Welcome to Bike Country

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] If ever there was a city that showcased just how truly gorgeous the southwest desert can be, it would have to be Tucson.

Tangerine colored sunsets bask the city nicknamed, "The Old Pueblo" in its warm, golden hour glow.

(birds chirp) (ground smashes) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Trail Mix'd is made possible in part by a gift from Sue and Bill Ahearn.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Additional support provided by... - [Narrator] SRP is staying ahead of the valley's growing energy needs.

We're investing in one of the country's largest solar battery storage projects to deliver power that is reliable as it is sustainable.

- [Narrator] Albertsons, Safeway pharmacies, and valley nonprofit Mission of Mercy are proud to support cancer awareness.

They encourage you to talk to your doctor, get recommended screenings, and don't forget your flu vaccine.

More information at albertsonsorsafeway.com.

- [Narrator] Whitfill Nursery proud to support eight Arizona PBS, a valley tradition since 1946.

Over 200 acres of Arizona Grown trees, citrus, and palms, complete custom design and installation, and Whitfill Nursery still does the digging.

Whitfillnursery.com.

- [Narrator] And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you, thank you.

- What's going on?

I'm Ike Easley in beautiful Tucson and on this episode of Trail Mix'd, all roads lead to Tucson.

- [Narrator] Bike trails, to be specific.

Just ahead, we'll show you why Tucson's one of the top cycling destinations in the country.

And later from the bottom to the top, a trip up the Mount Lemmon scenic byway, just minutes from downtown Tucson.

Plus, riding tall in the saddle, smack dab in the beautiful saguaros of Gates Pass.

You ready?

Oh, you know I'm ready.

Trail Mix'd starts right now.

(warm music) - [Narrator] Tucson and Pima County are surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of scenic trails of all skill levels to hike and explore.

Some of the most popular are the Santa Catalina Mountains on the northeast edge of Tucson.

Nestled at the base is Sabino Canyon, it's practically its own neighborhood and many locals consider it their home away from home.

- It's really unique because it's right in our backyard.

So anybody living in Tucson can get to Sabino Canyon in about 30 minutes.

- It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

We are here at the Sabino Canyon Recreation area, which is the most popular access point to the Catalinas.

- [Narrator] This whole area is part of the Coronado National Forest.

Paved streets lead you up to this pristine urban oasis, just minutes away from the busy city below.

- We have some great easy trails, right by the Visitor's Center is a wonderful little nature loop and you can learn about the area and then as you go in, you can stay on the road, which keeps it really easy.

Or if you wanna make it a little bit more challenging, there are some trails like out to the Sabino Dam, which is a little bit more challenging 'cause you're off terrain.

If you wanna make it really hard, you can do that and head up into the mountains.

- [Narrator] There are 30 miles of trails to walk, jog, hike, bike, or just explore alongside Sabino Creek.

- Visitors can choose to come up the canyon two different ways.

They can choose to either take the tram and that will bring 'em up on the crawler, drop 'em right at the end or under their own power.

And that can be however they choose, it could be biking, walking, running, however they'd like to come and visit their national forest.

- [Narrator] Take note, mountain biking is now allowed here and there are some restrictions for biking on the paved road.

It allows for as much multi-use as possible.

- [Speaker] That's what we're all about here in the national forest.

And so we do have a couple days, Wednesday and Sunday, in which you can't bike on the road.

- [Narrator] Even though most of Coronado National Forest is dog friendly, they aren't allowed here in Sabino Canyon.

- So you can't bring your dog to Sabino Canyon.

There's just too many visitors that conflict would be there.

And so we're trying to limit that by just having an area where you can't bring them.

The rest of our forest, we love to see dogs with one other exception, and that's on Mount Lemmon where the big horned sheep are.

We don't allow dogs in that area either.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Sabino is believed to have formed some 12 million years ago and an earthquake in 1887 dislodged massive boulders, lining the canyon walls which came crashing down into the valley below.

Today, 1 million people from all over the world visit every year.

- This is Sabino Dam, located between Sabino Canyon and Bear Canyon.

It's an easy and popular, less than a mile and a half hike from the visitor center.

Unlike most creeks in Arizona, this creek flows all year round.

(water flows) - [Speaker] Sabino Canyon Dam is wonderful.

That is about a mile and a half hike.

It's relatively flat and you're gonna get to see water just cascading over that dam, it's beautiful.

- I'm gonna keep it real with y'all.

Before I arrived here, I could never imagine that much water flowing in the desert.

- [Narrator] This isn't the only trail with a major payoff, but you might have to work a little harder for it.

- [Speaker] So right now we are at the very end of Sabino Canyon, 3.7 miles from the visitor center next to Sabino Creek.

So to get here, we had to travel 3.7 miles up the road and then we hiked another 0.5 miles down over a rocky terrain down to the creek down here.

It took us a little bit, definitely not for the faint of heart.

- [Narrator] No matter how difficult the trail, you wanna make sure to wear comfy shoes that you don't mind getting wet.

And there's really not a lot of shade, so slather on that sunscreen.

- [Speaker] You're gonna see a lot of different vegetation like the Saguaro, the Prickly Pear, the Choia, and the mesquite trees down at our visitor center.

- [Narrator] These lands belong to us to not only enjoy but to support.

- [Speaker] If you visit your national forest and you visit the Coronado and you pay that entry fee, which is $8 for Sabino Canyon just for a day, and then if you wanna stay the whole week, it's $10.

But 95% of those funds stay right here in the Coronado National Forest and go back into the lands that we all enjoy.

- [Narrator] And they recently got funds from the Great American Outdoors Act.

- We put in information for why we deserve to get funding and we put it in for Sabino Canyon to get a re-pavement because our repaving hadn't happened since the 1970s.

And so it really allowed for a smoother walking surface.

If you were in a wheelchair, you could smoothly be able to go up and for our trams, it also cut back some of the brush that had overgrown the road.

- [Narrator] Every visitor, no matter how they choose to enjoy it, chose to preserve this natural resource for the next generation.

(warm music) (upbeat music) - In a world dominated by gas guzzling engines and four wheels, Tucson and Pima County are making a conscious effort to become the place for people who prefer to see the world on two wheels.

- The city of Tucson is working on building bike boulevards to connect various parts of town where it's safe for people to ride and people feel comfortable riding.

Definitely Tucson is a biking mecca.

We have people coming here from all over the United States as well as the world to ride on our roads, to ride on the loop, multi-use path.

It's a great place because people can ride, find flat places to ride, people can ride in the foothills of the mountains and people can do something like climb Mount Lemmon.

In the 1980s, we had a huge rain event and there was a lot of flooding along the Rillito River and the Santa Cruz River.

So the regional flood control district decided to build bank protection or flood walls along the edges of the river bed to protect private property along the river.

County staff noticed that people were walking their dogs and riding their bikes on top of that bank protection.

Chuck Huckleberry, who was at the time county administrator said, why don't we make this an amenity?

Why don't we turn it into a recreational multi-use path so people can enjoy it.

That way, they're using flood control money for a recreational purpose.

- This is the Chuck Huckleberry Loop.

USA Today says this is the number one bike trail in America.

(upbeat music) - The loop is called a loop because it encircles the city of Tucson and it follows the different waterways around Tucson.

It's a great way to connect the sort of suburban communities in Pima County with the city of Tucson.

And if you were to ride every mile of the loop, it would be 137 miles.

- [Narrator] Around every corner, there seems to be miles of trails for mountain biking and road biking for rider of all skill levels.

And that's all by design.

- Woohoo.

6.6 Is quite a long way, but hey, at least I get to ring this bell.

(bell rings) Just what I've been looking for.

There ain't no shame in my game.

This trail right here is perfect for me.

Let's go.

- [Narrator] It's easy to see why everyone likes to get on the loop.

It's a network of lush desert and city multi-use trails with paved paths that span the metro Tucson area.

(upbeat music) Along the way, you're going to see more bikers, hikers, and even horseback riders in some areas.

It's like a mini United Nations of trails where everyone has a shared opportunity to exercise, commute, and enjoy the beautiful Sonoran desert.

The loop is like a kaleidoscope of different scenery.

You get paved asphalt trails and green trees one minute and the next, you've got dirt, gravel, and desert to track through the next.

And while a lot of the loops showcases amazing mountain views in desert nature and wildlife at its best, you can only find the big snake in the big city.

- We're here at Snake Bridge by the Aviation Bikeway.

Let's go check it out.

This is a functional piece of art.

(upbeat music) The bridge was designed to look like a rattlesnake.

You could say right now that I'm riding through the belly of the serpent.

Check it out, there's the tail.

I hope it's not moving because if it's rattling, we are in big, big trouble.

(rattle shakes) (warm music) - You don't have to visit one of Arizona's 18 national monuments or three national parks to experience our state's pristine beauty.

We are here at Tucson Mountain Park, which is literally Tucson's backyard.

- [Narrator] Known by the locals as Gates Pass, it's run by Pima County Parks, which means you can pull off here pretty much anytime you want, eat your lunch, or watch the sunset.

At about 20,000 acres, this park is one of the largest natural resource areas in the country that's owned and managed by a local government.

Aside from the amazing views here at Gates Pass Overlook, you can explore the 60 plus trails by either hiking, biking, or on horseback, which I'm about to do.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - So we're at the White Stallion Ranch today, which is on the northwest side of Tucson, just north of Swan National Park west.

- [Narrator] At just over two miles, White Stallion Ranch has the longest private border with the national park.

And when you say you can see for miles, you really can.

- So we have 3000 acres, so it's just about five square miles.

We're bordered by Tucson Mountains on our eastern edge where we do rock climbing and ride horses and all that.

And then we have a lot of flat land where we're able to, we graze cattle and take horse rides.

- [Narrator] And horseback riding is one of their biggest activities.

- Horses are obviously a huge, huge factor.

So people come here mainly for the riding.

We do a lot of other activities with them as well.

But you're gonna see ranch life, so we have cowboys, we have cattle, we're raising cattle, they're gonna be riding, they're gonna maybe see branding, all that kind of stuff.

- [Narrator] This is a real working cattle ranch and the true family has been running it for decades.

- We've been here since 1965.

I'm the third generation, we've got a fourth on the way.

- [Narrator] There may be no bigger slice of Americana than the Arizona Dude Ranch.

Guests come to White Stallion Ranch to learn the ropes and be part of the cowboy mystique.

- People come stay, we put 'em up, feed 'em three meals a day, take 'em riding, do activities with them and it's a good gateway.

It's a good way to experience the Western lifestyle.

And for people who maybe even live in the west but aren't familiar with sort of the heritage out here, dude ranchers don't have TVs or phones in the room or anything like that.

So everybody sits down together and eats a meal at the same time and goes out and rides at the same time.

So everybody is experiencing all that with their family and their new friends that they've made.

And when they leave, what we want them to remember is the time they spent with their family.

It's very different than another type of vacation 'cause you've spent so much time, you've done so many things together.

- [Narrator] Tucson Mountain Stables is located here on property, but you don't have to be a guest of the ranch, you can come on out anytime.

- The White Stallion Ranch is 3,300 acres and we ride pretty much on all of it.

We've got rides for all levels of participants.

One of our most popular rides is the hour and a half sunset ride.

It's the last ride of the day and that's kind of Arizona's signature ride.

You see all the cactus and plus the sunset in the background, it's extremely beautiful.

- [Narrator] While you don't need any special skills, you do need to learn a few basics.

- All the way up to the top, step there.

- All right, this is my first time.

This is my first time right here.

- You're gonna do just fine, I promise.

- Thank you, thank you.

Sweet.

- Put your left foot right here inside this.

- Left foot right here?

Okay.

- Jump and put your right leg over.

- Okay.

(warm music) - Left hand?

- My left hand, so this hand right here?

You're good, thank you.

- Just to stop, pull back.

As soon as he stops, release.

- Release.

- If you pull back too hard... - And people are always interested about their little kid and say, "Will they be able to control the horse?"

Little kids usually pay more attention to the than the adults.

They will get more out of a demonstration than mom and dad.

- Okay.

- And that's Lucy.

- What's up Lucy?

- You're on Lucy, you're on Bear.

The young man is on Gun Smoke.

- All right.

- Christian will be your guide.

- Both my heels.

- You're going up what's called Side Winder.

It's our sunset ride.

It's a beautiful ride through the desert and then you climb quite a bit of elevation and come back down.

It's a beautiful ride.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - You know, being so much higher on Lucy, you can see a lot more than walking on foot.

- [Narrator] And just look around, there's no other place in the world like this.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Look at that sunset, wow.

- [Narrator] The image of the towering Saguaro is often seen as a symbol of the southwest.

However, this cactus only naturally grows in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and Mexico.

- Now this, this must be an old one.

I'm about five foot 11, not including the hair.

Look how this absolutely towers over me.

- [Narrator] These are the desert skyscrapers surrounded by endless blue sky during the day, a view only topped by the most amazing sunset.

- Kind of the ride that people picture in their head if they've never even been on a ride.

It's a really good representative in the southwest.

- [Narrator] You could call it Arizona's signature, signing off for the night.

(upbeat music) - [Speaker] Sabino Canyon and Mount Lemmon are two of the most popular areas in the Coronado National Forest.

So from Sabino Canyon, if you wanted to visit Mount Lemmon, you would head out on the road and it would swing you around, a little bit around Tucson, on the far northeast side.

And then you'll begin your ascent up Mount Lemmon.

- [Narrator] Tucson is home to some really beautiful canyons and landscapes, all worth the price of admission.

(upbeat music) But there's one place just 29 miles north of Tucson that gives you a lot of sightseeing bang for your buck.

It's the Mount Lemmon scenic byway, the only paved road that leads to the very top of Mount Lemmon and the Santa Catalina mountain range.

- For every 1000 feet up Mount Lemmon, it's like driving 600 miles north.

So I would compare this drive to traveling all over Arizona.

You get to take one trip that takes you an hour from the base to the top, and you've traveled the entire state of Arizona.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] The road starts out at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains in the lower Sonoran desert.

Big iconic saguaros line both sides of the curvy, twisty road.

- On the way up, pay very close attention to the plants and trees.

It's one of the most wide-ranging and changing landscapes you'll ever see in a 27 mile stretch.

- [Speaker] Because you start out at the saguaros and you're down in the desert and it's very Arizona.

It's what we all picture.

And then as you work your way up, you're gonna notice the temperature starts dropping, it starts getting cooler.

It's gonna be 20 degrees cooler about by the time you get to the top of this mountain and you're gonna be surrounded by pine and fir trees.

And you've just transitioned as if you hadn't went from Mexico to Canada.

And you're gonna see all this different ecology along the way.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Trees, shrubs, and plants get more and more diverse and less desert-y, if that's even a word, as you ascend the mountain road.

There are also some really funky rock formations that will have you scratching your head at how impossibly perched they are.

We are here at Hoodoo Point to find out what exactly hoodoo's are.

- [Speaker] Well, a hoodoo is an outcropping of rocks where it just comes up and it's like a pillar standing there.

They are gonna be found all along your drive, but make sure you keep focused on that road as you're driving along.

(upbeat music) - [Speaker] So rock climbing is great here in the Coronado National Forest.

We have lots of different opportunities.

And here on Mount Lemmon, there's a plethora of climbs of different varieties and different styles and challenges that rock climbers can enjoy all over the mountain.

- [Narrator] For some, rock climbing on Mount Lemmon can even be a spiritual experience.

- It's beautiful.

I mean the land itself, I believe it has a vibration.

It has a spirit.

And the mountains it seems, you go from desert to mountain where you have like the more aggressive desert to the more peaceful, softer mountains.

And I mean, I believe we can relate to that as humans.

- [Narrator] People from all over the world flock to Mount Lemmon.

Some come in search of personal challenges.

- It's a good challenge for me, Mount Lemmon.

It's a good challenge.

We love the place, the view is beautiful, and we always bike together.

- Yeah.

- It's fun.

- It's fun.

- And it's our passion.

It's amazing to see the difference of temperature between the top and the bottom.

In the bottom, we can feel the difference.

- The view is so beautiful.

- We love the challenge.

We love we can prove ourselves even at our age.

- It keeps us young.

- Yes, exactly.

- So I live up in Flagstaff, I drove down for the weekend, maybe for Monday too, brought my bike down, getting outta the snow and the cold weather to ride my bike down here on some great trails here.

Mountain biking trails have a similar rating to ski slopes where you kind of have that green, blue, black, double black.

Greens are almost kind of dirt roads and then blue are gonna be your intermediate trail.

Bug Springs is a black trail.

A lot of it's pretty flowy, but there's a few rocky technical sections that maybe an intermediate rider would have to tap walk.

And then the Milegrosa has a double black trail.

So there's gonna be a lot of really rocky and steep and difficult things to get the bike over.

- [Narrator] Most of the road passes through the Coronado forest.

There are lots of scenic overlooks along the way up with lots of turnouts and even campgrounds and picnic areas.

There are dozens of cool hiking trails and the ever present sight of cyclists going up and down the mountain.

- [Speaker] I'd heard about Mount Lemmon, just like it's a bit of a legendary climb in the cycling community and I've always wanted to do it.

So I figured why not?

Just slow and steady made my way up the top.

You're actually like in the desert when you enter the climb, like thousands and thousands of cactuses on the hillside and then slowly but surely the snow starts appearing and then you've got like ice to look out for and then it starts to look a lot like Colorado, where I'm from and yeah, it's pretty amazing.

You go through like four biomes on the way up.

But to like experience the full range of mountains and get up into snow capped peaks in the middle of Arizona, Southern Arizona, is just something you don't really expect.

- [Narrator] As you reach the top of Mount Lemmon, the road is surrounded on both sides with the sweet smelling pines and the sounds of rustling leaves of aspen trees.

And once you finally get to the top, there's another cool surprise.

- So we have the Mount Lemmon Ski Resort that's here on our national forest also.

And that is a unique thing for Arizona and this ski resort, while it doesn't get a whole lot of snow all year long, it does get some and you can come out and ski down the mountain in the afternoon and then come down and explore Tucson in the evening.

- [Narrator] Mount Lemmon is home to the Southernmost ski resort in the continental United states, here at Mount Lemmon's Ski Valley.

(cables whir) - Nobody likes that morning commute to work, but I have to admit, traffic up here isn't so bad, especially at 9,000 plus feet.

- [Narrator] In all, they offer 22 trails ranging from green circle to black diamond.

- We've had the best time ever in Tucson, Arizona.

We've gone hiking, biking, horseback riding, honestly, I'm never gonna forget this time.

And I have to admit, I never thought I'd be making a snow angel in Tucson, but yet here we are.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Trail Mix'd is made possible in part by a gift from Sue and Bill Ahearn.

(warm music) - [Narrator] Additional support provided by... - [Narrator] SRP is staying ahead of the valley's growing energy needs.

We're investing in one of the country's largest solar battery storage projects to deliver power that's as reliable as it is sustainable.

- [Narrator] Albertsons, Safeway pharmacies, and valley nonprofit Mission of Mercy are proud to support cancer awareness.

They encourage you to talk to your doctor, get recommended screenings, and don't forget your flu vaccine.

More information at albertsonsorsafeway.com.

- Whitfill Nursery proud to support eight Arizona PBS, a Valley tradition since 1946.

Over 200 acres of Arizona grown tree, citrus, and palms, complete custom design and installation.

And Whitfill Nursery still does the digging.

Whitfillnursery.com.

- [Narrator] And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you, thank you.