Gila Ramble 2014 Day 1

It has become a yearly tradition of sorts to ride the Gila Ramble. It is the classic AZ bikepacking loop, quite arguably the best in the state. There are many different options for parking, although the Cochrane Road is only about 2 hours drive-time from my house. Obvious decision.

No so obvious, what to pack or what time we would be leaving on Friday. As it turns out, we got a later start than anticipated.



We bombed down to Area 52, thinking we would stay the night there.

Gila Canyons in the background

Now, if we can just convince Max to go back to his all-mountain, riding days

We played around a little bit and enjoyed some of the views. Both of us were ready for some more pedaling, so we headed out down to the Gila River to see about crossing. The gauge was reading high before we had left, so it seemed unlikely of us crossing. It was too high, plan B was to ride dirt roads to the bridge on the canal.

We kept riding until the very beginning of Box Canyon proper, setting up camp for the night.