MTBikeAZ.com

What a great weekend. The Pacific Northwest like conditions in late May in Arizona made for some great desert riding.

I spent Friday and Saturday exploring again out near the Superstition Mountains on Lost Goldmine Trail. After finding the awesome trail that shoots off Lost Goldmine last week, I headed back Friday afternoon to find the connector singletrack to Apacheland.

I not only found it, I also found a family of Javelina’s on the trail. At least seven or eight of them went a running and screaming as I approached. They were gone before I could even get the camera out.

Further down the trail I rode into Kevin, the local mountain biker who has been riding and maintaining these local horse trails for years. He took the time to show me around and led me to some sweet singletrack that heads north from Apacheland back to the LG Trailhead. Thanks Kevin!

On Saturday I waited out the rain in the morning then went back to explore some horse paths I spotted in Virtual Earth. It was an awesome day of exploration. The paths I found were pretty rough and primitive, but totally rideable. There were so many paths to explore I couldn’t ride them all…

The find of the day though was the desert tortoise on the trail. Unlike the Javelina’s he was in no hurry to get out of my way. I snapped a few shots.

I’ve mapped out a nice loop just south of Lost Goldmine. As I explore the area more, I’ll update the map. The land south of Lost Goldmine trail is State Trust land. A permit is required to ride in the are. So get your permit and get out and ride!

PDF Map Lost Goldmine Horse Trails: updated Aug 27, 2008

View at MotionBased

Today was too nice of a day to spend sitting in my office… It’s probably the last temperate day for an afternoon ride till October, so I burned out early to hit up Lost Goldmine. I’ve wanted to get there the past few weeks and look for those famed new trails I’ve heard so much about on the Arizona MTBR forum.

At the trailhead on Cloudview a thunderhead hit and the rain came down just as I was gearing up. It was short lived but made for a great start to the ride. It was a chilly 70 degrees.

I planned to ride in to the first jeep road crossing then head south to where I saw a few glimpses of possible trail heading west in Virtual Earth (Google Earth does not have the resolution for the area but Virtual Earth is giving me trouble importing my gpx, hence the GE photo) .

The first couple of miles of Lost Goldmine are as beautiful as ever. The spring flowers are all gone, but the singletrack is pristine. It’s so amazing to ride right next to the Superstition mountains. Once at the planned junction the adventure began…about a mile down the fast doubletrack I noticed a small cairn and a faint path on the ease side of the road. Sweet! I’d found the trail. I recognized it instantly as one of the “converted” horse trails (A couple of fresh tire tracks helped too). It wasn’t the trail network I’d Virtual Earthed, but it was the actual trail I was hoping to find.

I rode the new trail all the way up to the junction with Lost Goldmine (there’s a giant cairn marking the trail) then right back down to my starting point on the doubletrack. The new trail rocks. It’s rough, tough and littered with photo opp rock gardens, jumps and ledges. You totally can see the MTB work that the locals have done. There are cairns and white painted arrows marking the way.

There’s a section that is just like a roller coaster. It drops into a wash then does a 180 right back into the wash…repeats a couple more times. Down, up, turn, down, up, turn… that section should be named Gold Rush. These new trails are one more reason to Ride Lost Goldmine. I’m sure there is even more trail to ride out there. I hear you can ride to the old movie studio grounds. I didn’t make it that far, I lost the trail a quarter mile west of the doubletrack. Maybe it’s a work in progress??

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to the local riders who have crafted this new trail. Now let’s get out and break it in some more. It was so fun finding this trail and exploring it I’d hate to rob you of the adventure of finding it yourself!

Ride it clockwise off the LG trail. The trailhead is about 2.8 miles in and marked with a big cairn. You can’t miss it. If you still want the gps tracks, just email me.

I rode Fantasy Island North Singletrack, aka FINS, a few weeks ago. I was totally impressed with the system. Loads of fun with plenty of XC action including a nice climb.

I rode into a couple of the trail builders out on the trail. Harv and his gang were out doing some routine maintenance and riding. If I lived closer I’d ride FINS every morning. It’s the best singletrack on the west side.

Read the Full Review to see pictures, a YouTube vid of the drop on Jim’s Ascent, and or course Google Earth views…

Looking for some fresh singletrack to explore I searched the MTBR trail reviews and Arizona forum for a new ride. Casa Grande Mountain looked good on paper and the trail view in Google Earth looked even better… Read Full Review.