I planned, mapped, collaborated, and then scout-rode the Gold to Grand Loop in February 2024 with Janna.  Whenever I assemble a route, that first ride is always a mix of excitement and trepidation.  Especially in desert areas with low water or remote areas with little beta on backcountry conditions.  This initial ride was both.  What I found floored me though: sprawling Joshua tree forests, massive views, solidly-spaced water, and gorgeous Colorado plateau geology smashing up through the ground.  The roads turned out be mostly well-kept, and I started some relationship building with Aravada Springs for bikepackers at a crucial water and camping point.  Janna and I finished that trip, and all I could think of was getting back out there.  I had a few goals in mind to improve the route.  (1) I wanted to first ride it again in autumn after a dry summer and see what the water conditions looked like for future riders, (2) I wanted to see what the road conditions were after an arid fall, (3) I wanted to get more of the route off pavement for the climb to Whitney Pocket (plus add a possible water source at Government Spring that I wanted to confirm), and (4) I wanted to get some other riders on the route to get their impressions…

The cold descended on the high desert grasslands complete and thorough as the night wore on. I awoke several times shivering and needing to tighten up gaps in my quilt. And all throughout the night, an owl sat in the tree over us, hooting and jumping branch to branch. As daylight flowed in across the grassy courtyard, I jumped out of the X-mid to investigate for signs of the bird. Sure enough, I quickly located piles and piles of owl pellets; I was absolutely stoked. We packed up wearing our puffies and pushed out on our bikes under the massive entrance sign for the Santa Cruz County Fair and Rodeo Association. Janna and I both had enough snacks to easily get through the day's riding. But we both wanted a hot breakfast. A quick Google search turned up "Corner Scoop" at the main intersection ahead. What was billed as an ice cream place also had solid hot breakfast options. We pulled in, propped our bikes, and ordered some breakfast burritos and muffins. The two of us grabbed the few seats at the ordering bar and soaked in the warmth. A few locals came in for their orders of coffee and food. They asked us what we were doing and where we were heading. It was good conversation all around before we packed the muffins to-go and jumped back on our bikes…

We both slept soundly and took time to generously lay for some time wrapped in our quilts in the morning dawn. Usually, day two of this trip is a fast and easy ride into Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, but ever since the closure of access to the property from the Audubon Society, we've been dealing with alternates. Sarah Swallow, the creator of Sky Islands Odyssey, had finally released a new official version that took a whole new path towards the east side of the Santa Ritas. The route now started the same but split mid-day to head across a section of the Canelo Hills through an area new to me. Today was usually a 35 mile day but now would be 48 miles with the route change. Those new distances, terrain, and elevation gain all pressed a sense of urgency to get moving today, lest the route take inordinately longer than expected to complete. Camp tonight would be in Sonoita at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. Sarah had updated the route with this allowable camp location, and we planned to try it out. Weeks ago I had secured a tent camping reservation, and I was super curious to see what the venue would look like. Janna and I have slept in a variety of fairgrounds on our bike trips. Some have been pretty incredible and nice, while others have been shady and concerning. I was hoping for the former for tonight…

This is our sixth time riding the Sky Islands Odyssey. And we love it as ever. Set in southeast Arizona amid and around its iconic Sky Islands peaks, the route weaves through the lower Sonoran cacti and high desert grasslands the region is famous for. Janna and I have returned nearly every year since 2018 to ride this loop. We love it for the small towns, landscapes, and warm temperatures during the cooler months of the year up north. Usually, this trip is a November Veteran's Day escape for us; but last autumn, I ended up breaking my pelvis in two places on the Stagecoach 100 route. That effectively took out all backcountry trips for several months after diagnosis. So I looked ahead and plucked this designated snow-makeup-day in early April as a time to head out. The date rolled in, no snow days were used, so this long weekend became ours for a southern Arizona trip…

Sleep is deep and thorough, so that by the time we wake up, the soreness in our bones has been abated.  Today is planned to be shorter both in elevation gain and distance compared to most of the previous days - which means one thing --> a slow morning to enjoy ourselves.  It's also our last day which happens to coincide with a ride along the Pacific Coast.  We hum with excitement and the promise of beautiful weather.  I open up the blinds to our hotel room and gorgeous bluebird morning light spills in.  Janna and I walk down to the complimentary hotel breakfast which sits in a partial-outdoor room.  The air is fresh, maybe even crisp, with the saturation of moisture that soaks our lungs in relief.  It's looking to be some of the best weather conditions of the trip - a perfect way to finish the Stagecoach 400.  We eat, pack up, and push out right along the PCH bike lanes we've ridden so many times over the years on previous trips…

I snuggle deep into my quilt during the night. I awake multiple times to the patter and then sheeting of precipitation shedding from the winter storm down on our shelter. Even a little thunder. Each time, I just snuggle into a deeper sleep and pass the hours away. Morning comes with a faded glimmer. Janna's up before me to use the restroom. She comes rushing back into the shelter to wake me up and says all the hillsides are caked in snow. I throw on my puffy and race out of the shelter to go see for myself. I walk to the front of the resort entrance and stare at an amalgamation of parting clouds, the entrails of the winter fury, sagging over the hills and peaks of the Beauty Mountain Wilderness. In their clearing I can see the mountains caked in snow. Everything we had ridden through yesterday between Anza and here is covered in white. It looks like the snowline ends about 100 feet above our current elevation below Black Mountain. Had we camped any higher up last night, we'd be waking up to several inches on our tent. I look up the weather and see Idyllwild got nearly 6 inches of snow last night, with another 5 inches predicted to fall starting today. I mentally note how lucky we were to get out of there when we did or we'd be snowed in…

I'm buzzing with anticipation as soon as my eyes open. The room is warm, the bed welcoming, and my legs tired. But, I know the next round of Santa Ana Winds are brewing a concoction of snowstorms on high and thunderstorms down low. We dress at 5 am, eat breakfast, and flip on the TV. Sure enough, the local news is plastered with images from downtown LA where the Santa Ana Winds are ripping and roaring. Trees are shorn, stoplights whipped, and even cars crushed from falling debris. The news reports gusts of wind hitting 70 - 80 mph. Holy shit. We open the drapes and see nothing yet that strong outside our room at the Idyllwild Inn. Janna and I both put some substantial layers on as we prepare to exit into the cold. It's absolutely brooding outside, a mix of moody clouds and swirling gray that indicates the atmospheric instability overhead. We push past the door and down into the empty town of sleepy-morning Idyllwild where we are one of the few out. We had debated last night which route to take this morning. The official route descends off the mountain on dirt roads and singletrack. The alternate is to just ride the highway straight back down the way we came up which is shorter and faster. I've done the latter two years ago on this route (when the dirt descent was closed from wildfire damage); I'm hungry to see the official way down so we start the morning ascending through neighborhoods until we hit dirt and enter the San Bernadino National Forest…

Idyllwild is simply an ideal trail town for a zero day.  The best trail towns are small, walkable, have access to everything a backcountry traveler needs including a full grocery, delicious restaurants, outdoor gear, and a place to lodge or camp.  And all within a nominal distance for someone looking to take a day off their legs.  Although the Stagecoach 400 is intended to start and end from Idyllwild, Janna and I planned our route this year to make it a mid-route stop with time for a zero day and resupply…

A Fierce Green Ride is a bikepacking event through the White Mountains of eastern Arizona! Named after Aldo Leopold’s perspective-changing encounter with a Mexican gray wolf, this ride is completely self-supported and takes riders 400 miles and 32,000 feet of gain through the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. A Fierce Green Ride (AFGR) travels along a modified version of El Lobo Lupus with a start and finish in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona at the WME Village 8 Movie Theater. The event takes place on September 26, 2025 at 7 AM.

I’ve updated my official Gear Lists for 2025. These lists serve as my personal packing checklists along with details and comments on each gear selection. For those curious as to what I bring or if you’re looking at getting into bikepacking and backpacking yourself, these lists are a good start for your own decisions. I’ve included links, if possible, to each gear item. I’ve acquired this gear over time, and I’ve often wait for good sales. This gear has been vetted and put through thousands of miles of personal use and is what I turn to.

One of my long-standing projects has been to create a number of smaller Overnighter routes on both the South and North Rims. The ultimate goal being to create a suite of bikepacking routes that stretch from day-long rides, to weekend overnighters, to full expedition multi-week Capes of the Canyon. After much site-reorganizing and rider feedback, I’m excited to officially release both a new overnighter on the South Rim as well as the complete Grand Canyon Bikepacking Network.

The Santa Ana Winds are here.  And they are powerful.

The night is a swirl of gusts and flapping fabric.  The X-Mid holds secure - success born of its design and our campsite choice.  But the winds just continue to grow throughout the night.  I shove earplugs in deep to drown the sound of gusts whipping.  The heat of the desert dies in the night; it's replaced by a chill from wind and storm front.  I awake to use the restroom several times and tighten all guylines each time.  But I sleep, and so does Janna.  My eyes are already open when my alarm sounds at 5:30 am.  The two of us decided to wake up extra early for several reasons: (a) today is the crux of the route with The Willows, (b) today will also hold the most elevation gain per our plan, (c) the Santa Ana Winds will be at their worst for us, and (d) the latest weather report warns of a significant winter storm brewing over the San Jacintos threatening several inches of snow and whiteout conditions.  The Santa Ana Winds alone are against our favor - literally predicted to be blowing all day in exactly the opposite direction we are moving.  We mentally brace ourselves for 25-40 mph headwinds with 50+ mph gusts.  I ponder our fate after our alarm goes off.  It's nearly night still, the break of dawn just barely here…

I lay in bed comfortably most of the night, torn between equal parts excitement to show the wild beauty of Fish Creek to Janna tomorrow, and a feeling of dread and doubt about the Santa Ana winds we read about the day before.  Today will be the beginning of the winds, building slowly, surely, and then crescendoing over the next few days when we plan to climb to Idyllwild with wind forecasts building from 20 mph, to 40 mph, to nearly 80 mph in gusts.  I sleep soundly but awaken mid-night to the rustle of fabric as gusts start in.  Janna and I wake up early, pre-dawn in the cold blur of blue night and yellow dawn, to pack.  There's a lot of sand on the menu today which could slow us dramatically, in addition to the big miles we plan.  I also want to get as far as possible up Coyote Canyon to dispersed camp as I know tomorrow is the true crux of the route…

I sweated for hours during the night before sinking hard into a sleep that washed the heat away in a chill of autumn. By the time morning rolled around, I was just laying in my quilt waiting for sunlight to finally hit the horizon. And when it did, I got out and started stretching and eating breakfast on the cusp of day while relaying some satellite texts to Janna. I wanted to get going early because I needed to cover about 50 miles today, avoid the heat, and drive back to the South Rim to do some school work. I jumped on the bike and headed down doubletrack to Bedrock Point. It's an unbelievable location with doubletrack that careens down into a shelf of rock hanging out below the upper rim of Marble Canyon. Today was no different, and I had the place entirely to myself. Backlit dawn made the rust and yellows of tumbling rock gush and split into a jumble of colorful views as Bedrock Canyon meandered in multiple directions from the viewpoint….(Read More at the Full Blog Post)

Biking House Rock Valley has become a multi-year love of mine.  It all started back in 2017 when Darren and I were driving to the North Rim to stay at Big Springs and we eyed the straight arrow path of Buffalo Ranch Road cutting across the high grasslands out to places unknown to us.  It struck us, stayed with us, and became a conversation topic we returned to over and over: what it would be like to ride out there?  It took moving to the Canyon for me to begin really biking there starting in 2020.  When winter set in high up on the rims, I began looking for relatively close desert treks to go ride in: House Rock Valley fit the intent.  Ever since, I spend a good chunk of weekends in the area riding down old doubletrack and across sandy washes enjoying the grasslands, desert scrub, and spectacular scenery along Marble Canyon…(Read More at the Full Blog Post)

My website has gone through a major update as I have transferred to SquareSpace from Weebly. This is a big move that has needed to happen as Weebly has begun phasing out support and features with its recent acquisition.

All routes are fully updated for those looking to ride or hike. Blogs are still being transferred so you may see some gaps or unfinished sections; those will be finished up over time.