Black Canyon Trail
View Black Canyon Trail in a larger map
The Black Canyon Trail is a 62 mile desert ride that stretches from the Carefree Highway up to the Prescott National Forest, skirting the base of the Bradshaw Mountains and running parallel to Interstate 17.
The Black Canyon Trail Coalition keeps the trails alive and well through trail building and maintenance activities. To lend a hand visit the trail work events page for info and dates. See the maps section for official topos and visit Dale’s website for really good topos (see below)
BCT Segments
Emery Henderson
Doe Springs
Table Mesa
Little Pan (east little pan loop)
Williams Mesa (west little pan loop)
Cheapshot
Skyline
Horseshoe Bend
K-mine South
K-mine North
Soap Creek
Stagecoach
Arrastri
Trailheads
Black Canyon City TH: plenty of parking, but no amenities
Little Pan TH: unknown (most likely not developed)
Table Mesa: underdeveloped TH but plenty of parking
Emory Henderson: developed facility with paved parking
Ride Reports
I have yet to ride this singletrack, but many others have given this system a run. Read about u2metoo’s ride on his blog Where the Streets Have No Name and watch his video below.
Read Mountain Bike Bill’s ride report and see pictures of Little Pan on his awesome website.
MTBR forums have great info and trip reports from waltaz
Amazing photos shot by Leslie from IMBA
voodoodaddyfx’s YouTube video of Little Pan.
Maps
Epicrider Dale Wiggins map of BCT (click for full size)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I rode from the Black Canyon City TH to the top of the Little Pan Loop (and back). This is truly one of the undiscovered gems in Arizona. The skyline section of the trail was amazing. And crossing the Agua Fria River was just a treat. Many thanks to the Black Canyon Trail Coalition.
This is a great trail. I rode from Table Mesa Trailhead north, took the left hand fork (clockwise) of the little pan loop. However, I could not find the trail coming back south on the other side of the loop after it crosses the river. I followed the sign onto the dirt rode and followed it south down to the river, but could not find the trail across the river. I met two seperate groups of riders who couldn’t find the trail either.
A good route description for that segment or better signs would be great. Thanks again to the BCTC for an outstanding long distance trail network.
I don’t quite know what to think of this trail!!! It is, or seems to me to be way too rocky in alot of sections. Now, this is my first time riding this trail and I don’t know if I didn’t like it because I am out of shape or if it would have been the same if I were in shape. I found myself walking through alot, and i mean alot of the parts of the western part of the pan loop, and then once i got to the river I too could not pick up the trail again, either. I started riding Jeep trails hoping to pick it up somewhere, however, after peddling up those steep hills I decided to backtrack. I went back to the river and looked some more, but no luck. I realized at this point that I had left the map in the truck. (smoooooth mooove) So i started to think about the map in my head and remembered (or at least I thought) that if i took the river south it would meet back up with the trail, after about an hour or hike a bike, I came across some very friendly Mexicans who gave me a ride back to the “road with Hot Pink Ribbon” and told me (which they were correct) that it would take me back to the fork which would get me back to my truck.
I agree with Aaron on this one, better signage at the river would be great, not everyone will be as fortunate as myself to come across as friendly peeps to get you back on track. At that point I had started to “panic”, thoughts of spending the night out there were creeping into my head!!!! At that time it was 6 o’clock and only 1.5 hours of daylight left for the most part and I really had no idea where the He@# I was at.
Bottom line, if I wouldn’t have lost the trail and could have finished it, my outlook might be different.
Hey I will be working out there with a crew of 8 on this new trail and I am super excited to see the progress and results of this trail!!