San Diego to Phoenix by bike
I recently completed a really cool bike trip with a good friend. Below is a brief report and some photos that I took.
On February 22nd, my friend Kyler and I packed our bicycles into boxes and flew to San Diego, CA. The plan was to ride from there to Phoenix, AZ over the course of about 10 days. We would bring our tents and sleeping bags so that we could camp along the way. For Kyler, this was the last section of a 3,000-mile cross-country route called the Southern Tier, which goes from Jacksonville, FL to San Diego, CA (or vice versa depending on which direction you want to go). Kyler had completed most of the route in stages going east to west: Jacksonville to New Orleans, New Orleans to Austin and Austin to Tucson. This final section, going in the opposite direction, was going to be his triumphant finale. He invited me to join him and I happily accepted.
We left Philly in the morning, laid over in Orlando, and then got to San Diego pretty late at night. We reassembled our bikes and rode to the California Dreams Hostel. In the morning, we loaded up on carbs and coffee and headed down to the beach to start the route.
The first leg of the route followed a flat, well-paved bike trail along the San Diego River, and into the suburbs. We stopped to buy weed at one of California’s famed dispensaries and then we began our ascent into the Laguna Mountains. Southern California is famously dry and sunny, but our visit coincided with a massive winter storm that would bring rain, snow and cold winds for most of our trip.
We made it to about 2,500 feet of elevation before we decided to call it a day. There were not great options for camping so we went to an RV park in El Cajon, CA that allowed us to pitch out tents. RV parks are usually a last resort on bike trips. The camp sites are large concrete slabs, which make it difficult to stake down a tent. Also, you may be sleeping a few feet away from the buzz of a generator all night. But we made the best of it! Conveniently, there was a beer and pizza spot within walking distance so we got a drink and a slice and spent a few hours hanging out with the regulars.
The next day, as we continued up the mountain, the temperature dropped and we saw snow that had fallen in the previous days. Every time we stopped, people told us that another blizzard would be passing through in the evening and there may be several feet of snow. We had hoped to camp as much as possible, but decided to play it safe and get a motel room in the town of Boulevard, CA. Our food options were limited but we managed to pull together a classy dinner.
We woke up the next day expecting to see the road covered in snow, but it was fortunately just raining a little. Our route for the day would take us down the 4,000 feet of elevation that we had gone up over the previous two days. It’s hard to describe how fast and windy it gets going down a mountain like that on a bicycle. The descent was scary and beautiful and when we reached the bottom, we were in the town of Ocotillo, CA. We went to get lunch at the Red Feather Offroad Market and Cafe, which is a diner and also a vintage motocross museum and also a store that sells dirtbike parts and also food. It’s an interesting place.
From there, we continued east into the desert. The roads that we had been on the day before were winding and hilly. Now we would be taking long, straight, flat roads that continued until the horizon, with nothing but open space in every direction. We left Ocotillo and followed one such road for 34 miles into Calexico, where we got a motel room for the night. The small city is located across the border from Mexicali, Mexico. Understandably, being there feels like you’re in Mexico in many ways. We ate dinner at Rosa’s Plane Food, Inc. and then went to 111 Club Bar for a drink.
When we left Calexico the next day, we rode north for about 13 miles to the town of Brawley, CA. As we were going north, there was a strong wind blowing east which meant that we were going much slower than usual, but after Brawley, we started going east and then we were flying. The landscape went from large, industrial farms to wild desert to totally barren sand dunes. The plan was to camp at an area known as Glamis that’s popular with people who drive dune buggies. Before we arrived, we saw them driving around in the sand and it looked surprisingly fun. When we got to Glamis, a woman named Missy came running up to offer us Gatorade, and then beer, and then weed. After we hung out for a while and talked about bike touring (Missy had been a touring cyclist before she broke her pelvis in a dune buggy accident), her husband Chris offered to take us for a ride. The sun was setting and the light was a warm golden color. Also I was pretty stoned. We drove up to the top of a 300 foot dune called Oldsmobile Hill and it felt like the best way to experience such a strange and beautiful place. I’m very grateful to Chris and Missy for their generosity.
We left Glamis early the next day. The terrain got hillier but the road continued to be long straight lines through the desert. The plan was to get to a Bureau of Land Management campground called Oxbow, which is situated next to the Colorado River. The ride was short and we didn’t pass through any towns, so it was a good thing that we had plenty of food and water with us. Once we got to Oxbow, Kyler filtered some of the river water and we didn’t get sick!
In the morning, we left Oxbow and rode along the river, eventually crossing over into Arizona. The route that we were following had us riding in the shoulder of I-10, which we weren’t excited about so we decided to take a dirt road that followed parallel to it. It was fun for a little while but eventually got too steep and rocky for us to continue. Also, we had eaten some weed gummies and were pretty stoned. At that point we were far from the original route and had to follow a dry creek bed back to the highway. We got to the town of Quartzsite, AZ and stopped for groceries and then rode a few more miles out to Scaddan Wash, which is a tract of desert that belongs to the Bureau of Land Management. It’s free to camp there and very beautiful but there are no facilities and no designated sites. At night, we heard a lot of coyotes that sounded pretty close so we made sure our food was tied up in a tree.
The next morning we continued down I-10 before turning onto US-60, which would be our only road for the next several days. Spending so many hours pedaling along a single stretch of road initially provoked a sense of anxiety for me but eventually I relaxed into it. It was also raining that day so the thought of stopping to sit and eat a snack wasn’t appealing. Instead, we kept going until we got to Salome, AZ, which was the only town with more than two buildings that we had passed all day. We got a room at Sheffler’s Motel and then went to Don’s Cactus Bar across the street. Despite a group of drunk dudes who made it clear to us that they didn’t like cyclists or gay people, we had a good time drinking Bud Light and playing shufflepuck.
The next morning, the sun was out and we continued along US-60. Again, we passed almost no stores or restaurants until we got to Coyote Café. I’m not sure why, but I loved this place. It felt old and well cared for, but also the menu was a cool mix of American diner food and Mexican favorites. I could immediately tell that everything there was going to be delicious and I was right, but I also ate way too much and messed my stomach up for the rest of the ride.
The end point for the day was a county park outside of Wickensburg, AZ where we camped on top of a mountain and were treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.
From Wickensburg we only had about 60 miles until Phoenix. We could have done it in one shot, but we still had a few days until my flight back to Philly and we weren’t interested in spending them in a city, so we decided to stop and camp at Lake Pleasant, which was about halfway. The campground itself was pretty disappointing but we entertained ourselves by riding around the lake and getting a couple beers at a bar in the marina.
The following day would be my last real day of riding (but not Kyler’s). We left Lake Pleasant and got to Phoenix pretty early in the day, passing through miles and miles of sprawling suburbs, mostly following rivers and canals. I had never spent much time in Phoenix and I assumed that it wasn’t a very interesting place but I was wrong. We stayed at the Phoenix Hostel and made some friends, then we went out for dinner and found a fun punk show at a bar. The next day we went to the Heard Museum for a Native art festival and then we went back to the same punk bar for sidewalk karaoke. March 6th was my last day and the beginning of Kyler’s ride from Phoenix to Tucson to visit his parents. He headed out and I spent the day at the Desert Botanical Garden before packing up my box and going to the airport for my 1:00 AM flight back to Philadelphia. I got home feeling endlessly grateful for such a fun, easy trip and for the beauty and the generosity that we encountered. The southwest is a truly magical part of the world and I’m looking forward to getting back there someday.
