We’re heading up to Northern Arizona for our summer advanced bikepacking trip. This will be a 3 day trip traversing around 50 miles a day to cover the 152 mile loop. We’re picking this time of year as it will be a perfect time to escape the long summer heat of Tucson. Flagstaff this time of year is wonderful with the coming fall in the air and ussually past the monsoons.

This will be a challenging ride with plenty of climbing and rough terrain.

For the rougher roads out there, we recommend 2.2″ tires or bigger. The third day has quite a bit of time on the AZT and other single track. While this ride can be done on a big tired gravel bike, it does get chunky though and a front-suspension hard tail is likely the preferable bike of choice for most cyclists.

There are also relatively few resupply points. We’ll pass through Williams on the second morning, but after this there won’t be any stores until we get back to Flagstaff. After a gas station outside North of Williams the water is not very plentiful. For the remainder of the 2nd day, there are unreliable tanks but also a few reliable spots as well. Giving the good rainy season we have had, we should be able to filter water as needed. On the third day, we’ll be within a half mile of Snow Bowl, so can get water there if we need it.

We recommend carrying a minimum of 6 liters of water.

With our 8am depart time on Friday, we recommend driving up the night before. We’re working on organizing car pooling as possible.

Route details on BikepackingRoots.com.

John Schilling’s Recent Ride and Writeup of the Loop

Another Good Story of the Route