lot of footprints in spots - fresh coyote tracks. It occurred to me after the fact that I should have snapped some.
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2 years ago
In its wake the flood left a scoured and cleansed wash, most of the debris flushed down-channel. The sand and gravel look like they’ve been freshly raked, and remind me of a Japanese garden.
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Hawk and tenny runner, Oro Valley.
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We enjoy an awesome view of the Catalinas biking south on Oracle Road near the state park.
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We were most appreciative of this nice elderly couple for preceding us through the underpass beneath Oracle Road. She’s stranded in the mud and advises us to turn back and go around. Excellent advice, which we take.
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marilyn swettThanks for that picture Scott and a good heads up about the mud in the underpass. That looks deep! We usually take that route when we bike in and out of the park. I guess we'd better stay up on the road until we can get on the bike trail.
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2 years ago
Scott AndersonTo marilyn swettI’d check it out. By the time you get there it’s likely to have been cleared up. Looks like you’re arriving at just the right time, with two straight weeks of great weather ahead. Kelly is going to hate you.
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2 years ago
Another view of the Catalinas, because they’re worth it.
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On Mabel Street, a double barreled chimney for the Cycle365 challenge. Nice, but not really worth biking down the horrible surface on Mabel Street to find it.
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Ride stats today: 50 miles, 1,200’

Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km)
Total: 1,282 miles (2,063 km)

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