San Diego to Phoenix to Albuquerque

[joeuser]

Hi bikepackers. I am currently looking into riding from San Diego eastward towards Albuquerque around March. Current ideas include

- San Diego to Idyllwild Pine via northern half of Stagecoach-400 route.
- Connect to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree NP.
- Cross Joshua Tree national park from west to east on dirt. Possible?
- Connect to Sedona in the least boring way possible... BUT HOW AND WHERE?
- Ride best trails of Sedona, then connect to Phoenix and follow the GET to Albuquerque.

Anybody ever done this? Any ideas? I am especially clueless about the part between Joshua Tree and Sedona. Couldnt find anything worthwile on the net for this, but maybe I just dont know what to look for. Any input is appreciated!

Thanks,
Joe.

[wahday]

Very intriguing. If you haven't checked it out already, this link has info on the GET and links to some trip reports. If you need a place to stay in ABQ PM me.

[ROADHOG]

Try guidebooks. There are MTB and general cycle guides that include MTB for each area ..Joshua Tree may be under eg 'MTB trails riding national parks.'.

Search in

Google Books
Barnes and Noble
World catalog
Google Images

with Images try plugging into the search bar books already found for specific areas and the geo area names ...this search can narrow to for example uh 'ugly canyon oasis trail' by picking phrases out of each area using the picked for more searching.

Try constructing a map, poss out of Images goes from Park to park to Natural Area....copy a list of Parks and areas for each state then stringem together to continue searching along that route.

Then look for water.

[ROADHOG]

and BLM for each state.

[mtntraveler]

Hi
The San Diego Randonneuring  group has a route from San Diego to Phoenix, this would be on paved side roads. 
Going thru Joshua Tree from west to east probably wont happen there not very bike friendly and roads trend north- south.
If you got to the Western end of JT and went a bit south you could pick up the Bradshaw trail and make it to Blythe on dirt roads, from there Phoenix would make sense.

Check on water logistics as well as temps.

Have at it
JRB

[joeuser]

Need to start in LA now due to flight issues. No harm done, I can just ride south along the beach for a day, take in some good single track around Santiago Peak and then connect to Idyllwild Pine / Palm Springs trail and Joshua Tree.

Joshua tree offroad looks possible, I can enter through "Berdoo Canyon Road" and leave on "Black Eagle Mine Road". Certainly the NPS would allow cycling on jeep roads in the park? There's also this "California riding and hiking trail" but I suppose its not for mountainbikes.

Bradshaw trail afterwards looks like a fun thing to do from Desert Center, thanks for the idea! I would end up a bit further south (Blythe) than what I planned though. My last idea was to get to Parker, Bill Williams River, Planet Ranch Road, Bagdad, Prescott, Sedona, then Phoenix. But maybe that could also be other way round... like Bradshaw Trail - Blythe - Tucson - Phoenix - Sedona. So many options :-).

I think I need to give up on the GET idea. I would be there start of April and that thing follows some pretty high mountain ridges. Dont think I could make it to Albuquerque at that time of the year, unless theres a really dry winter. Maybe the ride has to end in Phoenix with just a little fun loop in the Gila desert.

[ROADHOG]

 

 Your 400 reference AAA ! how to get down the hill thru Anza Borrego.

 Weekdays, outback at Joshua Tree is plenty isolated.

The temps for your ride at lower elevations runs maybe 110+ ...a higher elevation plateau would be cooler.

For comparing elevation temps, Weather Underground offers a weather history port halfway down the page for each location.

[Jon Cal]

Berdoo Canyon is not a bad option- if you want to pedal past the entry to the Little San Bernadinos down to roughly Coachella.  I just rambled through Berdoo a few weeks ago.  No water sources whatsoever.  Consider little Morongo Canyon Rd which traverses from Desert Hot Springs to Yucca Valley.  Shorter distance between water sources. 

I live in San Diego now, but grew up in JT.  A ride from SD to JT has been on my list for quite sometime.  SD to Ramona to Idyllwild, down Palm Canyon trail, across the floor to Little Morongo. 

[Dirt Dog]

 The start of the route here.

http://www.co.san-diego.ca.us/reusable_components/images/parks/doc/CountywideOverview_Trails.pdf

[ROADHOG]

San Diego County has maps....

https://www.google.com/#q=san+diego+county+bike+path+map

where on your map were you starting from ?

thanks for Juan Batista !!!!

http://www.anzahistorictrail.org/   

[mathieu]

The Topic Poster already found his way in and out SoCal. See http://forums.mtbr.com/california-socal/bikepacking-socal-west-east-899983.html

[ROADHOG]

 COOL !