Sky Islands Odyssey (East Loop) - Day 2 - New Route through the Canelo Hills to Sonoita
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…
