Picacho Peak State Park, Arizona

They will see us waving from such great

Heights, 'come down now,' they'll say

But everything looks perfect from far away

'come down now,' but we'll stay...
- Ben Gibbard

We hit our highest mileage of the trip yesterday, clocking in at 93 miles.  It was tough trying to get out of Phoenix, hitting stop light after stop light, we finally hit some open country road around mile 30 but  because of the slow start didn't hit our destination for the night until around 3 pm.  We stopped at Casa Grande national monument right around lunch, it's an ancient Sonoran desert farming community dating to the 1200's (pretty frickin old!).  It was a nice mid day break before the final push for home as we were all getting pretty baked by the midday sun.  Picacho Peak is located about 40 miles northwest of Tuscon and was the best camping experience I've ever had (out of 2 beating last week).  A group of us decided to hike the 2 mile steep ascent to the peak of the mountain before dinner, a pretty wise decision after the day we had in the saddle but I guess you only live once right? I've never been hiking in my life so had to learn on the fly about proper footing but it was totally worth the time and burning quads for the view we got to the peak. By the time we got back down the sun was beginning to descend behind a range of hills in the distance and the colors that streamed across the desert were absolutely gorgeous.  The rest of the evening was spent by the camp fire telling stories, drinking beer and roasting marshmellows for smores.  Night time in the middle of the desert, miles from any town brought billions of stars out and the astronomers in the group pointed out constellation after constellation until I was more confused then when they started but I'm sure I learned something. It was much warmer camping this time so I was able to get a good nights rest before the short ride into Tuscon this morning.  Were staying at Jewish Synagogue near the University of Arizona campus, where we have a big event planned tomorrow. With a day off tomorrow from riding, most of us are heading out on the town this evening to check things out, we hit the road again on Saturday morning. No chain!

The ruins are in the background.

Pete & Tim. I spend a lot of time on the road with these two buzzes.

Cruising up the final hill.

Our tent for the evening, and the peak we climbed.

The hike up the "trail"

The view from the top, you can see our campsite about mid picture.

Improving at the "outdoorsy" thing, at the top.

Cacti along the way

Sam tried to pick one up on accident, he has farther to go with the outdoorsy thing than me.

I dont know if i trust this sign.

Sunset. I'm not good enough at words to describe it.

Pete & I are prettier at sunset.

Maggie's camera does fancy stuff.

Maggie and Katie's new helmets.

Another new look for me.