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| | | Maricopa Trail - North of Dove Valley, AZ | | | |
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Maricopa Trail - North of Dove Valley, AZ
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| Mtn Biking | 17.59 Miles |
778 AEG |
| | Mtn Biking | 17.59 Miles | 3 Hrs 1 Min | | 7.49 mph |
| 778 ft AEG | 40 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Just a Sunday afternoon ride with my wife in the Granite & Cholla Mountain areas of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve...
Prior to going out, I looked at the current map and noticed, at the top (north) end of the map, that two "Step-Over Gates" are marked at the boundary with the Tonto National Forest. My goal was to get to the gate just off of Dove Valley Trail and take a look at what's on the other side.
My wife and I rode Bootlegger, Granite Mountain Loop, Branding Iron, and north on The Divide Trail. When we got to High Desert, my wife turned left (west) and rode to the intersection with Broken Spur where she would later meet me.
I continued up The Divide, went left on Hawknest, then right on Dove Valley. I could have turned left on Dove Valley from The Divide Trail, but Hawknest is nicer - it's a singletrack whereas Dove Valley is an old jeep road. Anyway, when I turned onto Dove Valley, I found that there was a pretty well defined path made by mountain bikers; it was better than I expected it to be.
I got to the step-over gate at the Tonto National Forest Boundary and crossed over. I looked at the map posted on a large sign and noticed that the area is riddled with roads and perhaps other paths too. It appears that the area might be popular with the OHV crowd. Once I was done studying the map, I was looking at the various road options in front of me when I noticed a sign for the Maricopa Trail. I followed it for 1.4 miles and turned around just as it was crossing under the power lines for the second time. It's a nice singletrack marked for non-motorized vehicle use. In less than a quarter mile, it went through another step-over gate, though this one has a hinged bar which must be unlatched before you can cross. It then crossed the power line road twice; I think there was a least one other road that it crossed, but I don't know what that (or those) roads are (were). I noticed some spur trails leading to the west; I got a good look at one of them; it was a trail that followed a fence line. As noted earlier, I turned around just as it was crossing under the power lines for the second time. Looking at a map of my track, I see Joy Ranch Rd was due west of where I turned around. This section of the Maricopa Trail was pretty well beaten in, so I think it must have been there for a while; I just didn't know about it. (For some reason, I thought that the Maricopa Trail would continue on from where The Divide Trail meets Hawknest.) Anyway, I plan to explore further sometime soon. I'm wondering if it somehow connects to Spur Cross... that would be quite a ride!
When I got back to the Preserve, I continued on Dove Valley, turned left on Stagecoach, then right on Hawknest. I turned left when I got to Broken Spoke and met my wife where it intersected with High Desert.
We continued on High Desert, turned left (east) on Corral and then turned left (east again) onto Dry Gulch. From the end of Dry Gulch we returned via Cholla Mountain Loop, Balanced Rock, Granite Mountain Loop, Granite Mountain, Black Hill, Turpentine, and 136th St Express.
Update: I found two maps of the Maricopa Trail that may be of interest:
Maricopa and Sun Circle Trails
Spur Cross - Bronco
These maps show that a 1.3 mile gap between the area I explored and the Bronco Trailhead will open in Dec, 2017.
That said... I've hiked some of the Maricopa Trail from Spur Cross while hiking up to Skull Mesa. TR 247 (Cottonwood) is beyond my skill and aerobic capacity as a mountain biker. So riding from Granite Mountain to Spur Cross is probably not in the cards for me. |
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2 hikers, 4 bikers and 1 equestrian.
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Hawknest 
