Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Part VII of this series covers the northeast section of Southern AZ. (Kind of reminds me of the city of Northeast Southwestern in the old “Electric Company” show.) As defined in part I, Southern AZ is made up of Pima, Santa Cruz and Cochise Counties. This segment will describe roads and highways in the northern parts of Pima and Cochise Counties, north of Interstate 10. Because this area has fewer roadways than the areas south of the interstates I will be talking about towns and points of interest on or just a short distance south of I-10 as well. I will start in the area immediately north of Tucson and work my way east.

Oracle Road is/becomes Route 77. I am going to cheat just a little bit on my own definition, because the northwest side of Tucson has now expanded almost to the Pinal County line, just outside of the suburb of Catalina. I am, therefore, going to talk about a couple of routes that are actually in Pinal County. If you are looking for ways to go to Phoenix or other points in the north and you DO NOT want to use the interstate, Route 77 is a road with which you need to be familiar.

About 5 miles north of Catalina, there is a fork in the road. A left turn puts you on Route 79, which for some reason, known only to a select few member of the AZ DOT, is also marked as State Highway 80. (This peculiarity only lasts from the Rt 77 junction to Florence, then State Highway 80 ceases to exist.)

Route 77/79 Junction

Route 79 takes you to historic Florence, AZ. Florence is home to a state prison and I think my favorite attraction in the city is the Prison Outlet Store.

Prison Outlet Store

Am I the only one who finds this hysterical?

From Florence, there are a number of ways to proceed in to Phoenix. A few of these are noted in the “Ride Maps” section of this website. Also, if you are interested in driving a loop to Tucson’s north, about 10 miles from the junction is Park Link Drive. Until a year or two ago, it was dirt. Now it is a good quality paved road that connects Route 79 to I-10. It comes out right a the little town of Red Rock. For TV history buffs, the Tom Mix Memorial is just a few miles north of Park Link.

go back to Route 77. About 6 miles past the junction is Biosphere II. This former space experiment turn tourism destination is becoming very popular. I have yet to visit there but it is on my list of “Places to Go Unless I Change My Mind.” It is actually visible from the forest service road which leads from Ski Valley to the top of the Mt Lemmon ski lift.

A few miles past Biosphere is the town of Oracle. As of this writing, the state park located there is closed. However, if you turn right onto American Avenue and continue to drive, it eventually becomes the East Mt Lemmon Highway. The word “highway” here is very misleading. This is a rough, 4-wheel drive, narrow, steep road which does eventually lead to the top of Mt Lemmon. It is considerably less scenic than the other Mt Lemmon highway as well. If you are in the right kind of vehicle, it is a fun drive, though. Also along this stretch of dirt road, nearer to Oracle, are the Triangle Y Camp and Peppersauce Canyon and campground. These are both places where many Tucsonans went to summer or church camp in their youth.

Proceeding north on Route 77, you pass the exit to San Manuel. 77 is your gateway to points north. It will take you to Globe. From there you can go north on US 60/77 to Pine Top, turn east on US 70 and go to Safford or turn west on US 60 and loop down to the Phoenix area. If you are taking Route 77 for a loop toward Phoenix, I recommend taking the Route 177 spur out of Winkleman that leads you to Superior. It’s a great little road and takes you past the mine outside of Winkleman. It’s impressive.

Now we shall turn our sites east of Tucson and look down the eastbound Interstate 10 corridor. As mentioned previously, I try to avoid using the Interstate, but in many parts of Arizona, there are few, if any secondary roads to get to some locations. Some of the points I will mention in this segment are accessible from roads that come up from the south, but those will be discussed in a future segment.

East bound on I-10, the next point of interest is the town of Benson. Important routes leading south, which will be discussed in the future are Routes 80 and 90. An interesting northbound road is Cascabel Road. It starts as Pomerene Road and is on the east side of Benson. The first 15 miles or so are paved. After that, it is well maintained dirt/gravel and will eventually take you around the Rincon and Catalina Mountains and back to the town of San Manuel and Route 77. It’s about 55 miles from Benson to San Manuel using this road. There are no services at all between the two towns, but you will pass near the ghost towns of Tres Alamos and Reddington.

On the west side of Benson is the “town” of Gammon’s Gulch.

It is actually a movie set however, it is open to the public for much of the year. You can set the town from I-10 when you’re west of Benson. It is near the foot of the mountain as you’re looking north. Another interesting thing you can see from I-10 is Agua Verde Castle, also known as Durham Castle. It sets atop a small peak 5-10 miles east of Vail. It’s on the north side of I-10. It is a private residence and is not open to the public. If you ever go to Colossal Cave, they have those telescopes that you drop a quarter into and you can get a pretty good look at it from there.

As you go east out of Benson, you begin a fairly steep climb up to a pass in the Dragoon Mountains. At the top of the pass is Texas Canyon, so named for a group of Texans that settled there.

One of the many rock sculptures in TX Canyon

Texas Canyon is very interesting to drive through. One minute, you’re driving though desert with sagebrush and a few cactus, a mile or two later, the landscape is covered with huge boulders. Some are just laying around, other are stacked on top of each other in bizarre sculptures.

There are several interesting places nearby. There is the old Butterfield Stage stop about 7 miles south of I-10. On the opposite end of that historical spectrum, there is the Amerind Foundation Museum. Then there is “The THING?” The Thing is that typical roadside Americana kitsch that you usually think of as being found along Route 66 next door to the hotel where you sleep in the tee-pees.. There is gas, a Dairy Queen, a huge gift shop and, of course, the museum that houses “The THING?” What is it? I won’t tell you here, but if you haven’t stopped there, it’s worth the price of admission just to tell your friends that you’ve seen “The THING?”

Don't Miss It.

In the next segment, I will discuss Willcox, Rex Allen, pick-your-own produce and the “Devil’s Highway.” Please check back in a few days.

Ride Maps

Park Link Loop – 88 miles if you’re starting in mid-town. Difficulty – Easy. This loop has gentle, rolling hills and easy curves. From Red Rock back to Tucson I recommend the I-10 access road if you’re on a bicycle or scooter or if you just don’t want to zoom along at 75mph and miss the scenery. There is fuel and food available in Catalina and in Marana.

Winkleman-Superior-Florence Loop – 200 miles. Difficulty – Easy. This loop cruises through some beautiful country along the San Pedro River valley. It includes the 177 spur from Winkleman to Superior. If you continue on to Globe on 77 you get to go through Top-of-the-World and it is only 26 more miles.

Tres Alamos-San Manuel Dirt Loop – 159 miles with about 50 miles of dirt/gravel. Difficulty – Moderate IF you have the right vehicle. This may be rough on the average street bike or family sedan. Because of how remote it is, make sure someone knows what route you are taking and bring along some water. This route could be treacherous during monsoons.

I have one, maybe two, more segments to write about riding in the Tucson area. I’m sure, though, that there are some people who are want to get out on the open road and see what SoAZ has to offer. Actually, I’m one of them, so I’m going to come back to Tucson’s northern foothills and Catalina highway a bit later. So, on with the western half of Southern Arizona.

View Wild, wild west in a larger map

There are three primary routes that go west when you’re in the southern half of the state:

Interstate-10, which leaves Tucson and doesn’t really turn west until it hits Phoenix. It is the quickest way to L.A.
Interstate-8, which branches off from I-10 at Casa Grande and is the primary route to San Diego.
Route 86, which goes mostly west out of Tucson until it ends at Ajo.

I won’t really bother discussing I-10 or I-8 for a couple of reasons. Interstates are for getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible. They are a means to get to a good place to ride or drive. Stopping on the interstate roadside to snap a picture can get you run over. At the end of this segment there will be ride maps that will use the interstate to get to or from some scenic roadways.

If we’re not going to use interstate highway to go west, we are left only with Route 86, aka Tucson/Ajo Highway. If you remember back to Part II of this series, we covered points off of 86 as far west as Sandario Road and Ryan Airfield. The Tucson/Ajo Highway is a little more than 100 miles long and ends just east of Ajo, AZ. Road quality is fair, but there are lots of dips where sands may exist. Numerous roadside memorials attest, however, that this is not the safest road on which to travel.

Less than 7 miles further west of Ryan Field is the community of  Three Points, or uh, Robles Junction. (From what I can tell, both names appear to be used interchangeably for the same area located at the intersection of Route 86 and Route 286.) There is a general store with fuel in Three Points. If you were to turn south onto 286, you would be in for a treat. This road runs along the middle of the beautiful Altar Valley for about 45 miles, until it ends in the little border town of Sasabe. There is gas and nice little general store there.

Located just outside of Sasabe is the Rancho de le Osa Guest Ranch, which claims to have the oldest building in Arizona on the property. It was originally a trading post built by Father Kino, and dates back to the late 1600′s. It has been a guest ranch since the 1920′s.

If you backtrack about 12 miles, you come to the Arivaca-Sasabe Road. This twisty road (a favorite of many motorcyclists) will take you east, through the town of Arivaca, before eventually ending on I-19 at Amado. There is gas in Arivaca and a very nice coffee shop called the Gadsden Coffee Company located on the east side of town. Their Arivaca Blend is pretty darned good.

Returning back to Ajo Highway, there is another Arizona landmark which shouldn’t be missed. Just 16 miles west of Three Points is the cutoff for Route 386. This is the road to Kitt Peak National Observatory.

At the junction the elevation is about 3400 feet. In just 12 miles miles, the road climbs to almost 7000 feet! This is another of Arizona’s twisting, turning mountain roads.

Kitt Peak regularly gets snow in the winter months. Also, temperatures at the top can be 30 degrees cooler than at the base, so bring appropriate clothing. There are different tours available and even an occasional over-night tour where you can check out the telescopes. There is very little in the way of retail or food at the top, so bring a picnic lunch or be prepared to survive on soda, chips and a Hershey Bar.

Advisory – While riding or driving in most of the area west of Tucson, you will be on the Tohono O’odham Nation, or Reservation, if you prefer. The Tohono O’odham live on 4.3 million, sparsely populated square miles of land, which includes San Xavier Mission and Kitt Peak. Few of the roads here are paved, villages are few and far between and most have no services. Ensure that your vehicle is in proper working order and that you have some extra water with you in the event that something happens and you have to wait a while until help arrives.

Another 20 miles west from the Kitt Peak road brings you to the town of Sells. There is fuel and food available here. The next road of interest, however, is 20 miles further west and that is Indian Route 15. IR-15 is a wide, smooth road which passes through some amazing desert scenery. It is also nice, because it takes you north to Casa Grande. Returning to Tucson via I-10 gives you a very nice 200 mile trip with some cool places to see and visit. Check the ride maps at the end of this segment for a sample ride.

It is just 40 more miles to Why, AZ and the “T” intersection of Route 86 and Route 85. Turning south at this point takes you through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to the US-Mexico border at Lukeville. This is a busy border town because it is the way one takes to get to the ocean at Puerto Penasco, Mexico, aka “Rocky Point.” Rocky Point is the closest ocean to most of southern Arizona and New Mexico and is a popular destination for many of Arizona’s desert dwellers from Tucson and Phoenix. Because of the high traffic volume, Route 85 is in good condition and is well maintained. Note – The pics of Rocky Point aren’t mine. I got the from Google Images.

Route 85 north takes you to Ajo, AZ, a popular retirement community. Outside of Ajo, you cross the Barry M. Goldwater (formerly Luke) Air Force Bombing Range. It is 2.7 million acres of “You can’t ride here” and it extends west almost to the California stateline. Route 85 through the range is beautiful, though. There are many wild looking rock formations that look like they are right out of a western movie.

Just after exiting the bombing range’s northern border, you arrive at Gila Bend, AZ and Interstate 8. Gila Bend is a quirky little town with a lot of UFO and other space stuff. It reminded me of Roswell, NM only not as green.

This brings us to the westernmost edge of our previously describe area called SoAZ.

Ride Maps

Sells/Casa Grande Loop – 220 miles of beautiful desert scenery. Mostly straight, or gentle curving roads. Includes Park Link Road as an alternative to returning to Tucson from Picacho. Level of Difficulty – Easy.

Arivaca Loop – 135 miles through the Altar Valley. Take the detour to Sasabe. Don’t forget to stop for a snack at the Gadsden Coffee Shop in Arivaca. Returns to Tucson via Old Nogales Highway. Level of difficulty – Moderate.

Gila Bend Loop – 330 miles. An all-day drive which showcases the variety of desert we have here. There is also a lot of farmland on this route between Gila Bend and Florence. Includes the bombing range and Casa Grande. Note – Road quality between Maricopa and Gila Bend is fair at best. Level of Difficulty – Easy

I think my favorite things about Tucson are the Foothills. When I was a kid, we would drive up into the foothills to get the great views of the city and to see how another half lives. Tucson is literally surrounded by foothills on all four sides. I have already written about riding in the Tucson Mountains to the west (in Part III) and in the north end of the Santa Ritas to the south in part IV. Lets get to the real foothills of the Rincons and the Santa Catalinas.

Let’s pick up in Vail, where we ended last segment. As you may recall, the main drag through Vail is Colossal Cave Road. After crossing the railroad track, going north, you come to a stoplight at a “T” intersection. As mentioned previously, a left puts you on Mary Ann Cleveland Way and returns you to Houghton Road. Make a right and you are now on Pistol Hill Road. Pistol Hill heads out of Vail to the northeast, climbs along the northern ends of the Rincons then loops around to the northwest where it intersects with Old Spanish Trail.

Old Spanish Trail winds around the border of the Coronado National Forest after going through some historic ranch land, which is rapidly being converted into tracts of housing. There’s a great cemetery along here if you’re like me and enjoy that kind of thing.

Another nice place to stop through here is the Rincon Valley Farmer’s Market. They not only have produce, but they’ve got locally handcrafted items and, my personal favorite, coffee, fresh roasted on the spot.

Spanish trail continues to twist its way northward, eventually passing by Saguaro National Park East. The park not only has an interesting visitors’ center which gives some great history of the area, but it has the awesome “Cactus Forest” loop drive. This loop is 8 miles of one way, steep climbing, tight turning bliss.

I took an out-of-town scooter friend on the loop a while back and he said “It’s like the scooter gods came down and created the perfect road, just for us.”  The scenery is gorgeous. You will need to watch for cyclists, particularly, if you’re riding this on a weekend.

Continuing on Old Spanish Trail after Saguaro National Park, will eventually take you to Broadway Boulevard, near Camino Seco. If you’re headed back to town, it is an excellent route to take. If you’re wanting to continue near the mountains, I prefer to make a right hand turn on Freeman, which is located less than a quarter mile north of the Park entrance.

About a half-mile up Freeman, you come to the top of a hill. The view from this point is spectacular. In the distance are the Catalinas. Spread out before you is beautiful desert. As I write this, we are in monsoon season and everything is very green. Freeman is as straight a road as you will ever travel, but there some nice little dips and hills to go through and over. As always, watch for sand and critters.

I really love exploring the side streets in this area. You do have to be careful, though, because some of them abruptly go from asphalt to dirt.

The paved portion of Freeman ends at Speedway Blvd. You can’t see it from this point, but less than a mile further north is a wide,(usually) dry wash. There are three ways to cross. Turn right and go about one mile east and cross using Wentworth. Wentworth is paved, except for the actually part of the road that goes through the wash. It is fairly well maintained, however, so isn’t usually a lot of sand or debris to worry about. You’ll arrive at Tanque Verde Road in about a mile.

Note: If you continue east on Speedway, you’ll arrive at Tanque Verde  Ranch just three miles down the road. It is a historic dude ranch and has a lot to offer. It is on the list of “Least Expensive Places to Stay in Tucson” however.

If you turn west on Speedway, turn north onto Tanque Verde loop Road after about one mile. This road through the wash is paved all the way to Tanque Verde. If the wash is flowing, you will need to go two miles from the Freeman intersection to the bridge at Houghton Road.

Once on Tanque Verde Road, you have a few options open to you. Going west on Tanque Verde takes you back in to Tucson. If you are looking for some “off the asphalt adventure”, turn to the east. Tanque Verde Road will become Reddington Road. It turns to dirt and gravel and can be very rough. High clearance vehicles are usually recommended. Continuing will eventually bring you to a “T.” North takes you to San Manuel, AZ and will take you behind the Catalinas. South will take you behind the Rincons and eventually to Benson, AZ.  Advisory: The desert can be very unforgiving. If you chose to take to the back roads, make sure you have extra water with you and tell a friend where you plan on going and what route you will take to get there.

If you crossed the wash via Houghton Road, you can continue due north. Houghton the most direct route to the Catalina Highway and up Mt Lemmon. Houghton ends at Snyder Road. I prefer to take Soldier Trail, which is conveniently located halfway between Tanque Verde Loop and Wentworth.

Soldier Trail is mostly straight, but again crosses through some beautiful desert. About two miles up Soldier Trail, you will come to one of my favorite area parks; Agua Caliente. There are natural springs and water can be found here year round. It is quite historic, but the visitors’ center is only open intermittently, however.

Agua Caliente is a true oasis, just like in the movies. We like to take all of our out-of-town visitors here.

If you return to Soldier Trail northbound, you cross Snyder (remember where Houghton Rd ended?) and continuing further you find yourself at Catalina Highway. The ride Mount Lemmon is a segment all its own and I will be getting there in the next week or so. In the meantime, let’s cover some of the foothills between the Catalina highway and Sabino Canyon Creek.

Catalina Highway, Snyder Road and Bear Canyon Road, form a scenic triangle of curving, hilly residential streets perfect for bicyclists, scooters or drivers just looking for some nearby desert scenery.

View Snyder Triangle in a larger map
If you enlarge the map you can see the triangle and how it is filled with a lot of little streets waiting to be explored. You can only go a short distance west of Bear Canyon Road because there are no bridges across Sabino Canyon Creek. From the intersection of Snyder and Bear Canyon, you can clearly see another portion of Snyder, but the only way to get there is to go all the way back to Tanque Verde then east to Sabino Canyon and return north.

Ride Maps

Now that we’ve covered a bit more area, I can post a few ride maps that occur within more than one of the areas we’ve covered:

1. 70 mile loop to Vail via Old Spanish Trail and Sahuarita Road. Great desert scenery with gas and snacks available in Vail or Corona de Tucson.

View Larger Map
2. 65 mile loop to Vail which includes Bear Canyon, Soldier Trail and Freeman Road. It also goes right past the Rincon Valley Farmers’ Market.

View Larger Map
3. 43 mile loop around the foothills of the extreme northeast. It does include Agua Caliente Park.

View Larger Map
Note The mileage on these loops is long mostly because of our starting position. If you remember I am starting all rides from Speedway and Campbell just to give everyone a common point of reference. If you’re starting on the east side, these are all much shorter.

View Larger Map

The southern boundary of our “Tucson Square” is formed by Sahuarita Road. It stretches for more than 20 miles, connecting Mission Road to Route 83, aka the Sonoita Highway. There are virtually no stoplights making this a surprisingly fast way way to cross town, east-west. If you live on the east side and are wanting to go to anyplace from Sahuarita to Nogales, consider taking Sahuarita Rd. Improvements have recently been made west of Corona de Tucson as well, making it wider, smoother and safer. It’s biggest drawback is that there are few north-south connections to Tucson.

Near the west end of Sahuarita Road is the growing community of Sahuarita. The City of Sahuarita is our gateway to points south as well as some routes that lead to ghost towns as well as the scenic Arivaca Loop, which will be covered in a future segment.

At Sahuarita, there are three main routes to go north to Tucson. The fastest is Interstate-19. West of I-19 is Mission Road, which I’ve already discussed, and, paralleling I-19 about a half-mile to its east, there is Nogales Highway. Two things to know about Nogales highway; First, it does not go all the way through to Nogales and second, it becomes 6th Avenue at Irvington Road shortly after you enter Tucson.

Going east on Sahuarita Rd, the next street of note is probably Wilmot. Wilmot technically goes north and connects to I-10 however, there are about eight miles of dirt to get there. I believe that a layer of asphalt will be happening in the near future, but as of the first of June, much of it was still dirt.

Another four miles to the east and you arrive at Corona de Tucson and the intersection of Houghton Road. Houghton travels north past the Pima County Fairgrounds, over I-10, past the community of Rita Ranch and then to the east side of Tucson. At or near the fairgrounds you will also find Tucson Raceway Park, a 3/8 mile oval stock car track which is in the process of being converted from asphalt to dirt and will re-open August 21, 2010. For those wanting something a bit louder and a bit faster, there is Southwestern International Dragway drag strip. Both places places offer great weekend entertainment that is pretty gentle on the wallet.

Southbound Houghton Road ends about three miles from Sahuarita. However, if you are out taking pictures and are are interested in some beautiful scenery, I strongly recommend this little detour. It begins climbing into the Santa Rita foothills as it ends. At that point your are in an Ocotillo Cactus forest of sorts. There are great views looking toward Green Valley and, of course, toward Tucson.

Corona de Tucson is nestled at the north end of the Santa Rita Mountains. It’s a nice little village with a population of about 1,000 and growing rapidly. There is a gas station here with a nice little market inside, a golf course and American Legion Post 109, which is active in the motorcycling community via the “Legion Riders.”

Continuing east on Sahuarita bring a noticeable decline in road quality. Be advised, there are frequent potholes from here all the way to Route 83 and the shoulder is nothing but rough dirt, gravel, and/or sand. The road also starts going through some dips, so, as mentioned in the previous post, be wary of running water as well as sand and debris in the roadway. It is monsoon season as I write this and today I came across some good examples:

About three more miles east is Wentworth Road which is another of the roads which take you to I-10. It meets the interstate at the town of Vail. Vail is a rapidly growing community with a population of about 3,000 as of 2007. There is very little in the way of retail or services in Vail, but all that they do have is located directly on Colossal Cave (aka Wentworth) Road about one mile north of the I-10 interchange.
There is a Quik-Mart with fuel, a Quizno’s sandwich shop and a Dairy Queen. There are also a couple of local eateries and a gun shop.

There are a few ways back to Tucson from Vail. There is the interstate, of course. North on Colossal Cave Rd takes you to a stoplight at a “T.” A left turn puts you on Mary Ann Cleveland Way which will take you to Houghton Road and Rita Ranch. A right keeps you on Colossal Cave Rd which takes you on a beautiful loop around Pistol Hill Road which takes you to Old Spanish Trail and eventually back to Tucson’s east side.

Are you seeing the possibilities for some good riding loops, yet? I hope so. Old Spanish Trail will be covered in our next segment. Please stay tuned.

Our final north-south road for this segment is Scenic Route 83, aka Sonoita Mountain View Highway. Highway 83′s southern destinations will be covered in a future installment. It is only about 2 miles to Interstate 10. You can either hop on the freeway here, or return to Vail via the frontage road which runs on the north side of the interstate.

This completes the segment following the length of Sahuarita road. I hope this encourages you to get out and see what lies south of town. In our next episode, I’ll cover the east side foothills, Saguaro National Park East, and scooter-safe routes through Tucson proper.