The Fantasy Island trails in Tucson have long been on my list to ride. For one reason or another I hadn't made it there. Not entirely sure why, I've always heard they were fun, but maybe not worth a 2 hour drive south as a destination. Perhaps. The locals often hold fun events there and the trails have a lot of bunny themes.
I finished up my Rincon Valley Loop, had lunch at the Rockin K market and figured I had a couple hours to check out what the Fantasy Island trails had to offer. I should add it was early afternoon and hovering around 100ยบ.
I parked at the southern end and I believe you need a State Trust Land Recreation Permit to ride here. I have one, so I was good.
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Pay attention to where you park. |
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I immediately was greeted by a bunny...and a cholla ball to my ankle while taking this photo!! Ouch. |
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Good signage and one-way trails, a recipe for speed!! |
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Passing through the junkyard. |
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The area has seen recent urban development, nice to see some trail access remain. This cut through the Southeast Haughton Area Recharge Project. |
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Water fountains too, not chilled. I checked. |
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Cool!! My kind of trails!! I have a side hobby collecting license plates. |
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This would be the Christmas Tree Loop. Duh. |
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The trail goes over then loops around and can go under, if you're small enough. I am not. |
I was getting warm and starting to feel the accumulation of doing two rides in the warm weather on the same day. There were more ups and downs than I expected too. Fun stuff.
Since these trails are one-way there aren't a whole lot of short cuts available. These trails pack a lot of miles in a small area, like a bowl of spaghetti. Everything is well documented on the Trailforks app, so I tried to find a short way back, but I was in a bit of no-man's land. It was Friday and hot, so I figured there wouldn't be anyone else out on the trails. I made a short connection back to the Bunny trail going the 'wrong' way. Didn't see a soul, so it worked out just fine, not recommended on a popular ride day though.
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Back near the start. |
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The signs are marked Wrong Way near the trailhead. |
I was able to ride a good portion of the trails, but still need to check out the main loop in the NW corner. I'll definitely be back, it was much more fun than I thought it would be and it wasn't all boring flat trail with no character. You can tell a lot of love has been put into this trail system by the locals. They lost a section of the trails a few year ago when a housing development was put in. Hopefully the remaining trails are here to stay. It's a great system right in the east side of Tucson. Check 'em out.
Route:
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