Day 89 - Winkelman, Arizona
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I was not ready for these hills! I’m glad I didn’t check the elevation profile of this skate or I’d be a little intimidated with the day ahead of me! Day 89 Painting Across America was incredible! I was struggling to make sense of a route to get to Phoenix safely and legally… I looked into shooting through a tunnel between Globe and Superior, and was pretty ready to make it happen, until I researched the canyon pass I’d have to hit prior to getting there. No shoulder, blind curves, huge trucks leaving the mines, loud echoes, guardrail to the edge of the mountain… and this for miles! Safe to say I opted out of that route… I mapped out a new approach that turned 87 miles into 150, but I made that choice with my safety as priority number one… Little did I know I’d be making my biggest steepest descent of this trip, on mountain roads with cars going 70+ and no shoulder most of the way! I went from almost 5,000 feet to 2,000 feet- and 7 miles straight of that was 6-8 percent grade, which means it was steep mountainous descent. Winding turns and rocky patches mad this pretty difficult, and shoulder ranged from minimal to nonexistent for a lot of the skate. I had to run off my board into patches of rocks a few times because I was picking up too much speed to regulate with foot-braking. Had I known what was up ahead, I’d be a bit weary… But sometimes you gotta get thrown to the wolves and survive off pure adrenaline! I made it 37 miles down from Globe to Winkleman, Arizona- and camped out for the night! Even though it was primarily downhill for most of the day, I still had a 2,000 foot climb before that big bomb. I found a little structure that looked as though it was an educational geographical sculpture- that allowed me to have a calm spot to rest. There was a gas station across the street from me, so I had snacks, hydration, and a restroom at 100 steps away. Looking at my maps, tomorrow is going to be quite the climb...
