Massai Point(ow) by Bicycle - Velo

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Massai Point s(u)

This "point" we are talking about is a scenic lookout spot inside Chiracahua National Monument, the end of the road, and the highest point on it: great views, excellent pavement. a far distance from any business infrastructure, a wonderful little bike climb.

1.START-END WEST:jct FR42 Pinery Canyon Rd - Bonita Canyon Rd
2.turnoff to Sugarloaf Trailhead
3.TOP, Massai Point(ow), 6860ft

Approaches

From South, At the start of the profile there is a choice between supersmooth pavement into Chiricahua National Monument, or some of the worst washboard known to biker-kind up Pinery Canyon on FR42. Both options lead to wonderful climbs. This page is about the first choice.

You can roughly divide this little climb into two sections. The first part stays on the canyon floor. Rock columns, spires and balanced rocks start to show up with regularity in the upper field of view, and then also along the road of this narrow canyon. Some distance past the visitor center the road traverses up the canyon and climbs one of the lower ridges between the main group of the Chiricahua Mountains and the Turkey Creek Caldera. Signs at Massai Point explain the significance of this blown up volcano in creating this magical landscape with all those spires. But before getting there, another spur leads to two trailheads, one of them the short 2 mile hike up to Sugarloaf Lookout. This walk was really the high point during my trip up here, in every sense of the word, and so I included a separate slide show of the walking portion.

Massai Point itself includes a small viewing platform constructed from natural stone of the area, a piece of great workmanship that fits perfectly into the landscape and enriches it, a piece that just screams "Civil Conservation Corps".

Slideshow of Road Approach

cLiCk on image , arrows , or thumbnails to advance slideshow

Dayride with this point as one-way summit (and no two way summits)

( < Onion Saddle | Middlemarch Pass > )

FR42 a mile or two inside Chiricuahua NF > FR42 west > Bonita Canyon Rd west <> out and back to Sugarloaf trailhead <> separate out and back to Masai Point(ow) >> back down Bonita Canyon Rd east > back to starting point on FR42: 27.2miles with 2490ft of climbing (garmin etrex32x m6:24.11.14)
Notes: day also included a hike to the Sugarloaf Mtn Lookout bike+hike: 29.2miles with 2980ft of climbing. Batteries in gps did not last the whole tour. So there are no times, and the track is partially reconstructed

Slideshow of the walking part of this day

cLiCk on image , arrows , or thumbnails to advance slideshow