Lately I have been looking at maps, continually trying to find new places to go and explore. I find it's a lot of fun, sometimes you don't know what you're getting into, you get out someplace and run into private property and that route fails, but others work out pretty nicely.
One that really interested me was written up by Scott Morris: http://topofusion.com/diary/2012/03/27/empire-rita-loop
He and a few friends rode from Sahuarita Road down between the Empire's and the Whetstone's, past
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| Wild Turkeys in the brush |
Empire Ranch, to Sonoita and back to Sahuarita Rd using the AZ Trail. I've ridden the AZ trail piece a couple of times ( it's hard ), but wanted to checkout the east side of the route, so Sunday found me at Empire Ranch with the goal of heading up to a place called The Narrows on Cienega Creek
Late start on Sunday, drove to Empire Ranch and was rolling out of their parking lot at the Ranch Headquarters at 10 am. The first part is a pretty nice easy downhill towards an offshoot of Cienega Creek that has a lot of big cottonwoods in it. I saw some wild turkeys, right in front of me, and got one photo of them disappearing into the brush by the time I got my phone out of my pocket.
More riding past some cattle corrals, a place where the route goes to the east and climbs a bit near some power lines and then downhill to Cienega Creek. I passed some ATV folks that were fixing a flat, and then got to the Creek. And there was water ! This year is probably going to be the driest on record for Southern Arizona with maybe 4.5 inches so far, so seeing running water is pretty amazing. Enough water that I got in above my knees and was holding the back of the bike up to keep bottom bracket and rear hub dry.
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| Water in Cienega Creek |
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| Water is special |
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| Next crossing |
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| Better place to cross is to the front of the bike |
Rode out of the creek, back into it a couple of more times and then climbed once and back down to the Narrows. I didn't see the flood control gauge ( there is supposed to be one there ), but I did see the sheets of metal and remember seeing a cactus growing out of an "area closed" sign.
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| Dirt road backstreets |
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| Metal strips still here |
On the way back a guy in a pickup truck says "you got out here on that ?" ... think he was a little impressed. Pretty easy ride back to Ranch Headquarters and drive home. Nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
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| Love the views |
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Clear for miles
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Have to ride to the Narrows from Sahuarita Road next.
