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| Hiking | 12.73 Miles |
328 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.73 Miles | 4 Hrs 8 Mns | | 3.10 mph |
| 328 ft AEG | 2 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This segment of the trail still had a lot of sidewalks, but there was also plenty of walking/riding paths and landscaping available nearby that paralleled it to give me an opportunity to get away from the traffic and people.
I headed east from Discovery Park this time along Pecos Road. This was all sidewalk. the trail is officially on the north side of the road all along Pecos Road. At Higley, I headed south. At 6:30am, there was line formed at the Fry's for people waiting to get in. Sign of the times. Just past the plaza, there is a nice walking/riding path that parallels Higley down to Germann. After that, you're back on the sidewalk. The crossing of the canal there is nice. Made me think they should have found a way to incorporate this canal into the trail somehow instead of these sidewalks.
Turned left (east) on Queen Creek Road. Just past the plaza on the SE corner, there is a berm above the sidewalk that gives more respite from sidewalk, traffic, and people. After Recker, the berm is gone, but there is more landscaping to walk along. Just before Power, the trail goes under Power Road into the wash. After crossing under Power, make a hard right and get on the south side of the wash. There are trails/riding paths on both sides, but I saw one sign on the east end at Sossaman that indicated the MT is on the south side of the wash. This area isn't marked very well with MT signs, it gets a bit confusing.
The mile following the wash was probably the nicest part, but also the busiest, which isn't what I was looking for. Still plenty of room to steer clear of everyone. On the way back along the wash, I noticed a roadrunner getting a late lizard breakfast.
Finished up just after 10am, getting nearly 13 miles in. I think I can finish this spur to Santan park with one more trip. Fun seeing the tracks connect, but these sidewalks are not of great interest to me. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Discovery Park turns out to be a real nice TH for this Maricopa segment. The Maricopa Trail follows the (east side) sidewalk along Pecos. There are trail signs, usually utilizing light poles, about every 1/4 mile. Just confirming that the trail hasn’t turned off the sidewalk. Went to Pecos and Cooper before turning around. This was about 8.5 miles round trip, but with my inadvertent starting point from Power, I ended up a little over 10.5. 
I feel like I would say the same for this section. It’s always nice to move trails along, but there are so many better options out there. I did see a few walkers, bikers and runners out there taking advantage of the quiet holiday weekend traffic. No wildlife.
