Biosphere 2: Weirder than Bio-Dome
If you’re of a given age, you’ve likely seen the cinematic gem known as Bio-Dome. This movie, starring Pauly Shore and a lesser-known Baldwin brother, has aged like mid-90s milk. However, I didn’t know until a few weeks ago, it was based on a real, repeatedly failed project in the mountains just north of Tucson.
Biosphere 2 is a real place, now owned by The University of Arizona. They host tours, conduct research, and have otherwise preserved this incredibly odd piece of late 80s/early 90s American history. It’s like an episode of The X-Files, the name of which I cannot remember.
On Dec 30, 2022, I took my second longer ride on a newly acquired Triumph Street Scrambler north out of Tucson toward a town called Oracle, along Historic U.S. Route 80 (AZ SR 77). I was warned by my brother-in-law that the ride would be more suburban sprawl than remote scenery, and boy was he right. However, once I got past the town of Catalina, the population got a lot more sparse, and the last few miles to Biosphere 2 a lot more enjoyable.
Biosphere 2 is tucked away off the main road a couple miles and although there is a sign at the road side, it would be easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it. The road you take to the gate has a fair bit of sand and if memory serves at least one cattle grate, so exercise some caution if you’re on two wheels. Once you’ve made it to the grounds, you get a decent view of the complex as you make your way down hill to the parking lots. After you park you’re given a perfectly sci-fi welcome in the form of giant satellite behind chain link fence:
Although I decided against going in the facility given the number of holiday visitors (and trying to keep my COVID-free streak going), it was still quite a lot of fun to have made it to the grounds, gotten a couple photos and put a few miles on the new scooter.
Better yet, I was rewarded with some beautiful late afternoon sun illuminating the mountains on the ride back south into town. Funny how some picturesque scenery in the distance can help you ignore strip malls in the foreground. No photos of that, but a GoPro was ordered so that kind of scenery is captured in the future!
Fun fact: Biosphere 2 was ran by Steve Bannon for a while. Yes, that Steve Bannon.