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| Hiking | 7.19 Miles |
70 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.19 Miles | 3 Hrs 32 Mns | | 2.03 mph |
| 70 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Early morning hike out by West Wing Mountain. Six months ago I hiked West Wing Mountain and noticed that a bunch of the trail names had been changed. In addition, I noticed several trails had been added to the north of West Wing. So today I came out with a purpose of learning about this new trail system and hopefully adding a new trail to the HAZ library.
I got to Paloma Park just after 6am. Following the roadside signs I went to the designated east end trailhead. I quickly discovered that there was minimal, actually, no information about any trails at this trailhead. Somy simple trail gathering mission became more of an area gathering mission as I tried to learn where the trails began and ended. From this trail head I learned that the nearest official trail was Crankset trail. This trail was easily accessed by a user trail. This user trail left the trailhead going south for about .15 miles where it intersected the Crankset Trail “already in progress”. I first hiked west for about .4 miles to where the trail officially starts. There is a trail map at this spot, but no trail marker ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") .
There were several unsigned trails in this this area, so I decided to follow them to see where they led. One user trail wrapped west and then south around West Wing and led to some million dollar homes. Interestingly, signage near the homes made me believe that this was an authorized trail (with no name). Returning back to the trail map, I then followed another unsigned trail south as it headed up into West Wing. This was a very nice trail. It looked to be newly constructed. Was very smooth and gained elevation in a gradual manner and offered a nice view of the Paloma Regional Preserve. It is ideal for biking or running. The trail tops out and gets tantalizingly close to some of the other West Wing trails before stopping. I saw ribbons, heading off to the north, so maybe there is more to come. As it stands, I can see users blazing across the mountain to connect to other trails. Hopefully, this doesn’t happen. Currently this area is untouched. Amazingly, this trail is unsigned. And because it does not tie into any other trails, I had to return the way I came. The trail was about 1.6 miles long and there was a small side trail that took you out to a vista overlooking Paloma Park. My initial thought that this trail was still a work in progress (and with the ribbons it may be), but the Paloma trail web page displays this trail as I hiked it.
Once I returned to the trail map (the beginning of the Crankset trail), I then followed the Crankset trail east for about 1 mile where it junctures with the Speckled Rattler trail. The trail was easy to follow, though there are several less-used, user trails that spin off the Crankset. I thought it was pretty obvious which was which, even with the minimal signage. There were only two trail markers for this hike. One, where I connected to the Crankset when I started my hike and the other where it connects to the Speckled Rattler.
I then returned to the TH on the Crankset and then followed the road to where the Speckled Rattler starts. It was about .5 miles to get from the TH to the Speckled Rattler. Amazingly, there was a trail map at that juncture, as well as trails markers. Needless to say, I was amazed a lot by this trail system. You would think that they would put a trail map as well as trail markers at the TH  There was also a bench and a trash can at this juncture. It turns out that the road that I entered on is called the MUP A (multi-use purpose) trail. Once again, signed here, .5 miles in, but not at the TH. I had gathered enough info for one day, so I headed back to the car to try to make sense of what I had hiked today.
Always like doing new trails, but honestly the Crankset doesn’t offer much. It is a better option than MUP A, but it is, at best, a connector trail to the Speckled Rattler and the other trails of West Wing Mountain. I hope there is more to come with this and other trails. If nothing else, signage. Only encountered 2 hikers and 7 bikers. Wildlife was minimal…a couple of chipmunks. |
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