We didn't need an alarm this morning as we both rise early when sleeping outside. We were still buzzing about our accommodations, it was hard to leave. We topped off on water and hit the road. We knew we'd be dealing with smoke early on. How long would it last? Was it thick making breathing difficult or irritating to the eyes? We were about to find out.
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| Singletrack!! |
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| We took turns getting proof of skinny trail riding. |
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| The morning started clear, but the smoke was looming in the valley ahead. |
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| Into the abyss. Yuck. It actually didn't smell very smoky and visibility was no worse than this. |
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| It did make some cool photos. |
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| More ranch ruins. |
A local stopped to chat as he drove by. He was telling us how much worse it was the day before, glad we missed that. The miles were cruising by as we dropped into the valley.
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| First rattlesnake sighting, small fella. |
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| It was unanimous, we voted for Extreme. |
Down near the Mangas Work Center we came across the fire crews. They were getting their morning breakfast and we stopped to get an update. They indicated the route was open and the smoke should begin to lift around 9 - 9:30a. They thought they had a few more days of fire operations before winding down. They offered some cold water, which I'll never turn down, thanked them for their service and we were on our way.
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| We were riding through their backburn efforts. |
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| Quite a few hot spots, mostly burning tree stumps. |
Sure enough by 9:30 things had cleared substantially as we made our way towards our new remaining high point of the ride, somewhere near 8,300'.
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| Brown pow. Took a few minutes to find safe passage, but we got around without issue. |
We started the long downhill and almost immediately ran into a northbound rider from England. He was in great spirits and his eyes lit up when we told him the top of the climb was less than a mile ahead!! He too was glad to hear the smoke wasn't bad and we were sure to pass along the info about Davila Ranch to anyone who would listen. He reminded us of the upcoming church where water can be topped off.
It had been a real treat to stop and talk to all the northbound tourers, a real highlight of the entire ride. We wished him well and told him the cooler weather was only a few more days away. So far every rider we talked to lamented on how hot the Gila was. We were trying to get mentally prepared for it, as tomorrow would be our turn going through. But first, we needed to reach our goal for the day: The Beaverhead Work Center.
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| Long, steady downhill gives way to scrubland in the high desert. |
We reached the pave NM12, turned right and saw a couple of homes. I had this image in my head of this old era white stand alone church in this section. I guess I should have confirmed on my cue sheet. We were only on the pavement for 0.1 miles, then made a left onto Bursum Rd. A wide open dirt road, ripe for windy conditions.
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| A light smoke haze remains, but no odor. We'd be riding around the large mountain, on the lefthand side. |
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| Our first sign for Beaverhead: 53 miles, eh? Not so fast. |
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| Wide open range here. I had flashbacks to Wyoming's Great Basin. |
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| No need to worry about neighbors here. |
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| Another ranch a few miles down the road. |
We were a good 10 miles into Bursum Rd. and had stopped for a quick break. I finally took a peek at my cue sheet only to realize we did in fact miss the church. It was one of the two buildings back on NM12. Well, we're not riding back to it. We were both good on water, so it wasn't a big deal.
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| Justin dropped me like a bad habit through here. I was struggling a bit in the warm temps. |
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| According to my GPS we had ridden 15 miles along Bursum Rd. yet the Beaverhead was only 8 miles closer?? Which sign was correct?? |
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| We were curious to see what this meant. I was looking forward to the upcoming climb and a return to trees and shade. |
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| We stopped for a snack break and noticed this carcass across the way. |
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| Skin and bones are all that remain. Photo by Justin. |
Again, we passed a group of northbound riders and found out most of them started their day from the Beaverhead Work Center. How far is it? 46 miles was the reply. The latest signage had it at 43. I'll believe the riders. That would put it at mile 86 on the day, almost halfway there.
We eventually reached the 'Road Closed' area, but couldn't tell the difference in road condition. It didn't last too long. I'm guessing those signs are really old and at one point the road wasn't passable or at least not to most vehicles. Anyway, it was a non-issue as the road does go right through.
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| The climbing grade was exceptionally gentle, which was nice, but it was still warm. |
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| In a bit of discomfort here. First time I've ever had to pull over and dry heave. Stomach wasn't upset, I just felt like I was going to vomit. Bleh. Nothing came out and I was on my way in five minutes. Fine the rest of the day. Not sure what that was all about. |
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| One of a few Continental Divide crossings on the day. |
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| Vintage sign on a nearby tree. |
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| Lies. More lies. |
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| A few of the northbound riders told us we'd be seeing a crashed Cessna ahead. There it is. |
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| The plane was banged up good, but it appeared the pilot was able to walk away. |
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| Not going anywhere anytime soon. Can't image what the extraction cost will be. |
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| Picked a pretty good spot to land it. We later found out it happened only 10 days prior. |
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| Once again, a long very gradual climb. We knew the day ended with roughly 20+ miles of downhill & flat riding, we just needed to get there. |
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| Another Continental Divide crossing. |
We were on the same long stretch of forest road. It was borderline hot, hovering near 90º. I was beginning to drag. A short snack break helped, but the warm water I was carrying was getting old. We kept passing ranch after ranch, lots of fencing and private property / no trespassing signs. Every once in a while we'd see a ranch house or structure. There really wasn't much out here.
Then we came upon a smaller cabin on the left, it was under construction and I could see some people sitting on the back patio. I told Justin I was going to ask them if they had any cold water. We rolled around to the back of the house and I gave a wave and hello. No response. I waved again with a little louder hello and the woman at the head of the table waved back. The three fellas at the table didn't seem to flinch. Hmmm, maybe this wasn't the house to ask? The three fellas were older grizzled New Mexican ranchers by all accounts.
The lady then said they had just finished eating dinner and had half a cheeseburger left if we wanted to split it. We hesitated for a moment, then she offered again. Ok, don't ask us twice!! She pulled out a couple of chairs, handed us each two bottles of water and apologized for it not being cold. It was still cooler than what we had. I think the guys weren't too stoked on her offering us food at first. She then said she was about to toss the rest of the baked beans, but we were having none of that. Yeah, we'll take some chips. She sat down at the head of the table, I was next to her and Justin to my right. We figured the guy in the cowboy hat was her husband and the fella at the end of the table seemed a bit rough around the edges. The older guy in white just kinda sat there observing while sipping his drink.
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| Our hosts for the evening. Thank you so much!! |
As luck would have it that half cheeseburger was a double patty. Score. Come to find out her husband had bagged a bison on some of Ted Turner's land in the area and that's what we were eating. New Mexico style = green chile bison cheeseburger. Delicious!!
No sooner than the first bite was taken and the guy at the end of the table pipes up 'I can't believe you offered our food before we even know who they're voting for?' Silence. I think the woman gave him a look, because it went no further.
We chowed down on our good fortune and I couldn't help but be a little jealous of the Coors Light they were drinking. One guy began to tell a story about how all the hikers and bikers he sees in the area and it's always the women who want a beer first. We all laughed and I noted how good beer goes down while out on the trail. Then the woman apologizes to me for not offering one!! Would you like one? Yes, please. Well, they didn't have cold water, but they had 33º Coors Light!! I put it against my forehead and high-fived her!! It was so good.
We were exchanging some conversation, and I was asked where I was from. Phoenix area I said. The lady's husband asked which part? Queen Creek. His eyes lit up, he couldn't believe it. He said he had family there and often frequented the equestrian arena. I told him it was two miles from our home. Just like that we seemed welcome at their place.
We confirmed the final miles to Beaverhead were mostly downhill or flat and began to pack up. The lady gave me the rest of the big bag of Jalepeño kettle chips and went in the house for a couple packs of granola bars and plastic bottles of Dr. Pepper. All that from asking for cold water. Bellies content, new life in the legs and we were off. Now flying down the road.
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| The forest began to thin out as we dropped elevation. |
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| It was one of those long, drawn out downhills, easy pedaling, but not much coasting. |
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| Would this sign be correct? We we're counting on it as this was now the 5th sign or so where the mileage didn't line up from the previous sign. It was comical how far it was off, almost like it was done intentionally. |
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| Lone tree turn. |
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| In the blink of an eye, the topography changed and we were back in canyon country. Not sure when this rock slide occurred, but you can see exactly where it came from. |
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| This was a really neat area to ride through. |
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| All of a sudden: water! A lot of it, V - Cross - T Lake along Beaver Creek. |
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| Ranch approaching, was this Beaverhead? Nope, more private property and locked gates. |
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| A small herd of deer crossed in front of us. |
A bit later we came to the Beaverhead Ranch, but again locked gate. Hmmm, was this the work center, but with a tricky entrance? We were close on the targeted mileage based on what the northbounders had told us. We opted to ride on, but I figured it would be best to confirm with the ACA app. Sure enough the work center was another quarter mile up the road.
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| There it is!! We made it...in daylight. We were quite stoked on that. |
The Beaverhead Work Center is quite the complex as it serves as a remote outpost in the Gila Nat'l Forest for forest workers, fire responders and rangers. We pulled up to the main building where a northbound rider, Tobi, had pitched his tent. He was lamenting on his tough, hot ride earlier in the day. He cut his ride short due to the heat. He was here from Germany and our count of Europeans was well over a dozen by now. Justin and I were deciding where to make camp when I looked down and saw an empty slot on my handlebars. Shit!! I lost my Garmin eTrex 20x. Gah! I even had the tether looped around the mount, but it still popped off. First time that's ever happened. I knew I had it about five miles back as I was using the eTrex as a backup GPS, zooming out on the route while my Edge530 was used for navigation and zoomed in. I used a similar setup in 2019 with great success. Tobi heard my disappointment and said he'd keep an eye out for it. Should be easy to find, I hope, it's orange. He took my personal info and said he'd mail it back to me if he found it.
We found a flat open spot near some trees as darkness fell. I took a few bites from one of my gut bomb burritos, but that was all I really needed. I gorged instead on the giant bag of Jalepeño kettle chips we received a few hours ago. I also finished off the Dr. Pepper I had been nursing.
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