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Research implied that the Houston Mesa area in Payson might be worth riding… I got out there last weekend and hit the Shoofly loop, the more difficult of the two loops out there.

First, not impressed with the trails. I knew they were multi-use trails (ATV included), but I thought there would be at least a bit of singletrack. None on the Shoofly Loop. I was so unimpressed with it that I doubt I’ll return to ride the classic Houston Mesa Loop.

Any locals ride these trails often? I saw plenty of tire tread on the trail. Shoofly did offer a challenging climb. Even though it was wide it was rocky, technical and steep. Three ingredients for fun. And it kept going up. I cleaned the big hill, just barely. Towards the top I got bumped off line and went squirrelly trying to stay balanced without dabbing. Somehow I made it through (good thing for me the trail was so wide).

The trail signs are old and shot through, so it was tough to keep to the real trail. There were a few other jeep roads that joined in and cut through the trail. If I wasn’t following someone else’s GPS tracks I would have wasted a ton of energy just route finding.

Time faded on me quickly and when I lost the trail on top before the big decent, I decided to just hit the road back to the TH. I’ll have to give Houston Mesa a fair shake sometime, but all in all, it’s the last trail on my list. If I’m driving all the way to Payson, I’ll head up the rim and find bliss on the Highline.

I continued my exploration of the Lost Goldmine trail this morning by completing the West segment from the Broadway trailhead to the Cloudview west trailhead.

It was a fun segment of trail, but it’s not your fast and flowie singletrack that lets you soak in your surroundings. I only looked up to the Supe’s when I stopped for a breathers. All my concentration was on the gradual tech climb or the bouncy tech decent.

If you want to hone your slow moving balance tech skills, Lost Goldmine West is the place. A 29er would surely smooth this trail out enough to give it a higher grin factor.

Descriptive thoughts that came to mind while riding:

* Technical feast of rock gardens. Peas, potatoes, tomatoes, melons and cholla.
* A mini mini mini Milagrosa – half the tech, none of the decent and a quarter of the fun.
* The rocky part of the Long Loop at McDowell on steroids.
* The east leg of Lost Goldmine is solid gold. The west leg is solid rock.

I was short on time when I ended up at Cloudview so I headed off and explored a jeep road back up to the big wash. I made up a little time, but even the jeep road was techy in spots.

The west was very fun, just not an everyday kind of ride for me. I’ll be back to ride the west leg again as a connector from the East Leg to Jacob’s Crosscut. Other than that, my tires will be true to the east side where the trail is golden.

The Superstition Mountains have eluded mountain bikers for years and will most likely keep on eluding for years to come. There is, however, a gem of a trail that skirts the boundary, giving mountain bikers a taste of that forbidden wilderness. After 8 years in the valley I finally found Lost Goldmine.

I arrived at the trailhead on Cloudview early, clipped in and headed toward the rising sun. With six miles of fresh trail before me I was ready for everything the mountain could give me.

The trail gave me ups, it gave me downs, though not a sustained amount of either. It gave me smooth it gave me rough. In a word, the singletrack was amazing. It was tight and twisty with just enough tech to keep me focused. There were even a few rock garden stretches that bucked me off my steed.

The views of the Superstition Mountains were incredible. The wildflowers were like golden walls hedging the trail. My legs turned yellow from the pollen.

I rode to the Peralta trailhead then back completing a 12 mile out-n-back. There is more climbing out to Peralta, so coming back flowed a little faster and tasted a bit sweeter.

I recommend Lost Goldmine to every Valley rider. Search for gold, come back with a grin.

Lost Goldmine

Lost Goldmine at EveryTrailMap created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging