Hellacious Hills Through Devil’s Canyon

One thing we didn’t mention in the last blog was that the proprietor of the inn where we stayed, Carl, gave us a major upgrade to our room. It was deluxe! Carl runs a fantastic place with great views, amenities, and a great breakfast. He spent time chatting with us about our trip while we ate. As soon as we were packed and ready to leave, it began raining-so we got out our rain jackets and headed down the big hill we climbed the night before, and then down another hill as we were leaving town. It was a little treacherous due to wet pavement and steepness.The rain didn’t last too long, and soon we were ditching our jackets. The next several miles were very hilly as we climbed in and out of canyons. The views were spectacular, except for the copper mine we passed- but even that couldn’t spoil the magnificent beauty of the mountains. We had been warned by many, including Carl, of the dangerous, steep downhill into Devil’s Canyon. They weren’t kidding! We started down the first hill-a 6% grade drop. There was no shoulder, so we had to take the lane even if it meant cars and trucks had to wait. Fortunately traffic was not too heavy, and periodically there were places to pull off. We went up an equally steep hill, and then saw we had to descend an even steeper hill- 7% grade! This one led to the tunnel we had been warned about. We were lucky to have no traffic behind us as we went through the tunnel, and it turned out to not be scary at all. Once through the tunnel, there was a 90 degree turn that led to a huge expansion bridge over the canyon. We were still going downhill. It was at once thrilling, scary, and breathtaking! Bruce let out several war whoops as he flew down the hill to relieve the tension! At the bottom of the hill was the town of Superior. We stopped to see the world’s smallest museum, but it was closed. We had a quick bite and headed out. Looking ahead, we could see a storm approaching, so we got our jackets back on. As we climbed out of Superior, the rain started. We could see lightening and hear thunder in the distance, which was unsettling as we pedaled up the mountain, but it never got close to us. It took some time to reach Apache Junction, but once over the mountain, the ride was easier and very beautiful. When we reached the outskirts of town and were checking our map, a fella stopped and chatted for a long while, giving us some information about the bike path system in the area. Our ride to Mesa was uneventful- it was flat and fast. When we reached Mesa, we rode on a bike path along the canal and watched a spectacular desert sunset. We finished our ride in the dark. Total cycling mileage: 76 Total hiking mileage: 5