Pobrecito: The Rolls

Now that the AZTR has been moved to the fall, I've had some extra time to pour over the route making a few tweaks here & there for hopefully a better ride experience. One such area was the dirt connection between Saguaro Lake and Four Peaks Rd. It just wasn't sitting well with me.

I didn't like that Butcher Jones Rd. dropped back down to lake level, in a designated no camping zone, only to lead riders into a potential dead air sand trap. That area could be as much as a mile in length until the dirt road climbs out of the small canyon. Then there's a mega steep hike-a-bike to deal with similar in scope to the one at the bottom of Oracle Ridge before the Cody trail split. So, yeah, I was scouring the maps for an alternate route.

I've been very motivated to eliminate as much pavement as possible on the new AZT800 route and what I discovered would do just that. The next pullout on the Bush Hwy is the Pobrecito Recreation Site, there's a staging area for OHV's behind the paved lot. There appeared to be a suitable route making the connection over to Four Peaks road. I sketched out two options to see which, if any, were better than the current route through Butcher Jones.

I was still on my 40 hour work furlough, so I took advantage of the Monday off and made my way over to the OHV staging area at Pobrecito. It was going to be warm, but I wanted it that way so I knew how it would ride under a bit of heat distress.

Can't miss this sign from the Bush Hwy.

The area I'd be riding through is known as The Rolls.

The main route I'd be riding would be 13 to 1832, also taking a look at 1863, 1343 to the far end of 13. Four Peaks Rd. is FS143.

The running joke in AZ about the GWT is, it's Western.

13 climbs out of the staging area, nothing steep and surprisingly not sandy.

Four Peaks looms in the distance.

A look back to the southeast unveils the Superstition Mtns. & Weaver's Needle.

13 continues to gently climb and 'roll' over false summit after false summit.

Typical Sonoran Desert out here.

Hopefully you're not allergic to Palo Verde pollen this time of year!!

The lowland grasses may be bone dry, but the majority of the desert remains alive.

I reached Four Peaks road with relative ease, this route seemed like the winner. Looking back down 1832.

There's another OHV staging area at the junction with Four Peaks Rd.

FS143, aka Four Peaks Rd., will lead riders for 17 miles up the left flank of the Peak's shoulder.

Brown's Peak, the far left of the four, is the highest of the group at 7,657'.

Riding down 1343 I encountered enough sand to nix this option.

The desert's official signaling of summer, the Saguaro bloom.

This is the turn to head up 1832 from 13, now the official route.

I didn't bother with this one, 1863. Ugh. No thanks.

Looking down the Rolls on 13.

I have to say I was extremely pleased at how well the route up 13 to 1832 rode. It'll be a much welcomed change from the other option off Butcher Jones. This route is just under 8 miles from Pobrecito to Four Peaks Rd.

*Unfortunately, three weeks after this scouting ride, the Bush Fire started off AZ87 & Bush Hwy scorching over 190,000 acres in the area including about half of this route. As of this writing the area is still closed and the 2020 AZT800 is in jeopardy of being cancelled.

Many of us locals are keeping our fingers crossed that the Saguaro in the area somehow withstood the fire. Everything else will grow back quickly except the mighty Saguaro. So sad.

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