Crankset Trail - Paloma RP, AZ

Overview
The Paloma Regional Preserve is a new park that opened in October of 2020. The park comes loaded with amenities, including a dog park (actually 2, one for big dogs and one for small), baseball fields, a splash park, fishing, picnic tables, pickleball courts, and even a few trails. The trails were one of the last features added and it seems to still be a work in progress. In addition to adding 11 new trails, they’ve changed the names to the trails that transverse West Wing Mountain. (The trails are the same on West Wing Mountain, they have just given different segments of trails their own name).


Not including the TH described in the West Wing Mountain description, 3 trailheads access the new trails that are part of the Paloma Regional Preserve (PRP). One is located at the East Wing TH and the other 2 are located in Paloma Park on the west end of the preserve. (The preserve extends between East Wing TH and Paloma Park). The trailheads located in Paloma Park are annoyingly inconvenient and hopefully a testament to more to come. When you enter Paloma Park, you will need to navigate a roundabout. There are trailheads east or north of this roundabout. However, neither TH is well-signed or obvious.For the east TH take the road east from the roundabout and park adjacent to the dog parks. The trail access point will be just to the south of the dog parks through a gated road. Currently, there is no signage at this access point. There is just a dirt road going east and an unsigned, use-trail going south.

Hike
The Crankset Trail is one of four trails that is accessed from the east trailhead. It may be considered an interior trail because one must hike 0.15 miles to reach it. From the east trailhead pass through the gate and look for a use-trail that heads off to the south. At this time there are no trail maps or trail markers at his entry point. Follow this use-trail 0.15 miles and it will intersect with the Crankset Trail. This juncture is signed with a marker, indicating that the Crankset Trail heads east from this location for 0.97 miles. This is slightly inaccurate. This signed juncture is intersecting the Crankset Trail in its middle. From this juncture, the Crankset Trail heads west for about 0.4 miles where it officially starts, and heads east for about 0.6 miles where it junctures with the Speckled Rattler Trail. Where this trail officially starts, there is a trail map that gives a very basic overview of the trails in the area. Unfortunately, there is no nearby parking that allows easy access to this starting point, which is why most trail users will use the above-mentioned TH.

When hiking the Crankset from the east trailhead, options are limited. One can take the use-trail for 0.15 miles and then go west for about 0.4 miles. One can then either turn around or follow another unsigned trail up into West Wing Mountain for another 1.5 miles. However, this trail currently ends near the top of West Wing, forcing users to return the way they came. The other option is to follow the Crankset trail as it heads east. If doing this, one can follow it for about 0.6 miles, to where it connects to the Speckled Rattler Trail. At this point, one can follow the Speckled Rattler either north or south. Going south will connect you to other West Wing trails, though you will have to return the way you came, as there is no loop option. Going north will connect you to the MUP A trail/road, which you can then opt to take back to the trailhead or take further into the preserve.

The Crankset trail is a short, solid single track that heads primarily west to east. There are some minor curves in the trail as it makes its way east, but at no time did I ever feel like I was heading in a different direction. The trail is fairly flat, but there is a slight elevation decline as you go east. The trail is composed of compact dirt with frequent embedded rocks. The surrounding vista is bleak. The ground is peppered with marble to fist-sized rocks, giving me the impression of a Martian-like landscape and the sparse foliage consists primarily of Palo Verdes, creosote, cholla, and desert grass. Distant views are okay with Thunderbird Park and East Wing Mountain to the East, the Bradshaws to the North, and the White Tanks to the West.

2023-10-22 mt98dew