Border Crisis and Bikes

Touring the Sky Islands in the Midst of a Crisis

Photo Credit: Derrick Lytle

The Sky Islands Odyssey traverses a hot and dusty Sonoran Desert with detours around mountain ranges called Sky Islands which tower more than 6,000 feet above the low desert. These “islands” offer drastically different ecosystems than the desert below and cooler temperatures than the “sea” below. Just miles from the Mexico/USA border this deadly terrain has also become a hotbed for immigrants entering the United States.

Customs and Border Patrol reported just under 35,000 encounters, in the Tucson sector, during the agency's 2020 fiscal year. To date in the 2021 fiscal year CBP reports more than 80,000 encounters reflecting a 129 percent increase.

Hayden Hawks made the 10 hour drive to Tucson from Utah and then we drove another hour to the small, historical ranching and mining town of Patagonia, AZ to start a ride around this area.

Day 1

After fiddling with our bikes for a few minutes and figuring out parking we pedaled out of town , down the asphalt, and to the legendary gravel roads. To be honest, we know vey little about bike packing. We’re trail runners who just happen to have gravel bikes … for this mountain bike route.

Overall the first day treated us well. Good pavement with little traffic, nice forest roads, and cloudy perfect skies. We cruised along and fiddled with various bags as our gear adjusted to the bumps and rocks. For the most part the day went smoothly. Some sections of old mining roads were definitely more suited for a mountain bike which required a bit of hike a bike but then a long solid descent to a Wendy’s in Rio Rico where we had some dinner.

Riding bikes with bags is a funny thing. You get a lot of questions about what all that stuff is for and then comments on the number of miles down. Very different from thru hiking where you enter a town looking disheveled and avoided by local townspeople and glares by tourists who don't comprehend backpacking.

The town of Rio Rico sits along I-19 just 13 miles from the border with Mexico. Border Patrol is extremely visible in this area. It seems that half the vehicle are white and green Border Patrol trucks to vans. I started counting in my head the amount but after an hour or so it was too much to remember. We left the Wendy’s and headed towards Pena Blanca Lake and White Rock Campground which were the goals for daily distance on day one. We arrived to the campground and found it full with a church group so we continued further down the forest road and found a nice flat area with views to stay for the night.

The moment we stopped Border Patrol passed by and then again. And again. For the next 6 hours they drove up and down the road. On the way we passed various signs stating the high migrant activity and border patrol presence in the area. Historically this area has a high migrant rate but even more so during the Biden Administration. In March of 2021 President Biden asked Vice President Kamala Harris to tackle the issues on the border but she has yet to visit the area leaving locals bewildered. Various factors seem to be contributing to the chaos on the border including COVID-19, Democrat’s promoting more open borders, and also seasonal surges that tend to happen before the deadly summer heat.

Day 2

We awoke with the sun but gave ourselves an easy morning. We packed our bikes up and immediately hit a long climb of washboards in full sun followed by a long but solid descent to the small town of Arivaca where we topped off our water and food. Next stop would be the Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge. We pedaled here and then had hours until sundown so we carried on. Other riders told me about the bird populations in the refuge but we saw a few deer and nothing else. Just solid cruiser roads. We passed old corrals, old homesteads, and eventually made it to the town of Amado and grabbed some dinner at the market.

Dinner on bikes isn’t always glamourous. I ate chips, popcorn, Gatorade, and of course a mazapan. Hayden demolished a microwave burrito and some various snacks. Calories? Yes. Remotely healthy after 85 miles? No. As the sun set we rode a few more miles under headlamp and found another not so glamorous place to camp alongside a forest road. We set up camp in the dark and slept. 90 miles of rattly, smooth and and then rattly miles in the sun.

Day 3

We awoke with the sun again. It’s easy when it hits you in this open landscape and heats up your sleeping bag like Hayden’s burrito dinner last night. We expected an easy 30 ish mile cruise back to Patagonia to finish our loop. Like most things in the desert, those last 30 miles tried to kill us. After a couple of easy miles we hit rocky double track and climbed rocky double track for hours. The rocks pushed our stiff gravel bikes to the edge of their capability.

Anyone who knows bikes would probably laugh. Whatever, we had to finish and this is what we had with us. We hiked. We swore. We kept going. Eventually, after too many false summits, we finished our route around Mt. Wrightson and found perfect dirt roads. Beautifully graded ranch roads with minimal traffic which led to a fast return to Patagonia, felt a little surreal after the bone jarring day.

Southern Arizona is a mix of cultures with European, Hispanic, and Native American all converging in one spectacular desert. Self propelled is the best way to see it and get a minor glimpse of the harsh reality migrants face while crossing this arid terrain.