Day 0 (Saturday, March 26): Mary and I drive to Tucson for the start of the six-day Trail of the Apaches bike tour with Lizard Head. To break up the drive, we do a 27-mile warmup ride in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the largest state park in California.
Day 1 (Sunday, March 27): Mary and I are joined by my brother Jay for the start of the tour near Tucson. We bike a 25-mile loop in Saguaro National Park and do a 7-mile round-trip hike up Wasson Peak.
Day 2 (Monday, March 28): We bike up Kitt Peak and finish with another ride through Saguaro National Park for 49 miles total. We again spend the night near Tucson.
Day 3 (Tuesday, March 29): We shuttle to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and bike 46 miles through Arivaca to Arivaca Junction. After another shuttle over a busy stretch of road, Mary and I, along with guide Emily, get on our bikes again for the last 18 miles and finish in Patagonia with 64 miles overall.
Day 4 (Wednesday, March 30): We bike 62 miles from Patagonia to Parker Canyon Lake and then back to a winery near Sonoita. After that we shuttle to Bisbee, an old mining town. During the bike ride, Jay sees a herd of pronghorns, and Mary sees a javelina. Along the way the cable breaks for the rear derailleur on Mary’s bike. Mitch, our second guide and mechanic, is unable to repair the cable, but sets the derailleur so that Mary has three reasonable gears in front to continue riding.
Day 5 (Thursday, March 31): We bike 77 miles from Bisbee in Arizona to Rodeo, just across the state line in New Mexico. The weather is cool but sunny at the start. As the day wears on, the skies become more ominous, and we are treated to rain and sleet just before we finish our ride. After the clouds depart that night, we view the Milky Way in all its glory.
Day 6 (Friday, April 1): We abandon our original plan to bike up Mount Graham because its summit of over 10,000 ft is predicted to have a high temperature in the 30s with a chance of snow. Instead, all of the guests do a short 16-mile bike ride into beautiful Cave Creek Canyon, and some of us follow that with a strenuous 9-mile round-trip hike up 8,000-ft Silver Peak.
Photos follow, and the captions include the names of a few of the many mountain ranges in Arizona.
Day 1: I join Mary and Jay for the start of another great adventure with saguaro cacti behind us 
Day 1: Emily, one of our two guides, poses with us on top of Gates Pass; Emily says that the saguaros look like whiskers 
Day 1: Wasson Peak, our 4,687-ft hiking objective; the 7-mile climb to the top and back turned out to be more challenging than the day’s 25-mile bike ride 
Day 1: Hedgehog cactus flowers in bloom 
Day 1: Trail near the top of Wasson Peak; we started way down in the valley to the left 
Day 1: On top of Wasson Peak! Tucson is in the valley below
Day 2: Mary starts the climb up telescope-topped Kitt Peak, which is 6,883 ft high 
Mary powers up the windy climb (photo by Mitch Clinton) 
Day 2: I power up the climb behind her (photo by Mitch Clinton) 
Day 2: Here are some of the 24 telescopes on top of Kitt Peak! The dome at the left is for the largest one, the 4-m Mayall telescope 
Day 2: A welcome sign on top lists the many universities that participate in the operation of the observatory 
Day 2: There is a great view of Baboquivari Peak from the top of Kitt Peak 
Day 2: Mary whizzes back down; there are strong, gusty winds, and Mary and I are the only ones who bike down 
Day 2: Mary climbs Gates Pass for the third time in two days
Day 3: Jay and I start the day’s ride in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in the Altar Valley 
Day 3: Mary climbs out of the Altar Valley to Arivaca; Mary and I lead the pack after fighting a ferocious headwind; the Baboquivari Mountains are in the distance 
Day 3: Clumps of verbena add color along the way 
Day 3: Jay and our guide Mitch do a climb after leaving Arivaca; the San Luis Mountains are in the distance 
Day 3: The Stage Stop Inn, where we spend the night in Patagonia
Day 4: Mary rides the road to Parker Canyon Lake; the Huachuca Mountains are in the distance 
Day 4: Jay works hard to smile on the climb to the lake; the Mustang Mountains are in the distance 
Day 4: View of arid rangeland and the Mustang Mountains on the way back from the lake 
Day 4: We end the ride at the Sonoita Vineyards; it is hard to believe that folks can make a living growing grapes and making wine out here 
Day 4: We shuttle to the Copper Queen Hotel in Bisbee, where we spend the night
Day 5: Our team of 11 geriatric guests and young guide Emily pose to start the day; our other guide Mitch takes the picture; seven of the guests are from Canada 
Day 5: Colorful bike store in Bisbee 
Day 5: The Copper Queen open-pit mine 
Day 5: How the pit was made 
Day 5: Mary bikes through the San Bernardino Valley on the road from Bisbee AZ to Rodeo NM; the Perilla Mountains are in the background 
Day 5: Monument in Apache near where Geronimo surrendered 
Day 5: Rainbow at end of the day from the Painted Pony Resort north of Rodeo NM; the Peloncilla Mountains are in the distance
Day 6: Mary bikes toward Silver Peak, which we hike up later; it is one of the most prominent peaks in the Chiricahua Mountains 
Day 6: We enter Cave Creek Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains 
Day 6: One of six deer that we see in the canyon 
Day 6: Emily and Jeff (from Vancouver) lead Mary on the trail from the canyon to Silver Peak 
Day 6: Cholla in bloom; it is known as the “jumping cactus” because of the ease with which its stems detach and stick to passersby; we give these cacti a wide berth 
Day 6: We make it to the summit of Silver Peak, the highest point of our tour; various elevations are listed online, but the benchmark at the summit says 8,020 feet above sea level; the foundation is for a lookout that burned down during a thunderstorm in 1992 
Day 6: Mary signs the summit register to top off a great tour!
Wayne Pfeiffer 