Gold Canyon Trails
We’re back in the desert, land of pokey, spiky things. Land of heat! The chilly temps at higher altitudes were starting to cramp our style so we left. Our new campspot is an awesome place on Arizona Trust and there is so much to do here.
On day one from camp we rode a sweet 20 miles singletrack adventure with 1,381′ of climbing. The trails are tight, twisty, rocky, and fun. There are endless possibilities for routes and we had to use Trailforks to find our way around. I really liked Quartz Ridge, Lost Goldmine and K-Trail. These are all black diamond and fairly rocky, though I’d argue K-Trail probably is intermediate. Watch out for thorns!
Arizona Trail
Day two we rode a part of the Arizona Trail close to where we are camped. From Picketpost Trailhead we rode an out and back for a total of 28 miles with 3,344′. It’s a spectacular trail that flows very well. It was a hot day and I went through all my water in our 4 hours of riding. It’s tough riding on rocky, sometimes loose terrain with some big climbs and gigantic views. This needs to be on every mountain bikers list, though a shuttle would make it easier! The trail is very narrow and my legs and arms got a bit scratched up from all the vegetation. We saw NOBODY all day.
About that water; part of the way in there is water access if you carry a filter. There is a giant rainwater collector that was designed, fabricated, and installed by the Arizona Trail Association. Very cool!
In the evenings when we sit outside in the warm air we can hear coyotes yipping. It’s almost as spooky as the screaming cows that were by our last spot.
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