BCT: Mistake Tank to EOT

 Early December in the desert, the weather is perfect: low 70's and sunny. That means the local trails are often crowded on weekends, so I tend to avoid those. I was in the mood for some exploration and decided I should head north to the far end of the Black Canyon Trail, BCT, to see if any new tread had been put down. I knew there were a few miles of new-to-me dirt leading to Mistake Tank, but would the trail continue north?? One way to find out.

The BCT eventually will continue north and down to Camp Verde. That's going to be incredible to string a full singletrack ride from there back into the Valley.

I made my way up to SR169 off I-17 and parked at the small trailhead off Old Cherry Rd. on the south side of the highway. I'd ride a little over a mile along the General Crook trail, which seems to be packed in better these days. It generally runs in a straight line, but there are a few well burned in cattle tracks veering off, be alert and don't take those!! Keep an eye peeled for large rock cairns if in doubt. Before long you'll reach the junction with the BCT, to continue north stay straight.

General Crook/BCT junction.

4,200' or so, high desert.

Trail was easy to follow and fairly packed in considering the low amount of use.

The trail bends south around a land fill, then makes its way north towards SR169.

Approaching the SR169 underpass, cattle tank nearby, stay left.

Nice to have a rollover gate. There was a camouflaged tent tucked into that large tree.

Hmmm, wonder what the catch will be.

Making my way under SR169.

On the north side of the culvert was the only semi-confusing part of the day. If going northbound, go through the green gate, then immediately go hard right across the sandy wash. You'll then see the trail heading up out of the wash. There was a small sign by the gate, but no arrow indicating a righthand turn.

The trail gently climbs away from the wash in true BCT fashion, but the tread was loaded with holes. Not really post-holed by cattle, although some, these were larger holes, ones you had to be aware of. Hopefully some crews will come back to fill in a few sections.

Again, the tread was packed in nicely where it was good.

Big country up here.

An example of a trail hole. Most were this size or bigger. Seemed kind of odd.

Arriving at Mistake Tank, which is a small parking area too. I-17 in the distance.

Ooohh!! New trail!! How far does this go?? Let's find out.

The area to the north is hilly, so I knew I'd be climbing, but where would it route you?

It began climbing the west side of the first hill in some cool terrain.

Arriving at a gate, it appeared I was near the high point...

Nope, more contoured climbing.

I was really enjoying the views through here. If the grass were taller, I would think I was in southern AZ.

Still climbing, nearing 4,900'. I could see the curve of I-17 where the huge descent into the Verde Valley begins. The trail should be heading down soon!!

I was getting myself mentally prepared for a huge day in the saddle. I was really hoping I would find myself curving and flowing all the way down to Camp Verde. I had already mentally mapped out a return ride from there, taking the dirt road up through Cherry back to the car.

I reached this rugged Jeep road and the trail just stopped. Bummer. How far was it from Mistake Tank? 3 miles.

Instead of exploring the Jeep road back to Mistake Tank, I opted to head back on the trail. It needed the tires on it anyway and it was mostly downhill. I almost went OTB once when I nearly dropped my front wheel into a large hole on a righthand turn. Sketchy!! I did see one other rider heading up who was also out checking on the new tread.

It won't be long now until it's finished. Until then, I guess I need to start planning a full traverse of the BCT. Who's in?

Strava link.

I decided to ride the shoulder of SR169 back to the car, it's wide and I was getting pressed for time. Overall, it's good trail, check it out if you're in the area. Be warned, this is death mud country, be sure the trail is DRY. Otherwise, you'll be in for a long, frustrating day of scraping mud and bike maintenance.

South Mountain: 'Round the Mountain

 I've done a lot of rides & routes at South Mountain over the years, but one popular route has evaded me. The classic Around the Mountain route. I guess I never really had much desire to do it as the north side of the route had a bunch of pavement and canal riding. I wasn't going to South Mountain to ride that kind of terrain, I wanted rocks/chunk/gnar!!

In recent years the park has built more singletrack on that side of the mountain, notably the northwest quadrant. My friend, Kara, reached out to see if I was interested in joining her and Karen on a loop. Sure, it was due time.

We met at Karen's house on the south side of the mountain and quickly joined the trail on the Bronco Flat section of Desert Classic. It had been a few years since I last rode the far west end of Desert Classic. We made good time getting through the trailhead, dodging hikers, as we made our way to the less crowded trails on the west end.

Kara drops into the final descent along Desert Classic.

Over on the west end trails, we can see our target, high up on the Gila Saddle.

The daunting Pyramid trail lurks over Kara's left shoulder.

The Gila trail was a stout climb, but the ladies are still smiling.

Here we go, long, sustained, rocky downhill. Yeehaw!!

We found ourselves on the recently re-routed Gila & National trails. Nice work to get the trail out of a crappy wash and added a couple of nice switchbacks on National.

The cavalry stampedes the hillside above the Maricopa trail. At least that's what it looked like.

Karen topping out on an early Ma Ha Tuak climb.

Kara joins the fun high above the urban speedway.

We had to keep moving as the cavalry wasn't too far behind.

South Mountain is such a gem. It's surrounded by 6+ million people and sometimes you see it: the freeway, skyscrapers of downtown and general urban sprawl, yet othertimes while on these trails you feel as though you're on a desert island hundreds of miles from anywhere. It's quite remarkable. This small, but vast network of trails in the largest city park in the good 'ol USA.

Fun trail here as downtown comes into view.

Hard to believe this mountain turns green in March.

Reminder of the urban playground you're enjoying.

Little pink houses for you and me...some hike-a-bike as well.

Kara in full HAB mode. Steep grades on this section.

And just like that, we've wrapped around the pink cube and gained a bunch of elevation.

The final miles of singletrack would come quick as we reached the 19th Ave. trailhead.

There was one more grunt climb, happy to say my legs/lungs held on for a clean ride. We popped out on the paved access road as we made our way out of the park.

Near the entrance station.

We were getting a bit pressed for time, so we opted to stay on the roads around the far east end of the mountain. A route purist would definitely be back on trails here. Next time. Karen had to leave us near 35th Ave. due to leg cramps, but in return, had taco bowls and cold Cokes waiting for us when we finished. Thanks!!

This route ended up being more fun that I thought it would be. I'll definitely be back for more and there's always options to add more trail.

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