Arizona

Mountain Bike Trail Guide

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.

Check out a list of trails on Arizona BLM land, and a state trails locator map. (Note: These lists are hiker-centric, so make sure mountain bikes are allowed on a trail before you head out!)

State wide information: non-location specific

• Mountain Biking Association of Arizona
• Mountain Biking AZ (including trails)
• Tucson Trail Wiki!
• My Bike Site: Arizona
• Rides in Arizona's national forests
• René Hokans' list of places to ride in Arizona
• Pete Fagerlin's pics and videos from the 2000 Arizona Gathering
• Team Nova
• Southwest Trekking - Professional guides provide a full range of mountain bike, hiking, trekking, trail running services in Southern Arizona.
• AZ Fat Tire
• Ceiba Adventures
• Missing Link Racing
• Arizona Outback Adventures

Flagstaff

Mount Elden 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.

• Flagstaff Biking (with trail info)
• Mountain biking at Mount Elden
• A map of the Dry Lake Hills Loop
• Absolute Bikes - Flagstaff

Payson

The Highline National Recreation Trail (central AZ)

260 Loop 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.

Phoenix

gpstrailmaps.com free GPX format maps: Phoenix, Arizona (Rocks and Cacti)

South Mountain 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 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 Mountains 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. 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.

phoenix.gov/PARKS/hikesoth.html

TRW / HAAS Mountain

• Location: Mesa, AZ
• Trail Name: TRW / HAAS Mountain
• Park Name: Red Mountain Ranch Area

Description:
Its a pretty short loop. You can either make it a turnaroud loop (6 miles) or you can connect to the next trail head about 1/4 mile away (Haas Mountain) which makes it a 10 mile loop. Its kind of rocky, with a really fun fire road descent leading to some moderate switchbacks. The trail is mostly single track but does go into double track at points.

Major Highlight(s):
Good for that quick training ride, you can make it as hard or as easy as you please. It's a great place to meet other people who ride, and doesn't take long (25 minutes if you really pedal) It's a great beginer to sport level ride.

How To Get there:
Head east on McDowell road till you get to Recker Rd. Follow Recker till you get to Red Mountain Ranch. The park is on your left. Park at the trailhead located on Recker Rd.

Murphy's Trails

• Location: Scottsdale, AZ
• Trail Name: Murphy's Trails

Description:
100 miles of singletrack are advertised. Mostly rolling, smooth, fast 1-track with quick, technical grunts. Difficulty is in the moderate range with beginner fire roads as well. One of the best loops is to head up the left hand power line road at the NE corner of the intersection. Take West Express up to Flower Garden, across Brown's Road, down Roller Coaster and Coaster and then head down either Dara a Sarah or Bail out. FUN! A map is necessary and available at surrounding bike shops!!!

Major Highlight(s):
This trail is very unique to the area. It is right across from the doomed Pinnacle Peak Cactus Cup course and is the same terrain. This ride is smooth and fast, whereas most rides in the Phoenix area are bumpy and slower. These trails remind me more of New Mexico riding than Arizona. You can ride from one hour to eight hours and never hit the same trail twice!

How To Get there:
The trailhead is at the intersection of Pima Road and Dynamite Road in North Scottsdale.

Prescott

• Prescott Won't Disappoint from altrec.com

Spruce Mtn 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!!!

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 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.

• gpstrailmaps.com free GPX format maps: Sedona, Arizona (Beautiful Red Rock)
• Mountain Bike Heaven's Sedona trails page
• Sedona Bike and Bean
• The Submarine Rock trail
• A map of the Bell Rock Loops (from Absolute Bikes - Sedona)

Submarine Rock

Start from Broken Arrow or Bell Rock Pathway, this scenic location offers the best of Sedona.

Cathedral Rock

Starting from the Village of Oak Creek, ride completely around Cathedral rock by Oak Creek, then returning on the Bell Rock Pathway.

Deadman's Pass

North Sedona Trail that features easy riding on fast open trails next to wilderness canyons.

Chicken Point

Offering excellent views and single track trails, riding too and from this landmark can be a real adventure. Expect to share the view with jeeps, but your access can be on dedicated hiking/biking trails. Reach this scenic view using the Broken Arrow and Little Horse Trails.

Bell Rock

Perhaps the most photographed landmark in Sedona, Bell Rock is located at the start of the Bell Rock Pathway, a trail that leads to some of the best trails in Sedona, including Little Horse Trail and the Cathedral Rock Loop.

Sierra Vista

• Dawn to Dust Mountain Bike Club

Carr Canyon to Miller Canyon

• Location: Sierra Vista, AZ
• Trail Name: Carr Canyon to Miller Canyon

Description:
Steep two mile climb and then single track on the side of the mountain with an extremely beautiful view. Very technical, rocky and fast but everything is cleanable (if you aren't scared). The entire loop is about 9 miles.

Major Highlight(s):
This is the most gnarly technical, rocky single track in town with a fantastic view of the city.

How To Get there:
Head south on Hwy 92 till you reach the Mesquite Tree restaurant, then head up Carr Canyon till you reach the first switchback and take the trail that heads off from there. Follow it till you reach Miller Canyon, then head down the road. Follow the road till you are back to the restaurant. If directions are hard to follow go to the bike shop in town and ask someone there for a trail map from the local bike club.

Tucson

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.

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.

Elephant Head This Mountain has a whole seires of old jeep trails. It is just South of Tuscon.

Mount Lemmon There are a lot of trail here, but i have never found a good one.

• Southern Arizona Mountain Biking Association
• Epic Rides, Tucson
• Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists (trail info)
• More local rides
  (from Southern Arizona Mountain Biking Association (SAMBA)")
• Riding Mount Lemmon
• A segment of the Arizona Trail (from Molino Basin to Redington Pass)
• The Kentucky Camp Trail (near Patagonia, 45 miles south of Tucson)
• A ride on the Arizona Trail, near Oracle
• The Kentucky Camp Trail in Patagonia, Arizona is on IMBA's list of epic trails (45 miles south of Tucson)

White Mountains (far-eastern AZ)

Rides in the White Mountains: by René Hokans

Mountain Biking in Arizona's White Mountains

NW Corner

• Mohave County on the Rocks (NW corner of Arizona)

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?

Grand Canyon

Alasdair Arthur's MTB tour near the North Rim

Kaibab National Forest

• Location: Grand Canyon, AZ
• Trail Name: Kaibab National Forest

Description:
Fire road and singletrack in a pine forest high enough to avoid summer heat.

Major Highlight(s):
As close as you can get to the Grand canyon on a mountain bike! Some dirt roads lead to overlooks into the Canyon.

How To Get there:
From Flagstaff, head north on Highway 89. Take Alternate Route 89 west to Jacab Lake and head south on Highway 67. There's a campground at Jacob Lake which makes a nice base camp.

• Mountain biking in Canyon de Chelly National Monument (northeastern AZ)

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Lake Powell Rocks

• Location: Page, AZ
• Trail Name: Lake Powell Rocks
• Park Name: Lake Powell - Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Description:
Easy to technical depending on the route. The loop is 10 miles long, with a three mile side trip on the the slickrock to Lake Powell.

Major Highlight(s):
It's a great training ride. The singletrack has been described as a giant BMX course on the edge of a cliff with killer views. The slickrock is more difficult than Moab in places, but mostly very fun and rideable by intermediates. This loop is the course of the Red Rock Rumble MTB Stage Race cross country.

How To Get there:
From Flagstaff, go North on Hwy 89 to Page. In Page, visit Red Rock Cyclery for free map and directions to this and many other rides. Great slickrock, singletrack, views of Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon, plus a nice swim to finish your ride...

Buy Arizona Atlas and Gazeteer These whole-state map collections are great for finding new places, getting unlost in your car and tons of other uses. This one is 1:250,000 scale, so it's not what you're looking for for backpacking or things that require more detail. Buy Arizona from the acclaimed Mountain Bike America series. Covers all areas of Arizona.

Northern Arizona

Where is Camp Verde????

Verde Hot Springs 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.

Jerome

Mingus Mtn. Downhill 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!!!

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