Visiting Historic Kentucky Camp, Arizona


This week's Bike Overnights story comes from recent retiree Mark Doumas of Tucson, Arizona. Titled Historic Ride for the Gold, it details an overnight made by him and several companions to Kentucky Camp, a historic site some ways from Tucson. 

Writes Mark: "We started the ride in Tucson at one of our favorite breakfast stops, Joe?s Pancake House. After stocking up on carbs and doing a final equipment check, we headed southeast and rode on the new 3-mile Julian Wash multi-use path. We pedaled beside solar power facilities and enjoyed the interpretive stops focusing on rainwater harvesting, burrowing owls, and historic railway operations. This path is just one section of a loop that will ultimately encircle Tucson."

Later, after a 20-mile stretch along Highway 83, a designated Arizona Scenic Road, the group faced its biggest challenge.  

"The final portion of the ride was a 5-mile stretch on unpaved Forest Service roads. ... There are a few washboarded sections, so you probably wouldn't want to bring your skinny-tire racing bike. Our group of six cyclists had no trouble making the trip on a collection of Salsas, Surleys, and other sturdy touring bikes (including a recumbent Bacchetta). There was one steep 50-yard section of dirt road that some of our group elected to walk."


The group set up camp at Kentucky Camp, "tucked away in a small gulch with oak and mesquite trees dotting the hillsides. As we made the final descent into the camp, the five adobe buildings seemingly appeared out of nowhere. There's a feeling of going back 100 years in time. The site was built in 1904 by the Santa Rita Water and Mining Company. As the name suggests, it was a hydraulic gold mining operation ? an odd endeavor for this high-desert location."


When all was said and done, it seems the group had only one regret: One night was not long enough. "We agreed that our next trip to Kentucky Camp would be for two nights," writes Mark, "so we can spend more time taking in the quiet scenery, and making the short hike to Boston Gulch to see the remains of the hydraulic water pipes and mining pits." 

Read the rest of Mark's story at BikeOvernights.org. There you'll also see our current Photo of the Week, which comes from the November 8, 2011, post Santa Cruz to Monterey, California, by Daniel Mascarenhas.


BikeOvernights.org Photo of the Week, 08.24.12.

Top 3 photos by Mark Doumas. 

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BIKE OVERNIGHTS is posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling?s media specialist, and highlights content from BikeOvernights.org. Previously, from March 2009 through January 2012, Mac posted weekly at Biking Without Borders. He also compiles the organization's twice-monthly e-newsletter Bike Bits, which goes free-of-charge to nearly 46,000 readers worldwide.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2012/08/visiting-historic-kentucky-camp-arizona.html

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