McDowell Mountain Regional Park

The McDowell Mountains are located to the Northeast of Phoenix, Arizona. McDowell Mountain Park is located on McDowell Mountain Road about half-way between Fountain Hills and Rio Verde. There is a $2.00 fee to enter the park, but it is well worth it.

This was the venue for the Cactus Cup. The new millennium saw the demise of Arizona's favorite race. It had been steadily declining in quality and popularity, but it was still the closest thing we got to a "trade show" in the Valley of the Sun.

The views at the park are spectacular. In 1995, a major fire swept through the park and surrounding area. The good news is the area has recovered quickly.

Here is a quick rating of the major bikeable trails and tracks in the park. A "trail" is for leisurely traveling. A "track" is built for speed. The rating system is explained on the White Mountains page.

- The Pemberton Trail is an excellent 15.5 mile loop. Nothing too difficult (in fact, try "easy"), just a lot of desert single-track. There are some fun roller-coaster sections at the top, and a quick almost-two-track heading back down. The usual who-yields-to-whom is in effect (simple - bikes yield to everyone), so be alert of other users. To add a couple of excellent miles to the trip, try adding the Scenic Loop to your trip on the way back. There's about 1/4 mile of sandy wash to negotiate, but the majority of the trail climbs to the top of a very scenic ridge.

2000 saw the addition of several new loops, as well as a mellowing of the main Pemberton Trail. If you have the time, I recommend Granite, Bluff (connected is better), and Tonto. Avoid anything with "Wash" in the name, unless you really love sand! Last time I checked, the McDowell Mountain Park website has current maps, and current ones are available at the park.

- The real news is the "McDowell Competitive Track". This is a fun built-for-bikes track. There are three loops, the Long, Technical, and Sport.

The Long Loop isn't all that long (8.2 miles), doesn't have much technical challenge, and doesn't have much elevation gain. However, when used for what it was designed for, competition, it is awesome! Whether competing in a race or just against your own time, it is a great trail to just "let it out" and hammer! Since it is used for high-speed biking, there are several sections with "braking bumps" developing. That just adds to the character of the course.

The Sport Loop is fairly easy, with a few twists and turns, but nothing too hard. At 3.0 miles, it is definitely not a stand-alone ride.

The 2.9 mile Technical Loop is technical only for the steep downhill parts - no rock negotiating, extended climbs, or other tricky stuff. There are four marked downhill sections, all with decent runouts at the bottom. The second (from the start) downhill is interesting. It has a two-foot vertical drop-off before it hits the slope. It is easily bypassed, though - kind of like cheating! Other than that, there is nothing else "technical" about the loop.

All three loops are connected, with several "mix-and-match" options.

As the flyer handed out at the entrance to the park says:

CAUTIONS
Track is for high speeds, challenging one's skills, and racing.
Use trails for leisurely traveling.

Even though speed is permitted, this track has challenges.
Pre-ride or run the course at a reasonable speed first.
The Technical Loop is the most difficult. It is for experts only.

The rocks are still hard and the cacti still have spines.

They even get into some track etiquette (with some of my editorializing):

• slower users yield to faster users (get out of the way!)

• call out before passing (it's a good idea to not spook the person in front of you - their crash could be your crash!)

• stay on the designated track (there are side roads and open desert - who wants to ride roads or get extra cactus spines?)

• travel in the one-way direction marked (surprisingly enough, just about every time I ride this, at least one rider is going backwards, even with the "do not enter" and other trail signs clearly visible!)

• Take extra water and allow yourself extra time (this is the desert, you know)

• It is strongly recommended that mountain bikers wear helmets and other protective gear (this may seem to be a "duh", but I've seen riders going sans helmet)

Cool! A real mountain bike track! Horses are also allowed on the track, which is fair, but I'm not sure how things will ultimately work out. There are several "trails" in the park that are marginal for bikes. Too much sand and such. Maybe there is a compromise in the works that says some trails are for horses, some are multiple use, and the tracks are for bikes. It's implied, but it may need to be explicitly stated. In the mean time, keep your head up!

For more information, call a trails planner at (602) 506-2930, TDD (506) 506-4123
Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department

or

McDowell Mountain Regional Park (602) 471-0173

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