Ride Report: Picketpost Punisher AKA Pulverizer

Fleeting sunlight...

I had already prepped my light system and gotten some warmer clothes on in anticipation of the final push to Picketpost. The sun was done painting the terrain gold, and darkness was starting to take a firm grasp on this beautiful autumn night - just a few more minutes until I would need to turn the lights on, but right now I was enjoying a fairly fast bit of downhill. 

Some might call them free miles. I won't. I earned these. Thirteen hours of effort and keen awareness of just how "out there" I really am - I was getting tired physically and mentally. I was well aware that a bad mechanical issue on the bike could quite easily mean I don't get out until dawn. 

I was kicking myself for not having a SPOT tracker. There is very limited cell reception out here, and I likely wouldn't find service until I was basically done. That is two hours from now. A SPOT would allow me to send brief status messages indicating I was fine and it doesn't rely on cell reception. It would also allow the wife to know I was moving or if I had to make a decision to stop either by choice or out of necessity. I shudder to think what I would have put my wife though if I had to stop. I was prepared to spend a night if needed, except for that little detail. Keep moving. No mistakes now!

I was worried about this section, both earlier this morning and right now. I was quite literally "in the lion's den". I read about this place, and others have either seen "something" or had that "something is watching me" feeling here. I saw plenty of cat scat earlier when I was riding up this part. If I had looked closer, I'm sure I could have seen prints as well. I didn't really want to though. No need to confirm what rules this domain. I already know. Just passing through kitty...

If I was "the king" I would live here too...

A flash of graceful, powerful movement bounded over the trail thirty feet in front of me as I turned a corner, still aided by gravity. The form I saw didn't seem to care about gravity at all - it went from my right to left uphill. I didn't look natural the way it moved. I was immediately in awe and terror - fully humbled to both see this creature and thankful at the same time that I DID see it. It's the ones behind you that will get you...

I stopped at the point where it had crossed. I didn't want to just burn by - I had to take a stand, albeit it briefly. Lights turned on high, I looked for glowing eyes on the mountain side. I yelled. Trying to convince myself that I could impose fear on this creature.

Nothing.

I started the descent slowly... yelling frequently. Taking quick glances behind me. 

Nothing.

A few minutes went by of the descent and I had placed a ridge between myself and the point where we intersected. I felt safer somehow now. Keep moving. I saw a sign for Picketpost trailhead. Teasing me into thinking it was so close. It wasn't. I ran into two female hikers after that. I let them know what I had seen a mile or so back and they asked what I had been up to today. I told them the route and they kinda glazed over. I think they must have been AZT through hikers, because there was no other cars at PP when I got there. Cool. As we departed, they said "good luck, you have about ten miles left"...

The soothing sounds of my iPhone alarm pierced the darkness at 3:40AM. I reached to my left and grabbed some chocolate donuts and a bottle of water. Breakfast of champions haha! The inside of my truck was foggy, but I had slept comfortably in the passenger seat of my truck. Not enough sleep though - I had gotten here at 11:30 the night before. I got dressed in the truck and made final prep with the bike and then got started at around 4:15AM. It was cold and this entire route would be completely new to me.

The start of this route had me a bit worried. I was fumbling a bit, the combination of being a bit chilled, in the dark and on new unfamiliar trail. I will need to come back to this place, I know it is beautiful, but both times today when I pass it it is shrouded in darkness.

The miles tick by, a steady climb to get to the high point before I can begin my "descent" down to the Gila. I think of the terrain I am crossing, and get into a rhythm. Feeling good, but slightly vulnerable in the dark here. The sound of cowbells makes me feel better - if they are out here, I should be good to pass through right?

I notice as the exposure increases - still I can't comprehend where I am - I shine my light off the edge and it returns void. Expansive. As the climbing continues, my pace slows a bit. I take in what I see, including lion scat. Keep pedaling. Where is the sun?

There is is! Salvation is coming and my anxiety wanes with the growing light. 

Terrain starting to reveal itself

Lights are extinguished, and I start to realize how special this place is. How much blood, sweat and tears it must have taken to construct this. All for the hardiest of adventurers.

First rays of light tickle the top of the terrain.

Completely immersed in this environment. 

The sun starts to dominate - looking south where the Gila hides and visions of an adversary I'll tackle in April far in the distance...

After navigating indescribable canyons, I begin my descent to the Gila River. As I worked my way down, the power and life giving power of it began to reveal itself. Cactus turned into a dense canopy of trees and eventually the dense canopy could no longer shroud the sound of life giving water. Now to find the best place to cross.

I was a bit worried about water levels - it rained a decent amount the previous day, but the water levels according to the web resource still indicated levels right below 80 CFS, well below the 135 John S had talked about crossing this at. Still, it had gone up a bit higher than the folks who did the route on Saturday.

I took my shoes off as I wear five ten brand shoes AKA moon boots. If these got soaked, they would be wet all day. I didn't need that and the potential for blisters.

Stepped in at a location clearly used by motorized vehicles, up to just above my knees, but this is supposed to be the deepest part. I was shocked with how cold the water was. I made my way across the rocky bottom, wincing with the coldness of the water and the rocky bottom. 

I made it across and set the bike down and grabbed some food and a gatorade from my pack. I let my legs air dry a bit and then started to scrape the mud off of my feet so I could put my shoes back on. 

Easy crossing - but very cold. 

From here, you pass the ghost town of Cochran, and there is some dirt road riding all the way to Kelvin. As you get further south and away from the Gila, you realize what you just came though, and how far away from everything you really are. You better have some really good friends if you want to get rescued out here.

Yeah, just rode through all of that, and need to do it again much later today.

Right before the junction to the F - K highway.

There were some short grunts where I hiked a couple of times just to keep those matches in reserve, but it was some good riding, then a screaming descent down the dirt road towards Kelvin. Then boom a big climb??? What I didn't know this was here. But it is, so I walked a decent chunk of it. I got back on the bike when I saw a truck coming down haha and rode the rest. Mercifully it started to mellow out. Before I knew it was passing the AZT Kelvin trailhead and then a brief bit of steep pavement heading down and across the bridge into Kelvin.

I had originally intended to stop at Wilson trailer court, but I noticed signs at the ADOT yard indicating drinking water, so I followed the signs and got to the goods.

I sucked down my remaining water and had a snack and refilled my water bladder. I was able to get a text out to the wife saying I was OK and that I was still shooting for a 7PM finish, but that it was going to be tough. I had taken some time cues from John S. and was pretty much on his pace. This gave me some confidence moving forward. I knew that he had battled some tired legs during his running of this route last year, especially from here (Kelvin) to the end. I thought if I could avoid that in combination of my earlier start, 7PM just might be in reach.

As with most of my stops today, I wanted to keep it short. 10-15 minutes max. I rolled back towards the bridge and made the turn right before the bridge to hop onto the AZT for the remaining miles. 

Cool little gate right past some houses

I noticed immediately the distinct change in terrain makeup. It was more loose pea gravel over hard pack. There were also quite a few rutted areas - really want to watch how you are placing tires here it would be easy to get sucked into a rut and take a spill. 

I really enjoyed this section, though it seemed to keep going. It was like the trail version of the movie "Groundhog Day". Same thing over and over. Ride, approach the river, climb back away, marvel at the views, repeat. Here again the Gila and it's life giving ability is clearly visible time and again - and the Sonoran desert does its best to put on a "fall colors" show. Not bad... not bad at all.

You can see as the desert merges with the Gila... cactus turns to dense trees. Fall colors on display!

I was about half way through this section when I ran into the first people on the route all day. A couple of ranchers on horseback. They asked if I had seen any cows. I said yes, on the other side of the Gila about 5 hours ago haha. I don't think that is the answer they wanted to hear. They asked how many more bikers were behind me and I said nobody... just me. Onward.

I made it to the base of the climb. It's funny I was thinking I was going to sit by the river for a second while I ate and drank my last gatorade... but it was around the corner, and I wasn't going to move any further than I needed to. Probably better anyway. Keep moving. 

I finished my snack and gatorade and put some different socks on under the ones I was wearing. The ones I were wearing the majority of the day aren't my normal riding socks, and I noticed during a couple of the last brief HAB's that I had hot spots on the back of my heels. Not good based on how much hiking I had in front of me. I put my normal socks on and the the others on top of those. I knew it would be getting cool later. This seemed to do the trick as immediately I had a steep jeep road up to the AZT sign to HAB up. No more hot spots. It was right around 2PM and I knew that if all went well 7PM was now close to a reality. Awesome!

From here to the end is just a mighty struggle. Plenty of rideable stuff, plenty of HAB and plenty of views. Golden hour approaching again in this place. Marvelous.

Rogue Panda gear solid all day!

Shadows getting longer

One last look south. Crazy. Can't believe I'm doing this. I'm gonna finish this thing!

I get to the spot indicating the mostly downhill run back to Picketpost. This is where I started to struggle. It seems like soon as I can taste that finish line I get pre-occupied with where I am and how much further to go. I was feeling fine physically, but my mind started to mess with me a bit. I started to put timelines in my head. Ten "downhill" miles? I don't see how this should take me any more than an hour. I start a smooth contoured run downhill and I encounter the cat I was worried about this morning, and the one that has been on my mind ever since the sun started going down this afternoon. These guys are so elusive - to see one is a real treat, though I would have felt a hell of a lot better if I was with another rider. 

After this confrontation and subsequent finish of this downhill section, I ran into some hikers while HABing up a grunt of a hill. It felt nice to see other people for sure. My senses were shot and the adrenaline dump from the lion had me now feeling sloppy/tired.  

I couldn't believe how many climbs and turns there were. It's supposed to be downhill and basically straight according to the gpx. But the trail twists and turns and goes up and down. It gets a bit more technical in here as well. Nothing crazy, but stuff that would be easy to make a mistake and crash or break something on the bike. 

I kept riding and started to see glimpses of traffic on the 60 but dammit I'm not getting anywhere. I started to feel a bit of a bonk coming on - haven't eaten in a while. I pull over for a second and stop and eat some pop tarts. The ultimate riding fuel!!!

My sense of direction is all screwed up now, and I'm getting more and more frustrated. Again physically fine, just ready to be done. Time just seems stopped. I don't recognize any of this from this morning! Where is the end? I constantly stop and zoom in and out on my eTrex trying to estimate how much further. Why isn't the endpoint getting any closer? I probably burned 10 minutes with this BS. I should have just kept pedaling. 

Finally, I come across something I do recognize! The wash right after the start point! Hell yes! I drop down in and almost eat sand as I narrowly avoid a crash - the sand just swallowed my front tire as I was way too forward on the bike. I hop off and hike up several steps on the opposite side. How fitting. Hop back on my bike and ride up to the sign. 

7:20PM. Boom - PULVERIZED!

I'm super stoked to have finished this route. I think this ride and day 1 of the CK bikepack a few weeks ago were very similar effort wise. This one however was mentally much more taxing. Being solo out here and fully self reliant drains other parts of you beyond the physical.

The big benefit of course for me is a preview of the finish of the AZTR 300 in April. I'll feel much more confident if everything works out and I'm fortunate enough to make it to Kelvin.