7 Days of Bikepacking in November or December?

[Jbennett]

I'm trying to find a route to take a bikepacking trip with my Salsa Vaya.  Since I will be on a Vaya, I'm trying to avoid single track only routes.  I absolutely don't mind fire roads or road riding.  In fact, some of my favorite trips have been on jeep trails and fire roads in Colorado.

Since I don't have much heavy winter weather gear (I live in Dallas), I'm avoiding routes further north.

I'm considering part of the Arizona trail, but I'm unsure of the technicality of the trail given my currently available rig.

I'm looking to do 5-7 days of riding and would prefer to do a loop, if possible, in order to make logistics easier.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Adam Alphabet]

I'm sure the Arizona people could chime in better. Having done the first 300 miles of the AZT a Vaya would only be suitable for certain sections. The AZT is generally proper rugged mountain biking.
If you want to do some google earthing you could likely find some pretty sweet dirt roads to ramble on in Southern AZ.  Again the AZ people would better help here.

Maybe a section of the ACA's Southern Tier Route: http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/southern-tier/

Or

[Eszter]

Most of the AZT is paralleled by some pretty quiet dirt and paved roads. You could ride the 750 route from the border, dump off at Parker Lake and ride to Sonoita, maybe take the trail until it gets nasty, hop on the pavement for a bit, and then get back on the trail 10 miles south of I-10 and ride smooth ST (well, smooth for AZ) all the way thru Hope Camp, then take the race route to Reddington, but stay on Reddington to the backside of Mt Lemmon and to San Manual. Get to Oracle from there and then ride out on the dirt roads past the 24-hours of Old Pueblo Course to Florence somehow. (My mental map is failing me here, Forence-Kelvin Hwy?)

From Florence, look at ScottM's Gila River Ramble loops, but you can loop back on some really cool back roads along the Gila River to Kelvin, then take the Florence-Kelvin 'Hwy' (it's dirt) back towards Oracle.

...Or get across Phoenix to the Black Canyon Trail. There's an old (defunct?) Arizona Endurance Series event that does a figure 8 on the trail and dirt roads. From what I understand, the trail is pretty smooth. I think the trail is on the order of 90 miles, so you could probably kill some time out there. That's definitely one of the warmer areas in the state that time of year.

[AZTtripper]

There is actually an out of date guide book for a mostly road version of the AZT. Leaving Tucson you could ride a mix of paved and dirt south down thru Sonoita and Patagoina using Canelo Pass road to cross and parallel the AZT. Ride back north and out to Gardner Canyon and pick up the AZT for the Flume trail,some of this was  included in the mostly road version its super smooth in parts, you can do the current race course to the historic Kentucky Camp. Then you'll want to leave the AZT. You'll have to do a bit of doubling back to avoid rougher country but then you could cross over the Santa Rita Mountains on FS 62 Box Canyon road. Used for the AZT 300 from 06 - 10 this is a good dirt road for you. Then back to Tucson on a paved route out of Green Valley down Mission Road past the historic San Xavier Mission. Then thru Tucson and onto what Eszter was describing over Reddington to the San Pedro river and up thru Oracle and back down to Tucson again a mix of 2 wheel drive type road and paved.

Hope that helps. If you want I could whip up a track.
Tim