October 27
55mi/88km
+3800ft/1150m
Today can be divided into two parts: before the bakery and after the bakery. The riding was really nice before, and not so much after.
We left town on a very nice multi-use path. Everyone was friendly and said hello. We followed the path for about 10mi/16km and joined surface streets with nice bike lanes. We rode like this all the way to Hurricane, where we passed a bakery. It was lunchtime, so we stopped in for coffee and a sandwich.
Leaving the bakery, we joined the highway and immediately started climbing. There was a pitifully small shoulder, most of which was a rumble strip. Weeds were growing immediately off the pavement. And when I say weeds, I’m not talking about dandelions, I’m talking about tumbleweeds and other large plants you can’t ride over. So there was no space, the cars were going fast, and some of them refused to move over. It was stressful and we both put headphones on for some music and got it over with.
As we approached the Arizona border, we wondered if the shoulder might get wider, and it did! It basically tripled in width, so it became much more comfortable for the last few miles of the day. We rode through Colorado City and continued south until we hit BLM land, and found a spot to camp away from the road.
Scenery today was top notch. The red sandstone cliffs are always stunning. More familiar birds are appearing: Gambel’s Quail, Say’s Phoebe, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Abert’s Towhee, Great-tailed Grackles. And flowers: Desert Marigold, Globemallow, and others I don’t know the name of.
