Yaqui Pass via Montezuma Grade

Joanne and I woke up to clear skies and the promise of warm mid-day temperatures. This was better than yesterday’s rain!

The plan today was a full climb up Montezuma Grade Road, something that has been denied us due to rain and wind. But today would be the day. Joanne and I rode to breadfast and at 8:00 am sharp we head up the hill. Soon we saw a rider behind us slowly closing the gap. It was Marsha who told us that Renee should be just in front of us. Our pace was easy; we chatted as we slowly wound our way up the climb. However, our pace must have been a bit slow for Marsha, or she decided to catch Renee as she pulled away from us.

This left Joanne and I to climb, and climb, and then climb some more. Montezuma Grade is about eleven miles long and climbs over 3,000 feet. The first half is the steepest often over 7% before your reach a easier section that lasts a mile or so before returning to 7%. But then this is a 9% kick at the very end that is just mean. I pulled away from Joanne on the less steep section and then caught and pass Renee and then set off to catch Marsha. But that did not happen. I would have to dug deeper than I wanted. She was 100 feet ahead of me when she crested the top.

The group met at the Henrietta Store just a mile down from the summit. It sits at an even 4,000 feet. The sun was warm and this allowed me to dry my sweaty cloths in preparation of our first descent of the day – an easy drop down the San Felipe Road.

There, the rest of the group turned to the right in search of more climbs, coffee and pastry but Joanne and I turned to the left to head toward Yaqui Pass and home. Our route home became as a slight climb. We enjoyed wide shoulders which were needed due to all of the RV/OHV traffic.

We did lose the shoulder when we turned onto CA 78. The high traffic continued as we entered a tight canyon with twisty roads. To accommodate the traffic, Joanne I pulled off of the road when a large group of large vehicles came up behind us.

We pulled off of CA 78 at Yaqui Pass Road leaving the RVs behind. After a quick two mile climb, we had a five mile descent down to Borrego Springs Road. There we went into Borrago Springs and had a nice lunch at a small French Restaurant before returning to our motel.