Gates Pass

January 5, 2023

We’re starting the year off with a series of adversities. We add another annoyance to the heap this morning when Rachael gets a message from our credit card bank asking her to confirm the latest charges. The ones from Fair Wheel, Safeway, CVS, Amazon and Pastiche all look legit, but there are four that don’t seem right, three of them from England or Istanbul. They’re cancelled along with the card, so we spend the next hour screening the last half year’s worth of statements to identify recurring charges we’ll need to change the card for, and then following up on them. It’s no crisis - we carry multiple cards to protect ourselves from incidents like this - but it makes for a slow and frustrating start to the morning.

Rachael’s bike is in the shop of course, so for her it’s a hiking day. She opts for the loop out to Tumamoc Hill and Sentinel Peak that I mapped out for her, the one she didn’t end up taking after all yesterday. She starts later than I do but gets back first so we’ll let her take the lead today. She didn’t come back with any photos from Tumamoc Hill because she was concerned about time and already posted about it last year, but she brought back several shots from Sentinel Peak - including a roadrunner. Somehow, Rachael always seems to spot more roadrunners than I do.

Climbing Sentinel Peak. You don’t have to gain much elevation above Tucson to rise into the saguaro zone.

Roadrunner! Pretty good shot for a zoomless phone camera. He must have been quite close.

I noticed this last year when I biked up Sentinel Peak myself. Several of the saguaros on the south face have this grotesque, injured look. It’s not like the appearance of crested saguaros, so there must be some other explanation.

An interesting look at the large white “A”. Sentinel Peak is also known as “A” Mountain, for the giant letter created by University of Arizona students in 1916. The letter was created from basalt, traditionally painted white; but it’s been painted other colors at various times: black, to protest the Iraq War; soon after it was repainted red, white, and blue as a counter-protest; green for Saint Patrick’s Day; and blue to honor health care workers during the Covid pandemic.

Sentinel Peak provides a stunning 360 degree view of Tucson and its surrounding mountains. It got its name from its history as a lookout post, first by native Americans and later by soldiers during the Civil War.

The view from the lookout gazebo at the summit.

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On my own for the day, I elect a ride that Rachael wouldn’t care for. I considered a few I’ve enjoyed in the past: Madeira Canyon, Park Link Road, and the ride from Oracle to San Manuel. They all require a drive of about a half hour though and I decide I’m not ready to get in the car to drive for a ride just yet so I opt for a climb up into the Tucson Mountains through Gates Pass.

From downtown, it’s a reasonably easy eight mile climb to the summit of Gates Pass. I’ve made this climb three times now, once with Rachael, and have enjoyed it more each time. The last two miles are the steepest and shoulderless, but it’s really not bad at all. On weekday mornings at least the traffic is light and respectful, visibility is good most of the way, and except for a few short steep stretches the climb stays in a comfortable 5-6% range.

Today I bike straight up to the summit, stopping just once for a view on the way up and once for the first new bird of the day, a phainopepla. I’ll end up seeing a dozen phainopeplas today, all far enough off that the shot is too poor to be worth posting - unsurprisingly, because they keep their distance. One of these times I’ll get lucky enough to catch one off guard and closer up and post one then.

At the top, I stop to admire the wonderful views and then cross through the gap and plunge at 13-14% down the other side.

The view back toward the city from the summit.

It’s a fast, exhilarating drop down the west side of the pass. There’s no shoulder, there’s some traffic, and visibility’s not the best in spots but it’s fine westbound because you’re going fast enough that you can just take the lane. Going the other direction is more stressful and harder, especially coming at the end of a ride - it’s not that fun to feel pressured to keep a good pace up a 13% climb worrying about impatient overtaking traffic when you’re tired already, which is why I’ve only done it once. Maybe it would be less stressful with the Varia taillight warning you of what’s queued up behind.

After that though it’s a brilliant ride west to the national park visitor’s center, especially if you take McCain Loop, the side road that parallels Kinney for five miles. McCain might be the best stretch of road I know of near Tucson, a beautiful, quiet ride through the high Sonora desert.

Looking back west on McCain Loop toward Golden Gate Mountain.

At the end of McCain Loop I’m back on Kinney Road again. I follow it into the national park, pass the visitor’s center, and ride Kinney to its end at the junction with Sandario Road before turning back. A mile later I come to a spot with an unusual amount of bird activity - a mockingbird, phainopeplas, Gila woodpeckers, some sparrows. There must be some water nearby, so I decide to stop and eat my lunch here by the side of the road to see what birds reveal themselves. None do of course, since I’m here invading their territory, but not long after when I’m on the move again I see what I’ve had my eyes out for over the past few days - a curve-billed thrasher atop a saguaro, one of my favorites of the local birds. I’m not expecting much of the shot because he’s a ways off and the lighting isn’t the best, but I’m pleasantly surprised when I get back home and unload the day’s shots.

I wonder how many national parks we’ll visit this year. There could be a few if we take that road trip back to Minnesota we’ve been discussing. I should keep track and assemble a gallery at the end of the year.

The next eight miles are a retracing back along Kinney and McCain, and thus brilliant. Really, the whole first 25 miles of this ride are excellent.

I’ve lost my bearings here. I think this is the west end of the Santa Rita Mountains, but I’m not certain.

Another view I’m not sure of, and one I don’t remember noticing before. Maybe today’s light makes it stand out more. We’re looking southeast through the gap between the Santa Rita and Rincon ranges, so maybe this is looking toward Apache Peak in the direction of Tombstone.

It’s the next ten miles of this ride that are the problem though. First, there’s the not particularly pleasant five mile ride down Kinney Road to Ajo Highway; and then there’s the decidedly unpleasant miles dropping into Tucson alongside the nonstop traffic on the Ajo Highway before finally reaching the loop for the last miles home up the Santa Cruz. Really, it’s enough of a deterrent that it may be awhile before I repeat this ride.

Entering Tucson on the Ajo Highway. It’s all downhill, there’s a good shoulder and a dynamite view of Rincon Peak; but it’s not enough.

Just before reaching the loop I make a quick stop off at Kennedy Park to see if my favorite redhead is out floating on the lake as I’ve seen in the past. There’s plenty of waterfowl out today, but it’s all too far out for a good look. I think there’s a Redhead out there, but it’s too far out to be sure. I do see my first coot of the year though, which is a super-exciting way to end the day. Who’d think we’d get to see a coot?

And, writing this up, I see it’s not just a coot - it’s an American coot. Which suggests that there are other coots in the world, which I don’t think I knew before. So I look it up and see that yes indeedy, there’s a Eurasian coot, which is the species we’ve seen in Europe. I make a note on the list to remember this in the spring so I can take credit for a new species.

Dinner time finds us down at El Charro, our favorite Mexican restaurant in town. And it’s everyone else’s favorite too, because even though we arrive at five there’s already a half-hour waiting list. It’s always this way here, so we aren’t surprised. They take our phone number so they can call when a table is ready, and Rachael walks off to find her favorite mural while I grab an IPA from the bar and sit outside at a table and watch the scene. It’s a warm night and not unpleasant sitting outside although it’s too bad we won’t be seeing the full moon because it’s overcast.

Fifteen minutes later Rachael is back and pulls out her photo of the mural, which settles the argument - I was sure it was elsewhere in town, so she wins this one for a change. We spend the next ten minutes watching the clouds take on a rosy glow in a 360 degree sunset, and then move inside when our number is up.

We love this mural of desert creatures parading on their bikes. Each one is endearing, but I especially like the quail family.

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Ride stats today: 41 miles, 2,300’; for the tour: 663 miles, 25,500’

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2023 Bird List

27. Phainopepla

28. Curve-billed thrasher

29. American coot

Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 663 miles (1,067 km)

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Ben ParkeKeep an eye out on the loop for a big red bullet. There’s a guy the rides the loop almost daily in his red Snoek Velomobile. If you don’t blink, you might actually see him when he whizzes past.
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Ben ParkeI’ll keep an eye out for him. I saw one down here last year, but none so far this time around.
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1 year ago