Oracle State Park

I’m currently reading The Elephant Whisperer and today’s ride made me think of Africa. I’ve never been, but some of the landscape characteristics seem like they would be in Africa. From our boondocking spot we rode to Oracle State Park along the Arizona Trail and then did some of the trails there before looping back. Our ride was 16.7 miles with 1559′ of climbing. We saw a hiker on the AZ Trail but that’s it.

The section of the AZ Trail that runs from the highway to Oracle State Park is much easier than the first ride we did here. It rolls a lot with no sustained climb longer than .9 miles. In the park we rode the Wildlife Corridor Trail, the Nature Trail, Mariposa, and Manzanita. These are all pretty much intermediate trails, though some riders may find several sections challenging.

Off the AZ Trail we turned right at the Wildlife Corridor Trail and I was impressed with how fun this section was. I mean, these trails are in the middle of nowhere so I wasn’t sure what to expect! We turned left on the Nature Trail and stopped at the newly built wildlife viewing area. We didn’t see any, but the area is home to mounting lions, and javelina, along with deer, which we did see.

On our second time up the Wildlife Corridor Trail we turned right at the Nature Trail and climbed up to the Kannally Ranch House . The Kannally Ranch House is a mediterranean-revival style ranch house built between 1929-1933 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The family owned it for 75 years before donating it to the Defenders of Wildlife, which later deeded the ranch to the Arizona State Parks Board. This cool place is worth stopping in for a self guided tour.

Back on the bikes, we finished off our ride with Mariposa Trail which climbs up through some interesting boulders before dropping down into Cherry Wash. Cherry Wash trail is basically just a path through the sandy wash. It was fine in the direction we rode it as long as you kept up some momentum. However, riding it the other direction would be a wheel suck. We arrived back at camp in time for lunch and an afternoon of relaxing.