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| Hiking | 12.55 Miles |
131 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.55 Miles | 1 Hour 37 Mns | | 7.76 mph |
| 131 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Back to another one of my ongoing day-hiking “thru” hike projects: the Maricopa Trail. I suppose you could actually thru-hike it, though you’d be spending some nights in occasionally sketchy spots, like the meth campers near Lake Pleasant, or the barrios of south Phoenix. (That might explain why one guy actually trail ran all 240 miles in just under 70 hours: https://www.12news.com/article/news/loc ... 1d893c0615 ) 
There is no official Maricopa Trail trailhead at I-10. There’s a ton of development going on in the Verrado area, and satellite view lags on-the-ground reality by up to three years, so the open desert at the west end of McDowell Rd. may now actually be an auto mall for all I know. Not sure of the legalities of parking in the nearby residential neighborhoods, today’s end point would be the Culver’s on Verrado Way. 
Starting from the library at 7:20, the trail was quite rocky. Early on, my left pedal hit a rock. It does not take any force for the serrated grip on a bike pedal to gouge flesh. So, imagine hitting a rock, causing the pedal to snap back into your shin …
Dirt Northern Ave. was welcome relief, despite being unable to avoid a  .
At the Beardsley Canal, I initially started down the access road, but soon corrected. You could ride the gravel road, but the singletrack is smooth. Besides, why are you riding in nature?
The three miles south of Northern -- ha! -- were a welcome, smooth, relief. I arrived at the Jackrabbit "Trailhead" in about an hour, including photo stops.
Heading south along 195th Ave. / Jackrabbit Trail, on a weekday morning, I didn’t see anyone else on the path, shoulder, or even the odd bit of singletrack.
At the Indian School Rd. corner, there were no Maricopa Trail signs: The only signs I saw were campaign posters.
Sat view is usually three years out-of-date: Indian School shows as two lanes, no bike path. Now, there is a sidewalk and a bike lane. Because the sidewalk crosses many shopping center driveways, I instead chose to ride in the bike lane, as I figured it would give me greater visibility to a turning vehicle.
Heading through Verrado's pocket parks, I passed several joggers and dog walkers. A bridge was being built to extend Thomas Rd. into Verrado. The sidewalk was signed off, but everyone was ignoring it, so I did too. 
Near the sewage plant, instead of following Maricopa Trail, I instead stayed on the bike path, which briefly cut through a corner of the housing, before heading slightly downhill, under Verrado Way. I then looped right, up to the Verrado Way bike lane, following that to the Culver’s ¼ mile ahead.
Bike Video: https://vimeo.com/760757521 |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
There were some rather large clusters of Pectis papposa, particularly among, or adjacent to, grass or thick clusters of shrubbery. No other flowers of any kind at all. Unless you count houses in Verrado ... |
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| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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