 Arizona Mountain Bike Trail Guide
2Pedal has trail maps and guide books for all of Arizona.
The Arizona Trail is nearly complete. It is a multi day epic trail that runs north-south from Arizona's Utah border, to it's border with Mexico. It will be over 800 miles long when it is done! Here is an overview map of the trail and a breakdown of the trail into 43 sections.
AZ trail north trailhead info.
Somewhere, in some book, years ago, i read that i should do the Sunshine Loop Trail in AZ, 15 miles SE of St. George, UT. On the border: 8.5 mile loop, BLM map available. Anybody know anything about it?
Arizona Mountain Bike Trail Links
these aren't really necessary:
Northern Arizona
Mount Elden, Flagstaff.Just North of Flagstaff you can't miss it. "Makes Durango look like L.A. It has the best trail system in the Southwest." Said Mountain Bike in its August 1996 issue page 48. I can not stress how great the trails are on Mount Elden... you will just have to go and see for yourself what I am talking about.
Sedona. Good riding with lots of ruins to see more of a site seeing trip then a Mountain Biking one. It does however have some fun old jeep trails but they are hard to find and you have no clue where the hell they go. If you go watch out this is one of the vortexs of the world you know...
Sedona rides. Sedona is very famous for its mountian biking, they say it is much like Moab, I have never been to Moab so i don't know. I don't like it because it is mostly jeep trails and i hate jeep trails, but I love single track. Midgley Bridge is the only trail that is mostly single track that I can find. It has steep up hills and raging down hills, it is 6 miles long. If you want a taste of slickrock like in Moab go to Submarine Rock just South West of Sedona. It is mostly jeep trail but it does have alot of slickrock and it is about 10 miles long and takes 3 hours to complete. E-mail me if you need instructions.
260 Loop, Payson. Take 260 east out of Payson for 27 miles and on the left there will be a parking lot. This trail has a lot of up and down. It start below the Mogollon rim and it goes up it then back down below and finishes in the same spot you started.
Mogollon, Rim. Just North East of Pine. There is a whole network of Trails. E-mail me if you want to know what ride I would suggest.
Spruce Mtn. Prescott. This mountain has one main trail, it starts at trailhead #307. The loop is 9 miles long and is sorta tough. It takes about 2 hours to complete and it is all single track, horse trail. Watch out!!!! There are lots and lots of horses on this trail so control your speed!!! E-mail me for instructions.
Verde Hot Springs, Camp Verde. This is a very hard but short trail. You started by decending into a Valley for 5 miles were there is a hot spring. Don't bring your swiming trunks because this spring is famous for is nude bathing. After that you climb out of the Valley for 6 miles to end up on the other side of the Valley. It is a turn and burn trail.
Mingus Mtn. Downhill, Jerome. This trail is all jeep trail but has some of the fastest downhill in the state. You start in the small town of Jerome and climb for 900 feet the you make a left and go down hill to loose 2600 feet in about 6 miles to end up in the town of Cottonwood. Don't kill your self here!!! E-mail me for directions.
Mid Arizona
South Mountain, Phoenix. Holds many trails ranging from Intermediate to Hard. Trails inclued: The Desert Classic, Mormon, National, Ridgeline, and Javelina are among the most popular. The Desert Classic is a very easy trail with sort steep climps and fast rollers. Mormon is for the experienced rider. It has steep long climbs with rocky downhills. National is for very experienced riders only. It has larg drop offs with a ledge on the side. I highly recomend going up Mormon and down national it is a blast!! Ridgeline is fairly hard with steep rocky uphills and steep rocky downhills (not much fun.) Javelina is a fairly easy trail going down but coming up it is very hard.
Phoenix Mnts. Preserve, Phoenix. This is a small park with only one trail, trail 100. It is a easy trail with some hard climbs. Good place to ride if you live in downtown Phoenix or North Phoenix.
Cave Creek. Just west of Cave Creek take carefree highway to 32nd street and go north tell the end of 32nd street. Same area that the Cannondale race is held at. Fast and fun.
White Tanks Mts., Phoenix.West of Phoenix take I-10 to exit 124 go north 8 miles till you hit Dunlap-Olive and then take a right. Fast and fun trails. One of the Cannondale Cup Series races is help up there. Easy trail with a few steep and rockey climbs.
Estrella Mts. , Phoenix.Take I-10 to Litchfield road head south on Lithchfield till you hit Hwy 85 take that West to Bullard Rd. go south to Vinyard then go West thats all! Not many trails and I don't think it is much fun.
Southern Arizona
Tucson Mnts. This is quick easy desert single track. It has many Saguaro forest, with great views, and lots of wildlife. It has many rides such as the starr (I spelled it right, trust me.) pass Loop, and Chiva Falls. Starr Pass Loop is a moderate single track that is 7.7 miles long. Chiva Falls is a hard ride that lasts 8.4 miles. E-mail me for instructions on how to get there.
Peppersauce Loop This is a tough long trail. It is 11 miles long and it takes about 2-3 hours to complete. It is located West of Tucson, by the small town of Oracle, it is mostly double track. E-mail me for instructions on how to get there.
Elephant Head This Mountain has a whole seires of old jeep trails. It is just South of Tuscon. E-mail me if you have any questions.
Mount Lemmon There are a lot of trail here, but i have never found a good one so E-mail me if you know of any.
|
