Pine: Trail Closure & A Grand Opening

 I saw a post online about a new trail opening in Pine on Saturday called Two Ravens. This trail would essentially replace the crappy Walnut trail, providing a rideable option to connect to/from the Arizona Trail and also officially complete the Pine Town Loop. The Rim Country Mountain Biking Association was hosting a group ride shuttle on the new trail. I didn't feel like making the two hour drive to only ride a handful of miles, so why not ride the now completed full town loop? Duh.

I made the drive north to the cool pines and fairly busy Pine trailhead. I was riding shortly after 10a, beginning a CCW loop, getting the big Pine Canyon climb out of the way early.

Pine trailhead.

Short bit of AZT, over halfway to Utah!!

The climbing starts right away.

A bit disappointing to see so many shoe prints mixed in with the Elk post holes. If you sink into the trail, don't use it. Thanks.

Town view as the elevation stacks up.

Snow clinging to the upper reaches of the Mazatzal range.

Spur trail to Dripping Spring.

Spring was flowing...

...and dripping as the name indicates.

Ginormous down tree.

Ahh, some real nice tread.

By now my climbing legs were feeling it as were my lungs as I approached 6000'. It's that time of season where I begin to head north for cooler temps and higher elevation.

Bike pushing mode activated.

Whoa!! Did not expect to see snow on the trail. This was around 6200'. It's not going to last long with temps hovering around 60º.

I was cruising along, settling into the pace of the day, when I came around a corner and was greeted with this:

WTF?!? Hard trail closure. I was stunned and a bit pissed as no other notice was posted. Would have been nice to have a warning at the last trail junction almost 3 miles back or down at the trailhead.

Had I known this, I probably wouldn't have done this portion of the ride as the climb was difficult and there's a crappy section of trail that I'd now have to hike-a-bike back up.

Now that the ride is done, I've learned that the operations have ended for the year. So why was the closure notice left behind?? C'mon, people. Heck, I would've removed it for you.

Closed from early December to April 30.

I flipped the bike around and made my way up the crappy section of trail. From there it rode well. I decided I'd check out the Good Enough trail to get down into town quicker. The goal was to still check out the new trail across the way.

Would it be Good Enough??

It was a bit challenging to follow at times, but cairns led the way through the churned up area. So, yeah, I guess it was Good Enough.

A quick spin through the neighborhood and out to the main road. Next was a short climb up Hardscrabble Rd. to the trail junction.

The connection to the Pine-Strawberry Trail.

There was an older couple chatting by the trail when I arrived. The fella was warning the woman about recent mountain lion sightings as I snapped the above photo. I think it spooked her, because she left. He then came over to me with the same warning. I told him I'll take my chances and thanked him for his concern.

At the top of the Towhee trail I opted to go right so I could then go left on a newer bit of trail. There has been a good amount of work done along the Pine-Strawberry corridor in recent years. I hadn't been on this newer section yet.

The older alignment was tough, a bit loose too.

Now on the newer tread. So far, happy with my decision.

Town view from the other side.

This trail was riding great, cool routing too.

Splitting the rocks.

Distant, snowy Four Peaks.

A short downhill to Hardscrabble Rd. brought me to the beginning of the new Two Ravens trail. This would replace the old Walnut trail.

The trail began with a bunch of Elk post-holing, but quickly faded to this.

Cresting the high point of the trail.

Sure is beautiful up here.

Routed by a neat rock feature.

Flowy benchcut all the way.

About halfway down is another access point by a neighborhood.

Short climb up a switchback before joining the AZT.

On the AZT heading towards the Pine TH.

Almost had the feel of riding by a lake.

Couple of gates on each side of AZ87.

I opted to add in the Pineview Loop to get my ride over 20 miles, similar to what the town loop would have been.

Part of the trail cuts through a recent burn area.

All downhill from here!!

This interpretive trail was added recently next to the trailhead, makes a short loop around the parking lot.

Done. Made the most of it and rode a couple of new trails.

Leaving town, the Elk were dumpster diving!!

Gotta pick up dinner in Payson. Mmmmm.

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