***If you would like to join this ride but it is cost/transportation is prohibitive to do so or you need to borrow gear to make it happen, please let us know.

On our Community Events/Rides we follow our Campfire Code of Conduct. We strive to create a positive and supportive environment where everyone feels welcome and heard. We don’t assume anyone’s abilities based on outwards appearance. We take responsibility for our actions and words. We respect the land, it’s original stewards and leave no trace.

Bikepacking close to Tucson for the summer solstice can be a little tricky. To meet the challenge of the Swift Summer Campout, we’ve come up with the Lemon-Top Traverse, a route designed to maximize the high elevation options offered up on Mt. Lemmon.

Read Henley’s writeup of our 2023 Swift Campout.

Route (3 Versions)

With our goal of staying above 6500 ft, our main routes starts at the Windy Point Vista. There is plenty of parking at this area. There is a sign that says no overnight parking except for hikers and those with a permit. We’ll be considering ourselves hikers of a sort. If you are feeling a bit more brave and want to ride from Tucson, we also have a meetup spot at Le Buzz at the bottom of Catalina Highway. (we can also help coordinate meeting in other spots as well.

We’ve come up with two options for the main version of the route, a road/gravel version and a route with more MTB action. Both routes follow a similar path at the start, winding up Mt. Lemmon highway. Both routes our viewable on our RideWithGPS map embedded below. Each route is about 15 miles each way.

The MTB action version splits off the main road for some trail riding up to Mt. Bigelow. This route then descends down Mt. Bigelow road and crosses the highway for some technical riding down to Marshall’s Gulch where it then hits pavement. Both routes end up in Summerhaven where we’ll likely be arriving around lunch time with supplies available.

The gravel and road version of the route, mostly sticks to Mt. Lemmon highway but it does get onto Mt. Bigelow road for a bit of gravel road riding.

Some ambitious folks might want to ride up Mt. Lemmon Highway from Tucson and join us for the group start at Windy Point. We have setup a route that meets up at LeBuzz Coffee shop for this reason. But we can help coordinate folks if you wanna ride from midtown together. Let us know if you’d like the ride with GPS link for this route.

Camping

All routes will converge at Summerhaven to ride down the Control Road towards our camp spot. Our map show two potential camp spots as well as a spot at the end of the route. We will be sending someone out on Friday to claim one of these three spots and to bring out some extra gallon jugs of water. That said, we still recommend that everyone fill up with enough water for the overnight in Summerhaven.

With this being a relatively shorter route, there will be plenty of time to take our time and relax along the way and we’ll likely arrive at camp fairly early in the afternoon.

Though we’ll be at elevation, it’ll likely still be quite warm. And we may be seeing some early thunderstorms as well.

Swift Raffle!

And finally, Swift Does an amazing raffle to stoke the folks that are able to make it out!

We hope you’ll join us for some summer time Lemmon rambling and celebration of bicycle camping with Swift.