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| Arizona Canal Trail |
It was another hot, sunny day of pedaling for me east through Phoenix and Mesa AZ and then north into the mountains toward Usery Pass.
I rode most of the day with two Minnesotans—Kevin and Mark. I met them on the more-upscale, eastern part of the Arizona Canal Trail.
They are riding with a group of friends from Minneapolis. They are using a van to shuttle their gear between motels and campsites, taking turns driving.
Their ride started in Oceanside CA and will end in Austin.
Tonight, they are staying at an Air B&B in Scottsdale AZ, and I am hoping to continue riding another 20 miles to a campground. They’re also planning to take a different, 60-mile-shorter route toward Globe AZ than I will be taking tomorrow. But I enjoyed chatting with them today and hope our paths cross again farther down the line.
After we parted company in Tempe, I continued east toward Apache Junction then north to the austerely beautiful Usery Mountain Regional Park campground.
Here I received some very bad news: all of the campsites were booked for the night.
This was particularly disappointing to me, after a long hot ride, because I had called to reserve a site several days ago, and there was an RV site available at that point. Whoever I talked to on the phone, however, suggested that I wait to get one of the campground’s unreserveable but cheaper, first-come, first-served, tent-only sites when I arrived. Shouldn’t be a problem on a Sunday with the temps in the 90s, I figured. So why not save a few dollars?
Well, the long and short of it is, March is prime time in Arizona, and many of the accommodations in the state are booked in advance, including those at a lot of the nicer campgrounds. Live and learn.
After some sustained whining on my part, it was pointed out to me that we were in the middle of a huge desert and nobody was going to get too upset if I just pitched my tent and crashed behind a cactus somewhere.
So I got the hint, found a secluded spot to set up my tent, and ended up getting a great night’s sleep.
DM: 52.1; TM: 505.7; 1,018 ft. climbing; 5.33 hrs. ride time; 9.2 mph avg spd
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| Kevin (l) and Mark |
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| Arizona Canal Trail |
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| Mesa AZ shade station |
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| View from my stealth site |
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