Scottsdale, AZ ' At a very young age I learned my body could transport me all over the place. Wether it was riding a horse, my sting ray bike or hiking...I got there under my own power. To this day I love to challenge myself physically and by doing that, I in turn (at times) encounter an almost spiritual experience.
I don't think you can live here without loving the desert. One of the best ways to enjoy it is mountain biking or hiking. Now I'm not talking about riding or walking along the desert green belts of Scottsdale or even the miles and miles of jeep trails in the northern area's of the city. I'm talking about single track, you know like those narrow 12-inch wide trails cattle make to walk to the old watering hole.

Fortunately for us we are blessed with world class mountain biking trails all over Scottsdale.

McDowell Mountain Regional Park ' Located on Rio Verde drive between Fountain Hills and Rio Verde. There are 5 distinct trails in the area.

1. Cactus Cup Course ' Built about 5 years ago with Specialized Bikes cash and prison labor supplied by good old Sheriff Joe. (I'm not kidding!). Totally cool 8-mile single track that was designed for mountain bikers and by mountain bikers. Skill level, better know what you're doing and be at least an intermediate rider, other wise its crash and burn time. Takes about 45 minutes to 1-½ hours to complete. Go left about ½ mile past the gate. Oh, bring 5-dollars with you for entrance into the park, it's the best $5-bucks you'll spend all day, it helps pay for maintenance of the park and trails.

WARNING ' Mr. & Mrs. Rattle snake live here! I can't count the times I have run into a rattler or two on a single ride. I am amazed by the number of people who live in the area for ten or twenty years and have never even seen one. I've had two very close calls. About 6 years ago a friend and I were riding some single track/jeep trails near Shea and 124th street. I came around a tight corner moving very slowly and heard a rattle and the next thing I felt was a rattler strike on my rear derailer. What really shocked me was the way my drive train shook, these babies strike with force. We got off and inspected the snake. It was only about a 2-½ foot western diamondback, but man was it angry and rattling like crazy. The other time I was coming down the North side of Pemberton trail at about 25 mph and rode right over a slumbering 4-footer. Not the preferable way to introduce yourself but I was moving to fast to stop. It's not surprising that I encountered the rattler since it was 5 pm and they tend to come out and sun themselves at the end of the day. My buddy Karl, heard me yell "rattler" and went way wide and lucky he did, since by then it was coiled and ready to strike. DO NOT play with the snakes, (like I need to tell you this) they can strike about ½ distance of their body length, so be careful.

2. Expert loop ' 2 miler ' Whoa Nellie down hills and some mountain side single track that if you mess up its say hello to the native cacti and rocks. Do not attempt this unless you have huge courage or have the tumbleweed roll down to perfection. I have the tumbleweed thing going!

3. Sport loop ' 3 miler ' My, my what fun! Warm up here and then hit the other slopes. Its an E-Z loop that connects to the expert loop ' watch it ' take the parking lot direction maker.

4. Pemberton ' It's an 18 mile - rolling arroyo switch back loop that is 3 miles into the park. They say it can take all day to ride. If it takes you all day'stay home or pack a lunch! Make sure you wear a helmet! If you ride a bike, you will fall off and I've seen helmets split in half(by my brother Patrick)from a nasty fall. Note the forestry service recently messed up the trail by rerouting it. Now its a 45 minute grind with a 8-mile back-end negative grade as the play off. Now what was once a real f

This is what's left of the state land trust in north scottsdale. Miles and miles of some of the finest beginner to expert riding you'll find. Long ago a hot spot for dirt bikers, they cut most of the single track,along with of course the wild horses in the area. Don't believe me? It's true, from time to time you will see wild herds in the area. I once was chased up Dynamite rd. by about 15 wild horses after passing them. A Rio Verde resident ended up honking at them and chased them right by me. Now I grew up raising quarter horses in Minnesota so I wasn't to scared but man for a while there*#!?&ÿ.it was a bit tense!

Park on the southeast corner of Pima and Dynamite.

Miles and miles of trails and rock formations. Just keep in contact with the powerlines heading northeast and you'll be fine. It can get confusing with all the trails that shoot off in every direction, but that's a good thing right? To go home, follow the powerlines southwest to the parking lot. I have one of those compasses on my bike so getting lost would be a real embarassment. You may want to consider buying one, they are fun to look at when your wondering where you are!