San Tan Regional Park is Wonderful XC riding

San Tan Regional Park is the jewel of the South East Valley. 

The park sits in Queen Creek, AZ. There are several entrances to the park; The main entrance is 6533 W. Phillips Road Queen Creek, AZ 85242, The second main entrance is the Gold Mine Trail , north of the main park off Wagon Wheel road, is more rustic with no facilities except a port a potty,  but has become busy since the addition of the Dynamite Trail. In large San Tan is over 10,000 acres of pristine desert land with some good mountain bike trail riding. 

The San Tan Regional Park trails would be classified as easy intermediate. My definition of easy intermediate is that there is low tech mostly groomed trails but does require good cardio fitness to do the trails. The Dynamite climb is 1.5 miles from the start which descends into the main area of the park. 

There are several ways to ride these loops. 

1. Dynamite -> San Tan (CCW) ->Hedgehog-San Tan -> Stargazer-Moonlight-Little Leaf-Gold Mine-San Tan - Dynamite. This loop is approximately 12-13 miles. Good work out with roughly 1200 AEG (based on old Strava app). Some good climbing and short burst climbing here.

2. Dynamite ->San Tan (Clock Wise) -> Gold Mine- Little Leaf -> - > Moon Light-> Star Gazer - > San Tan -> Hedge Hog -> San Tan (CC) -> Dynamite. same mileage but different experience. Based on some of the trails little more technical harder but more fun.

3. Other options would be to include the newly completed San Tan Mistake Segment. This is off of Hedge Hog Counter Clock wise on San tan. In the past it was a 3 mile out and back because you would hit the deep sand washes but new connectors were added. This is a more fun again little more technical loop (not really just more whoopee woos) . There is one really steep hill in this section that makes for a fun slippery puckery down hill or a shoot do have to get off and walk the bike up the rest of the hill.

4. Another loop that I just did is to take Dynamite Trail -> CCW on San Tan to Hedgehog -> San Tan go right or now it will be (CC) to the new completed mistake segment. You will be back at Hedge Hog and will have to do the climb again -> San Tan turn left -> and left again -> Stargazer -> Moonlight -> San Tan take right 
-> left on Dynamite back to park lot. This was 14.8 miles and roughly 1400 feet aeg.

The only short coming of this trail system is that there are not more trails. You can go up the Gold Mine pass but would not recommend it hike and bike mostly. You do have to be careful of the many other trail users equestrians and hikers. 


More Trail Information from MTB Project.

Browns Ranch Gets More Awesome as They Add More Trails.

The area known as Browns Ranch, located near the Troon development housing area in North Scottsdale, used to be a big patch of state trust land owned by Arizona. The trails were created by the old moto dudes that had much kitty litter sand. The available single track was pretty technical unmarked spaghetti trails which all the way up to Tonto Forest. The West Express trail would take you there and I think it still does!

I remember participating in a fund raiser so that the city Scottsdale could purchase this State Trust Land and convert it into a recreation area for hiking, biking and equestrian trails. When the new system opened up I had mixed feelings. The new trails were nice but a little too groomed and I kept trying to find some of the  more dramatic roller coaster sections with the ruts and loose kitty litter. Those trails were very exhilarating and the new trails were initially boring with great views. As time went on new trails opened up and this preserve really started to rock so to speak. It grew on me, since I started to like going out for a nice ride with some flow and twisty single track without worrying if I was going to skid out into a rut and crash. Maybe just being a little closer to the age of 50 helps too.

The new system grew on me as more trails were added like Whiskey Bottle (had a little rugged foothill climb) and Coyote Canyon that was technical at the very bottom and reminded me of the older trails.  with a little more technical features.

The recent addition of the Stage Coach (older trail now groomed) , Hawks Nest and Broken Spoke ensured the promise of this trail system for time to come, loved the new additions. The High Desert trail is now one of my favorites to ride especially the new section that connects the Divide to Hawks Nest.

I recently did a ride and here is a route that I took. It is busy with directions but has good flow.
1 Browns Ranch Road to Vaquero
2. Vaquero to Water Shed
3.Water Shed to Cholla and proceed west on Cholla toward Cathedral Rock.
4. Take Cholla to Stage Coach and have some fun and hang sharp right onto High Desert.
5. High Desert all the way to the Divide Trail. There was a sign stating entering the non mapped zone. Turns       out they just cut new section of High Desert and I could see the bulldozer tracks in the dirt. This section         had much flow and even little exposure (not bad) just felt like you were in a canyon for short while.
6. Take Hawks Nest east and then down 136th Express this is so much more fun going down the trail.
7. To keep the cardio honest need to do 1.5 miles climbing on Cow Poke to Granite Mountain Loop.
8. Granite Mountain Loop Counter Clockwise or East to Branding Iron.
9. Steep Down Hill on Cholla to the Maverick Connector.
10. Maverick Trail fun every time.
11. Browns Ranch Road back. Could also do the Wrangler to Upper Browns Ranch.

This route was roughly 17.4 miles.

The route in Topo Graph.

Browns Ranch is continuing to build more and more trails so the rides will keep getting longer and better. They are even adding a technical playground area for those that want to play on rocks should be great.

For More Trails visit Mountain Biking Lady's info site.

Until Next Time.