If you've had a hunger for the West, this trip will definitely satisfy it. This trip was planned for those people experiencing cabin fever from the winter and are looking for an escape from the cold snowy climate of the North. However, one thing will be missing from this western experience, a lot of heat! The days of this trip combine sunny, warm afternoons with cool evenings. Combine that with biking under the clear blue Arizona sky, and you have a sure remedy for the winter blahs. Time will also be spent biking through Tucson and Bisbee, each of which was included in the Arizona Discovery Guide's ten most interesting towns and cities of Arizona.

The difficulty of the longest mileage day of this trip, 56 miles, is misleading since the last 12 miles of this day are all downhill.

This trip begins in Tucson which is set in the desert valley, and has some of the finest cultural offerings in Arizona. One such offering is the Saguaro National Park. Part of the first day of this trip is spent biking through this park, which is full of the commercially depicted "supreme symbol of the west", the Saguaro cactus. This National Park is full of these almost human-like figures, which can grow to 50 feet and live as long as 150 to 200 years.

One day will be spent cycling to the historic town of Tombstone. As you enter Tombstone, you'll immediately take a step back in time by viewing a display of old coaches, storefronts, and windmills. The dusty streets, wooden sidewalks, and swinging saloon doors remain through out the town. This is also the sight of the OK Corral.

Our western biking adventure takes us through the old mining town of Bisbee. In the early 1900's Bisbee was the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco. Bisbee is nestled into a narrow gorge, and is currently inhabited by quite a few artists and hippies who have maintained the historical architecture. Just outside of Bisbee, you won't want to miss one of the largest man-made holes in the ground. This gigantic hole, known as Lavender Open Pit, was created due to excavation of 380 million tons of ore and other materials. We will take a group tour of this mine.

We will visit one of the finest portrayals of mission architecture left over from the early Spanish missionaries, the San Xavier Del Bac. This historical church is often referred to as the "White Dove of the Desert." The oldest surviving part of the mission dates back to 1757. The interior paintings and sculptures are open to the public for visiting and photographing, as long as Mass is not in session. San Xavier is more than a church to visit. It also preserves the past and educates the present by utilizing space for a museum which contains old photos, gowns and books. Across from the church is a quaint Indian craft mall, which offers foods and crafts made by the Tohono Oodam Indians.

Besides Toombstone, Bisbee and Tucson, other communities which we will visit are Sonoita, Sierra Vista, Tubac, Patagonia and Tumacacori.

After a night in our hotel back in Tucson we will bike up Mt. Lemmon with its separately marked bike lane.

These are some of the activities which we will do as a group, the cost of which is already included in Trip 6 costs:

Take an underground tour of Queen Mine, approximately 1-1/4 hours.
Explore Kartchner Caverns State Park trails and cave.
Visit Titan Missile Museum
Bicycle up 6000' high Mule Pass.
Eat a lunch at a working cattle ranch.
Bicycle a paved one-way loop road in Saguaro National Park
Tell time using an analemmatic sundial (horizontal, not round).
See an Old West reenactment of a shootout.
In Tombstone see OK Corral, Boothill Graveyard, Big Nose Kate's Restaurant, Crystal Palace Saloon, Hafford's Saloon and Oriental Saloon.
Wine tasting (6-8 different kinds) at a winery in Southern Arizona. Two of their wines were served at the White House. We will be given a free souvenir glass from Sonoita Wineries.
Visit Colossal Cave State Park.
Bicycle across Fort Huachuca, built originally for protection from the Apache Indians, later used in electronic surveillance warfare.
Tour Colossal Cave, a dry cave with temperatures ranging between 70-71°F.
Sluice for minerals.
Tour mission San Xavier Del Bac completed in 1796 and still in use as a mission today.

Some of the animals which are in the area are deer, mountain lion, bobcat, roadrunner, coatimundi, ringtail cat, jack rabbit, badger, fox, javelina, racoon, lizard and antelope.
Walk among saguaro cacti which may grow over 40' tall and live to be 150-200 years old.