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WELCOME! If you arrived at this page directly, you may want to read the introductory page: Roger's Favorite Singletrack Mountain Bike Rides .
Please realize that I am an older, strong, intermediate mountain
biker with a passion for singletracks and am suggesting
these trails to others such as myself. Please do not rely totally on
my descriptions -- get maps and trail guides locally.
Suggestions for minimizing trail damage:
-do not let your tires slide when climbing, descending, or
turning.
-ride over water bars, not around them.
-avoid riding on wet trails.
-carry your bike over or around deep mud.
-ride under control so that you do not run off the edge of the
trail.
Two books are necessary for any visit to Arizona:
Fat Tire Tales And Trails by Cosmic Ray
We pulled in on a Sunday afternoon one week before the Hedgehog
race. Hundreds of riders were pre riding the course. I don't know how
the course matched up with the map, but the course was PERFECT! We
ended up riding it three times (about 7 miles each lap). It starts
out on a smooth dirt road, degenerates to a rocky jeep trail,
degenerates further into a wide singletrack, and then becomes a
narrow singletrack swooping and rolling and climbing and descending
back to the trailhead. We regretted that we could not return for the
race...
We first took the north loop described by Cosmic Ray. We were not too impressed by the eroded and steep dirt road/trail along the power lines and along the top of the ridge, but we WERE impressed with the Javelina singletrack! This was a wonderful trail that wasn't too steep and that contained enough rocks and water bars to keep it interesting! But I think I would have rather biked up and back on it...
We then took the Desert Classic Trail. It was kind of wide and
eroded in places with far too many trail users, but provided a nice
way to stretch one's legs out a bit. We rode until the trail turned
into a wash of boulders, and turned back.
What a wonderful campground -- a bit expensive ($15) -- with electricity and water -- but also with hot showers, a coke machine, and widely spaced campsites. One really does feel a long way from Phoenix here (except for all the planes flying over...).
We started off with the standard ìPemberton Trail loopî. If you enjoy speed on hard packed sand, go clockwise. If you enjoy more technical downhill, go counterclockwise.
We then rode a new trail that has been built for the Cactus Cup
Race, and were not impressed by it! Most of it was a wide swath that
had been created by a bulldozer... The technical section was the
best, but I fear that it will get torn up during the race.
The description by Cosmic Ray was quite good! We found the parking
lot and the trailhead with no problem! We went amiss about one mile
into the ride and ended up in the wash and realized that we were too
far from the power lines. The singletrack stays within 100 yards of
the lines. Motorcycles use these trails, and have torn them up in
many places. They have also put in a lot of dips, which make riding
uphill difficult, but riding downhill a blast! We followed
Rayís map up to the gate and got on the singletrack heading
for Cholla Mtn, but we came to a ìTî that was not on the
map. We didn't take the left fork because it looked like it was
leading too far north, and we needed to head east toward Cholla Mtn.
The right fork turned out to be the ìwrongî trail, and
led us back to the power lines. BUT, it was the BEST singletrack of
the day: narrow, pristine, scenic, twisting, squeezing between cacti
and yuccas, and just generally a wonderful experience. When we hit
the power lines we turned north again on the dirt road so as to enter
the singletrack that we had peddled up on at its upper end. Coming
down that singletrack was also a GREAT -- but exhausting --
experience. If I had it to do again, I would ride it the same way!
(24 miles and about three hours of riding. )
if you do a ride and enjoy it, please let the land manager know
that you did enjoy it and that the existence of singletrack
trails is important to you! A small donation for trail maintenance
and development might also be helpful! I will slowly add email and
snail mail addresses and phone numbers of land managers of the trails
that I have described so that you may more easily contact them.
Minimizing Trail Conflicts On Singletrack Trails
Minimizing Trail Impact On Singletrack Trails
Hints For Beginning Singletrackers
Back to Roger's Favorite Singletrack Mountain Bike Rides