Pine: All the Dirt

 When the calendar flips to May, I officially start heading north to ride. The long desert ride season is over, the high country is warming and drying out. Heat relief is usually only 2 hours away. I've been wanting to ride the Pine Town Loop in a CCW direction for a while for comparison's sake. I've done the loop a few times, but each time going CW. Plus, I figured by going CCW, I could add the crappy Walnut trail - this would be the downhill direction and surely it MUST be better, right? I'd also be adding about three miles of AZT at the end and the first mile sucks, but whatevs.

I arrived at the Pine trailhead shortly after 9a and was ready to roll by 9:30 after a quick detour into town.

The Pine trailhead makes a great staging location for any ride in the area.

A quick jaunt on the AZT brought me to the Upper Pine View trail, the newest one built a couple years ago, but my first time riding it.

A few switchbacks lead up to here.

Sure enough, a view of Pine!!

Pine Canyon Trail was next and I was curious to see how difficult the climb would be. It's a long, fast downhill coming the other way, but so far the grade and riding surface were fine. The trail merged with a bit of narrow 2-track and I noticed some tread marks on the shoulder of the trail. At first I was pissed that motos had torn up the trail, then I realized the tread was a bit too narrow and looked like a mini-excavator or something. My thought was confirmed at the first switchback, freshly rebuilt tread, a climbing dream!! This continued all the way up!! Something like 10 rebuilt switchbacks in total, nicely done.

A thing of beauty!!

The climb topped out and then begins a long contour across the mountain.

Lots of flowy trail, the one chunky bit was downhill and is a notable slog the other direction.

The start of the Bearfoot trail.

Topping off with cold water from Pine Creek. It was rather warm here today.

Lots of well contoured trail above the neighborhood.

Juniper berries!!

No matter which direction you ride the Bearfoot trail, there is some climbing and a fair amount of chunk going through the sandstone layer. Overall though, it rides well and the climbs weren't as bad as I thought they may be.

Cool signage too!!

One odd thing about the Bearfoot trail is how it ends. It climbs up and gets close to AZ87, it's signed and easy to follow, but after it traces a fenceline for a bit the tread becomes noticeably less traveled. It's still easy enough to follow, but you can tell many riders don't come this far. The trail dumps onto a dirt powerline corridor, but then goes through an open gate where there is a private property, no trespassing sign. Hard to tell if it's referring to the road access or a goofy sloped piece of land angling down to the road. The exit is barely 300' ahead, but I didn't feel right going forward, so I backtracked to the fenceline and found a section missing a strand of barbed wire. Made it easy to step through the fence & out to the road. It all seems strange for such a popular trail.

I crossed the road and made my way to the Pine-Strawberry Trail parking area. I began up that trail then noticed a newer tread coming in from the right. I backtracked that to the parking area and realized the other trail I was on was the old route. The newer one was much better!!

This part of the trail had a Sedona vibe to it.

More red dirt.

This trail has its fair share of ups & downs too, bit overall it trends downhill.

Now on the opposite side of Pine. I was halfway up that mesa at the beginning of the ride.

The Pine-Strawberry trail ends at Hardscrabble Rd. Most riders simply turn left here & coast down to town.

Instead, I continued straight on the Walnut trail. At first glance, it looks horrible and my memory from last time confirmed those thoughts. That was the uphill direction, the downhill direction HAS to be better, right? I'll find out right after a snack break.

Look at that!! Nice tread!!

The trail was riding much better than last time, most of the tread was in good shape. I could tell that it doesn't see much traffic as some vegetation was encroaching. There are a handful of drainage crossings that required dismounting and a few down trees to navigate. Overall, the trail was decent and with a little work could be a fine addition to the town loop.

More good tread on Walnut.

Back on the AZT near Oak Spring. Get ready to push.

A brief riding section greets you, then a series of steep, loose, tight switchbacks begin the climb up to the mesa. There were short bits of riding between the longer switchback sections, but a lot of walking too.

Taking my bike for a walk.

While pushing, I looked down and spotted this!!

May have been dead, but neat looking.

On top of the mesa, the riding continues for the final couple of miles.

Once again, the SSP delivers.

So good to be back riding in the pines, the mountain air filling my lungs. Ahhh.

Trailhead in sight.

Now that I've done the loop in each direction, I have to say I prefer the CCW direction even with the Walnut/AZT addition at the end. It's a solid workout with a little bit of everything. I wish it would've been a little cooler as it had creeped over 80º, but it wasn't much of a factor.

Route flyover via Ayvri.com

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