Yesterday we rode from Tombstone to Saguaro National Park in search of a campsite. You really can’t beat the value of purchasing the annual National Parks pass. To get our money’s worth; we’re planning on trying to hit all of them up the west coast. By the time we arrived at the park, the visitor center was closed and once again we had to rely on the pamphlets neatly stacked by the front door. Turns out that the only way to reach the closest campsite is by hiking 6.9 miles; motor vehicles not allowed on the trails. Well that kinda sucks. I was hoping that the park would be similar to Big Bend where there would be trails to ride our motorbikes on. We’re better off to wait for the cover of night and pitch our tent in the picnic area when nobody’s around. Look! There’s a gazebo we can pitch our tent and hide our bikes under! Perfect.
Although we didn’t have a campfire to make the night complete, we did purchase boxed wine and had ourselves a little night cap. Seeing a saguaro cactus in the flesh for the first time was unreal.
We woke up early this morning and broke camp to avoid getting a ticket for not camping in the designated areas. It was freezing cold. We rode into Tucson, AZ and stopped at McDonalds to warm up and grab a bite for breakfast. We went to the library afterwards to get in contact with Judoka who sent us an invite earlier to give him a heads up on when we’re going to arrive. Also needed to find out if it was ok for me to ship a new chain and sprockets to his place because mine is dangerously getting worn out to shreds.
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| Entrance to Saguaro National Park |
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| The saguaro cactuses are massive! Can you believe it can take up tp 75 years to grow a side arm! |
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| Playing videogames in the kiddie section at McDonalds |
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| Picked out a campsite today in Coronado National Forest. We rode up in elevation a fair bit to be by ourselves. Looking at all the snow around us, I'm not sure if that was such a good idea. |
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| What do you do when a bear attacks? Jump in the bear box! |
We spent the rest of the day gathering as much firewood as we can for the night. A tricked out Peugeot that looked as if it’s been driving off the beaten path pulls in. Looks like we have company; better introduce ourselves then. Turns out that the driver is a documentary filmmaker from Mexico working on his current project. Abraham is his name and he just came from Big Bend National Park shooting footage for his upcoming documentary about the desert. We all sat around the campfire sharing stories about our adventures and having a blast. The boxed wine definitely helped keep our spirits up as the temperature continued to drop. At one point, wildlife kept popping out of nowhere up in the trees all around us. They looked like meerkats, but couldn’t really tell for sure. Abraham was all over them desperately trying to get a photo, but they were jittery little buggers.
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| 147 km |
Land of saguaro.
Refuge under gazebo.
Have another drink!
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