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What Trails Do You Consider To Be Rideable Two Hours After Its Stopped Raining?

3K views 36 replies 22 participants last post by  RenegadeMtnBiker 
#1 ·
I thought this might be a good resource thread for tourists who have come to AZ on a MTB vacation and their riding destination has trails too soggy to ride.

For example it has been stated South Mountain in Phoenix is good shortly after heavy rainy periods. What other trails in AZ do you feel are suitable to ride after several days of rain?
 
#2 ·
I thought this might be a good resource thread for tourists who have come to AZ on a MTB vacation and their riding destination has trails too soggy to ride.

For example it has been stated South Mountain in Phoenix is good shortly after heavy rainy periods. What other trails in AZ do you feel are suitable to ride after several days of rain?
All of them. I mean, what do I care if I destroy a muddy trail? It's all about ME!!!!!!!!!!

(Chew on that Sierra Club.)
 
#3 ·
even after 3" rain in 48 hours. hawes was good yesterday.
it had some soft spots and new ruts, but overall was rideable (i admittedly ate it in a few spots that never caused me trouble all year)
also,, all the former kitty-littered washes were settled and compacted down that you could ride right on top without sinking
 
#4 ·
Im sorry but why are we so concerned about getting tourists on our trails here in AZ. Who cares? Its their job to inquire if they so desire. Maybe Im in the minority here.
 
#6 ·
I am not sure if you are in the minority or not, but I do care what kind of vacation experience my fellow mountain bikers have. I have been in similar situations in unfamiliar areas and I certainly wish I had someone giving me good advice on which trails I could ride after rainy conditions or even during rainy conditions.

Where I ride we do have several trails that can be ridden in the rain, so if you are really desperate people can at least get in a ride

I do feel sorry for fellow riders who are bummed out on rainy days with no hope that if the weather breaks they could be riding in several hours.

I am sorry if this thread may be upsetting you, please accept my apology. If it doesn't upset you I am sorry, and I apologize for thinking it may have.

For the area I ride there are several trails that can be ridden shortly after rainy periods. Rockman pretty much described where those trails are so I don't need to relist them. If people are visiting that area and want some more specific information about those trails let me know, I would be happy to show you around.
 
#8 ·
We're fortunate to have a good amount of decomposed granite (in Phx)mixed in our dirt. This results in pretty good drainage on most trails and very little mud. About the only time we truly have to worry about rain is when it's rained heavy for multiple days which can cause some puddles to form, unfortunately there are some bikers that try to avoid the puddles by going around them, which in turn can damage surrounding vegetation.

If anything we cherish the rain. It packs things down and makes what dirt is out there nice and sticky. It also cleans off the rocks, which improves traction when climbing and braking.

I rode South Mtn this morning. Due to the humidity I was the wettest part of the trail.

In my 18 years or so of riding in Phoenix the only time I had a muddy experience was on the last day of the 2001 or 2002 Spring Fling. Pima & Dynamite had some heavy pooling. It was still rideable tho.

Avoid Flagstaff if they've had multiple days of heavy rain. Their dirt loam can get pretty sticky.
 
#9 ·
I just got done riding Phoenix Sonoran South trails and they were pretty good. There was one part coming back on Dixie mountain counter clockwise where I hit a soft spot and went OTB. Other than that, I think there were only a couple puddles of water on the whole south preserve. I did Desert Tortoise to Great Horned Owl to Cactus Wren to Valley Verde to Dixie Mountain counterclock wise back to the start.
 
#10 ·
I think I stated this before... its about the clay.... any surface geology with high clay content will be a nightmare to ride on when wet.... especially if the trail/road is lightly traveled.

Some roads near Kinnikinick lake are like this... I think some sedona trails may also be like this as I remember. But I really don't know.
 
#11 ·
I think I stated this before... its about the clay.... any surface geology with high clay content will be a nightmare to ride on when wet.... especially if the trail/road is lightly traveled.

Some roads near Kinnikinick lake are like this... I think some sedona trails may also be like this as I remember. But I really don't know.
This^^^. More specifically, the type of minerals in the clay. They're not all bad but smectite and illite in particular are heinous when wet. Smectite has a hole in it's crystalline lattice which perfectly fits an H20 molecule. When wet, it absorbs water, swells and technically becomes illite which is a sticky impassable blob of hate.

Flag has lots of places that are perfectly rideable even after long periods of rain. Anything on the AZ trail that is on Kaibab limestone for instance or the dacite of Elden. Anything that is on decomposed basalt has clay. Sedona doesn't have much of the bad types of clay, it just gets mushy.
 
#12 ·
I have ridden BCT from Emery Henderson following winter rains. Parts of that trail are perfect and others slow. Depends on the soil types as some areas the soil gets slow and soft. You sort of float over it and have traction, but is like riding on soft mattress that moves every pedal stroke. Plus you can feel the drag in the rear wheel. Then 30 yards later all is well. The one thing I have come to notice about riding is how the dirt changes from trail to trail and at different elevations. Sometimes you can see the same dirt conditions miles away, but at similar elevation. For example SoMo has a unique geology and is different from PMP, but there are places miles away that share the same geology.
 
#14 ·
letter to Don Debaca of Red Mountain Ranch homeowners association:

Hi,

i just received a 'violation letter' for erosion in my front yard.

so let me see if i understand this correctly. Northeast mesa gets 3 inches of heavy rain in a 48 hour period,, and you send an inspector out the AFTERNOON OF THE HEAVIEST RAIN (monday the 9th) to write up a complaint letter for not having it already cleaned up. in fact, just yesterday morning everything was perfect and the city of mesa was actually out here running the street sweepers at 6:30 am hours before the imminent torrential rains came (needless pissing away tax dollars).

by the time USPS delivered your little violation letter this afternoon, some unknown crew (city?) had already come by this morning and cleaned it up.
but for you guys to be out there trying to find violations while the national weather service still has multiple active warnings out for heavy rains with severe flash flooding. that's just anal, wouldn't you agree? if you find your actions to be perfectly reasonable, please i would LOVE to hear your counterargument to back them up. If you managed the fire department, would you have them respond to a house fire call and then issue the homeowner a ticket for unlawful burning?

The same area washed out after the august 30th monsoon, and it will likely wash out again with the next heavy rain.
we live by mountains, water travels downhill. deal with it. if you want to pay for installation of an additional sewer drain between the houses that would capture and divert the water, providing free enema pressure to all the old people in RMR,, then by all means have at it.

-mike
 
#18 ·
That is pretty weak even by HOA standards. Ive never understood HOA's myself. Where I grew up in the Midwest every man of the household was out mowing the lawn and washing his car in the driveway every Saturday morning. Everyone took pride in the appearance of their house and we never had an HOA. There was always one odd ball house in the neighborhood with a purple door or something but no one went around complaining that a purple door was affecting the value of their home. Must be a west coast thing.
 
#19 ·
two lines i deleted from the final email
1) apologizing for not having a mormon forcefield around my house like the death-star deflector shield.
2)"if i see more dark clouds this afternoon, i will be ready to call the RMR 24-hour emergency number so we can tap the community stockpile of Depends to stop the flow"
 
#24 ·
About 4 years ago I lived right on 13th street and hardy in tempe. One of the houses right there along 13th splitting the square mile.

One side of my yard was rocks, the other grass, at one point i had about a dozen or so blades of grass 6" tall growing through the rocks....city of tempe gave me a violation and told me it needed to be trimmed. 7 days later, after it was not yet trimmed, they had my drivers license suspended. Apparently the city can F'ing do that.....
 
#28 ·
south mountain and hawes are both great drainers. pemberton at MMP can be horrible after a drencher. I had to give up a ride at pemby because my bike was caked with mud, and would no longer roll. the other bad thing about the mud around here is it has grit in it that rubs the finish off of the insides of the fork and stay's as the wheels rotate. gold canyon needs to dry a bit before a ride also.
 
#31 ·
I thought this might be a good resource thread for tourists who have come to AZ on a MTB vacation and their riding destination has trails too soggy to ride.

For example it has been stated South Mountain in Phoenix is good shortly after heavy rainy periods. What other trails in AZ do you feel are suitable to ride after several days of rain?
Any trail in Phoenix pretty much.
 
#37 ·
I thought that would put you to sleep, but thanks for your interest. Hope to see you at the RTCA meeting. I am sure that will also be informative. Especially when I ask the question, why would you spend a bunch of money adopting a trail that is constantly going to need maintenance after extended rainy periods.

If the answer is we have a bunch of people who are going to take care of it for FREE forever then go for it.
 
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