• Date: November 10, 2022

• 44.52 Miles

• 4,291 Feet of Gain

• Green Valley to Patagonia, AZ

For all the times we've bikepacked, Janna and I have been unsuccessful at convincing friends or acquaintances to join us on some backcountry bike tours.  That all changed this fall after Janna befriended Kate while Kate was shadowing at our school.  Kate enthusiastically jumped on the offer to join us for a bikepacking trip come Veteran's Day for our annual circumference ride of the Santa Ritas in southeast Arizona on the Sky Islands Odyssey.  As the weekend date approached, Kate asked us if her childhood friend Sean could also tag along.  Janna and I were stoked to have two people finally ride with us, so we heartedly affirmed before beginning the long drive down to south of Tucson from the Grand Canyon.  

After arriving in Green Valley fairly late, we slept in a bit at the Best Western where we planned to park our car once more.  Sean and Kate drove down, setup their rigs (Kate was borrowing Janna's Surly Karate Monkey), and the four of us headed down to the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail that parallels the Santa Cruz river via a packed-adobe trail meandering through thickets of grass.  A front had just passed through the area, leaving in the aftermath a swath of low-slung cotton crusps of cloud that draped and dappled light everywhere.  The temps were perfect - neither too hot nor cold.  The miles passed easily as we started up pavement and then turned onto Forest Service roads to trace the base of the mountain range.  Everything seemed especially lush after a bountiful monsoon-fall, and the ocotillos were uncharacteristically green (or even red and orange with the decay of their leaves!).  Janna and I couldn't believe how absolutely excellent the roads still were from the spring, and how lush the vegetation seemed in early autumn.  

Our party of four took a break midday at the creek crossing that tumbles down from the peaks.  Sean and Kate ate full lunches, allowing us all an unhurried opportunity to absorb the views, enjoy the largest flow of water I had seen here, and some quintessential yellow foliage forming yellow on the cottonwood trees.   Shadow and light continued to play across the landscape as escarpments of clouds shrouded Mount Wrightson from view.  After some hike-a-bikes up to the saddle, we careened into the subsequent grass valleys.  The drug-runner car from the spring trip still sat in the same spot.  But now its exterior was riddled with bullets from target practice.  We pressed on as late afternoon arrived with the golden slant of fall light.  

Kate, Janna, Sean, and I arrived in Patagonia as crisp evening air blossomed at the failing of day's light.  We all immediately headed to Velvet Elvis, which now had moved to a new location across the town in the old historical church.  I was blown away by the new food offerings and vibrant interior.  We all ate a ton before exiting to the dark.  Sean and Kate went to sleep at a location to the south of town while Janna and I went north to TerraSol.  The place was even better than when we had visited in the spring.  We setup in the dark as herds of javelina began rutting about in the dark around us.  The night fell cold and thorough, but we slept well.