The many faces of Lemmon

I've never ridden on Mt. Lemmon before....{insert facepalm gesture here}.  So when Chad extended an invite for a tour up top, I jumped at the opportunity.  With dogs fed, bags packed and two new tires on the bike, I pointed the vagabond-mobile south.  The plan was to ride up from town in the afternoon, make bivy somewhere up top in the dark and spend the next day riding.....the dude abides.

Leaving the car at Le Buzz Caffe at 4pm, we started the sweaty climb up Mt. Lemmon Highway where we were shortly joined by Johnathon who was running a bit late....the temperature was 92 degrees....

Leaving the highway at Molino Basin, we jumped onto Prison Camp trail (which is now known as the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation site....give respect where it's due....he waited a while.....)...climbing into the beautiful light of late afternoon......

Moments of shade were welcomed as were switchback challenges....

Warm glow of afternoon in the high Sonoran desert grasslands is a special time...

It's hard to take a bad picture when everything just glows with intensity and contrast....

Climbing higher as the sun sank lower......

 

Photo By Chad Brown

......the last evidence of day illuminates the craggy nature of the Santa Catalina's against a tangerine mist......

.....and the shadow of a lone rider, projected onto a fiery tableau......

Photo By Chad Brown

Reaching our bivy spot next to Butterfly Trail in the dark, we were officially cold with a brisk wind gusting to 20 mph and temperatures now in the low 30's.....we promptly fell into our bags and slept with the wind gusting most of the night.

Waking in the morning, I reached a frozen hand out of my bag and snatched the chorizo and bean burrito which lay within my pack.....700 calories of love to warm my cold and waking body....

Bikepacker Snuggie?..........

With temperatures rapidly warming, we headed over to Marshall Gulch.  The satisfying roar of Sabino Creek, cascading over polished rock below us, reverberated off of the granite slab surrounding us....

Topping out at 9100ft, we enjoyed our first downhill of the trip as we hooted and hollered our way down Aspen trail.....

Faces of flow captured on my camera, became the theme for the rest of the day as we stayed high to avoid the heat down low.....Chad booting it.....

.....and sticking it....so many faces in mere seconds gives hint to the rush and exhilaration found on two wheels; avoiding the bummer life......

Climbing back out of Marshall Gulch, body english and grimaces were required....

Heading over to Secret via a combination of Cafe, 1918, Bear Wallow and some other trails which escape me....I capture the many faces of a log roll.....

Cresting Bigelow, we shared 2 tall boys and reveled in the afternoon sun.  Sounds of birds, a cool breeze, a 100 mile view and the great descent down to Palisades got us drunk....

Continuing the screaming descent on the road where I hit 40.3mph, a new record for me, we jumped onto the hoodoo ridge descent down Bug Springs.......

Finishing off with a final descent down the highway, we ended the trip with beers and burgers at Nimbus Brewery.  A treat well earned after 60 miles, 60 degrees of temperature range experienced and 10,800ft of vertical gain on the trip.