Mountain bike Trail Guide comparison

I enjoy planing my next trip almost as much as taking it. So, I spend a lot of time reading trail descriptions, looking at maps etc, both online as well as the traditional 'book' reading. I love trail guides and four of my favorite mountain bike guides for this region are shown in the photos.

The guides have also had a big impact on my site Fat-Tire.net. Cosmic Rays rating systems and vernacular are commonly utilized by Arizona Mountain bikes.

The guides I read most to least are:

1."Fat Tire trails and tales" by Cosmic Ray. This book is the mountain bikers bible for the state of Arizona. Everyone has an edition. The maps are hand drawn, and the writing is as colorful as the cartoons on the cover.  I have given copies of all Cosmic Ray's books to my Nephew as presents. The kids love the cartoons and maps as much as the adults. The crew at the Slippery Pig bike shop said they like the glossary section the best. Ray changes the book about every other year. I asked him why he doesn't just include all the trails in one big edition. Ray said that he likes to keep it small enough to be a true trail guide. I guess he has a point, look at how well worn this book is in relation to my other guides.

2. "Mountain Bike America - Arizona" by Paul Beakley. Paul's done a great job with this book.  However, I have heard complaints by those about it's large size. No problem for me, as I will take a map and compass or gps instead of any of these books when on a new trail.

3. "The Mountain Bikers Guide to Arizona" by Sarah Bennett. This book was already outdated when I bought it back in 2000. It reads as much like a journal than a trail guide. A different perspective. A young woman discovering the trails for the first time on a fully ridged bike. Some of the trails no longer exist. Still, it's fun trying to find the remnants of a lost trail like 'Goldfield' trail in the McDowell mountain park.

4. "Mountain Biking Phoenix" by Bruce Grubs. This one is a true pocket guide. Look at the size. No fluff, just facts. I own hiking books by this author and you can tell he made an effort to edit himself. Still, how can this be a Phoenix guide without any reference to the Hawes - Red Mountain trail? A lot of Payson trails listed. No trails other than  Trail 100 are listed from the Phoenix mountain preserve.

---

October trails in season

October is one of the two months where all trails in the entire state are considered prime season for mountain biking.

Trail	Area	State	Effort	skill	Primo
Verde Hot Springs	Camp Verde	Arizona	Long Ride	Advanced
Pinery Canyon Loop	Chiracahua	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Silver Peak Loop	Chiracahua	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
WhiteTail Creek	Chiracahua	Arizona	Tough	intermediate
Thumper Trail Loop (dead horse park)	Cottonwood	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Mingus Mountain	Cottonwood - Jerome	Arizona	All Downhill	XX Expert
Around the Peaks (cosmic soulstice race loop)	Flagstaff	Arizona	Fairly Tough	Beginner
AZ trail to Walnut Canyon	Flagstaff	Arizona	Hard Ride	advanced
Dry lake hills loop	Flagstaff	Arizona	Hard Work	Expert
Elden Loop	Flagstaff	Arizona	Biblical	Expert
Fisher Point	Flagstaff	Arizona	Comfortable	Beginner
Lava Cave and Wing Mtn	Flagstaff	Arizona	Easy	Intermediate
Little Bear Loop	Flagstaff	Arizona	Serious Climb	Advanced
Lower Oldham trails	Flagstaff	Arizona	No Sweat	Beginner
Nordic Center	Flagstaff	Arizona	Easy to Medium	Beginner
Observatory Mesa	Flagstaff	Arizona	Weenie ride	Beginner
Rocky Ridge Trail	Flagstaff	Arizona	Hard fun work	Expert
Soldiers Trail Loop	Flagstaff	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
Sunset Trail Loop	Flagstaff	Arizona	Long Climb	Expert
Upper Oldham trails	Flagstaff	Arizona	Heinous climb	Expert
Waterline Road	Flagstaff	Arizona	Long Climb	Advanced
Flag to Grand Canyon	Flagstaff - Grand Canyon	Arizona	Long Easy Ride	Beginner
Flagstaff to Sedona	Flagstaff - Sedona	Arizona	long ride	Advanced
Six Shooter Canyon	Globe	Arizona	no whiners	XX Expert
Crazy Jug Point	Grand Canyon	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Pt. Sublime	Grand Canyon	Arizona	Very Long Ride	Beginner
Rainbow Rim	Grand Canyon	Arizona	hard work	Beginner
Tiyo Point	Grand Canyon	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Greene Haven Slickrock	Greene Haven	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Arizona Trail	Jacob Lake to Patagonia	Arizona	Long ride	Expert
Badger Trail	Kingman	Arizona	difficult	Advanced
Camp Beale Loop	Kingman	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Moss Wash Mines	Kingman	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Slaughterhouse Canyon	Kingman	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Valley Drive	Monument Valley	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Page rimview trail	Page	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
Patagonia Ghost towns loop	Patagonia	Arizona	long ride	Novice
260 loop - HiLine Trail	Payson	Arizona	tough	Advanced
Cypress Thicket	Payson	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Doll Baby Ranch	Payson	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
El Oso rd	Payson	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Houston Mesa	Payson	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Little Pine Flat	Payson	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
mt peely road	Payson	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Rock Creek	Payson	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Slate Creek Divide	Payson	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Willow Springs Lake	Payson - Heber	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Strawberry Mtn	Payson - Pine	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Alta trail - Soutn Mountain	Phoenix	Arizona	Tough	Expert
Black Canyon Trail System	Phoenix	Arizona	Long ride	Advanced
Bulldog Canyon - Goldfield mtns	Phoenix	Arizona	moderate	intermediate
Coast to Coast - South Mountain	Phoenix	Arizona	Very Tough	xxx expert
DESERT CLASSIC - South Mountain	Phoenix	Arizona	Moderate	Advanced
Double Bypass - McDowell mtn preserve	Phoenix	Arizona	tough	Advanced
FINS (Fantasy Island North Singletrack)	Phoenix	Arizona	Moderate	Advanced
Helipad tt	Phoenix	Arizona	tough	climb
National Trail - south mountain	Phoenix	Arizona	severe	Expert
Papago Park	Phoenix	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
Phoenix Canals	Phoenix	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Phoenix Mtns Secret Trails	Phoenix	Arizona	All	All
Phoenix mtns trail 100	Phoenix	Arizona	very hard work	expert
Phoenix Mtns Trail 1A	Phoenix	Arizona	Tough	Expert
Phoenix mtns trail 8	Phoenix	Arizona	moderate	Advanced
Ridgeline Loops - South Mountain	Phoenix	Arizona	tough	Expert
Apache Trail	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Lost Duchman trail loops	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Lost Goldmine Trail	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	Moderate	Advanced
Queen Creek	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Silly Mtn	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
White Canyon	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	Tough	Intermediate
Woodbury Rd	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	Tough	Intermediate
Devils Hole	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
hombolt mtn	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	difficult	Intermediate
new River Headwaters	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
New River Mesa	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	easy	Beginner
New River West	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	moderate	advanced
Sheep Bridge	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Trail 4 - cave creek trail - Seven Springs	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	Difficult	Expert
Casa Grande Mtn	Phoenix - Casa Grande	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Area 52	Phoenix - Florence	Arizona	tough	Advanced
Thunderbird park h1 - h5	Phoenix - Glendale	Arizona	easy	intermediate
Estrella Mtn Park (race loops)	Phoenix - Goodyear	Arizona	Good Workout	Advanced
Margies Cove	Phoenix - Goodyear	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
Blevins Loop - Usery park	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Cottonwood Camp	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
four peaks	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Hawes rd - red mountain	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	tough	advanced
Moon Rock Loop - Usery park	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Usery Pass	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	No Sweat	Advanced
White Tank Mountains Goat Camp Loop	Phoenix - Peoria	Arizona	Tough	Expert
White Tank Mountains Sonoran Loop	Phoenix - Peoria	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
San Tan Loops	Phoenix - Queen Creek	Arizona	moderate	Beginner
Cave Creek	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	Heap O work	Advanced
Dynamite and Pima	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	Not too tough	Intermediate
McDowell mts Pemberton Trail	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	moderate	Beginner
McDowell mts Race Loops	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	race pace	Advanced
Sonoran Mtn Preserve	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	Tough	Intermediate
Toms Thumb	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	Tough	Advanced
Union Hills Loop	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	Long Ride	Beginner
Granite Basin Loops	Prescott	Arizona	easy to difficult	Advanced
Lynx Lake Loop	Prescott	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Peavine trail	Prescott	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
Spruce Mtn	Prescott	Arizona	what goes up	Advanced
Thumb Butte Loops	Prescott	Arizona	nothing too tough	All levels
White Rock loop trails	Prescott	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Wolf Creek Loop	Prescott	Arizona	Fairly Easy	Beginner
Yankee Doodle trail	Prescott	Arizona	Tough	Advanced
Cunningham and Grant Hill Loops	Safford - Mt. Graham	Arizona	High Altitude work	Intermediate
Airport Mesa Loop	Sedona	Arizona	Pretty tough	XXX Expert
Bell Rock Loops	Sedona	Arizona	fairly easy	Beginner
Boyton Pass	Sedona	Arizona	Long easy roll	Beginner
Cathederal Rock Loop	Sedona	Arizona	Moderate	Advanced
CocksCOMB LOOP	Sedona	Arizona	medium work	Beginner
Deadmans Pass Loop	Sedona	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Dry Creek	Sedona	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Huckaby Loop	Sedona	Arizona	Hard	Expert
Llama Trail Loop	Sedona	Arizona	Hard	Expert
Robbers Roost	Sedona	Arizona	easy as pie	Beginner
schnebly hill trails	Sedona	Arizona	a good sweat	Intermediate
Secret Trails	Sedona	Arizona	tough	Advanced
Submarine Rock Loop	Sedona	Arizona	hard work	Expert
Brown Canyon Loop	Sierra Vista	Arizona	moderate	Beginner
Carr Canyon Loop	Sierra Vista	Arizona	Fairly tough	Advanced
50 Year trail (the chutes)	Tucson	Arizona	A good sweat	Advanced
Butterfly Trail	Tucson	Arizona	hard work	Expert
Chiva Falls	Tucson	Arizona	tough	Expert
Cobre Ridge	Tucson	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Crystal Spring Trail	Tucson	Arizona	fairly hard	Advanced
Elephant Head	Tucson	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Fantasy Island	Tucson	Arizona	easy	all levels
La Milagrosa	Tucson	Arizona	tough	xxx expert
Molino Basin	Tucson	Arizona	tough	Advanced
Peppersauce Loop	Tucson	Arizona	severe	Expert
Saguaro National Monument East	Tucson	Arizona	Fairly Easy	Beginner
Samaniego Ridge	Tucson	Arizona	Long Hard Ride	Advanced
Starr Pass - Yetman wash	Tucson	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Sweetwater Preserve	Tucson	Arizona	Fairly Easy	Beginner
the Tortolitas	Tucson	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Tucson Mnts	Tucson	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Kentucky Camp Ghost Town	Tucson - Sonoita	Arizona	High Altitude work	Advanced
Blue Ridge Trail #107	White Mtns	Arizona	Advanced	Advanced
Country Club Trail #632	White Mtns	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Country Club/Los Burros Connector Trail #631A	White Mtns	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Hannigan Meadow	White Mtns	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
Ice Cave Trail #608 ( Blue Ridge Cave Trail)	White Mtns	Arizona	moderate	advanced
Panorama Trail #635 ( Porter Mountain Trail)	White Mtns	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
South Fork Trail	White Mtns	Arizona	Tough	Advanced
Timber Mesa Trail #636	White Mtns	Arizona	moderate	Advanced
Luna Lake Upper Loop	White Mtns - Alpine	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Terry Flat Loop	White Mtns - Alpine	Arizona	Moderate	Beginner
Los Burros loop 631	White Mtns - Show Low	Arizona	not too tough	intermdiate
Bill Williams Mountain	Williams	Arizona	Not too tough	Intermediate
Sucamore Rim Loop	Williams	Arizona	not for wimps	Intermediate
Gila Mountain	Yuma	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Martys Ridge to Liberty Bell	Yuma	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Lower Rock Creek Trail	Bishop	California	Moderate	Advanced
Gabrielino Trail	Los Angeles	California	moderate	Advanced
Borrego dessert state park	San Diego	California	moderate	intermediate
Florida Canyon	San Diego	California	Easy	Beginner
Miners Ridge Trail	San Diego	California	Good Workout	Intermediate
Sun Devil way	San Diego	California	good workout	all levels
Anderson truck trail	San Diego - Alpine	California	Tough	Expert
Marys Loop	Fruita	Colorado	Moderate	Intermediate
Munro trail	Lanai	Hawaii	tough	intermediate
Secret Trails	Maui	Hawaii	moderate	Intermediate
Mt Haleakala	Maui - Kula Forrest preserve	Hawaii	Tough	Expert
Kaaawa Valley	Oahu	Hawaii	Moderate	Beginner
Canfield mtn	Coeur d alene	Idaho	Fairly Easy	Intermediate
Fischer Creek Trail	Stanley	Idaho	Fairly Tough	Intermediate
Bad Tom / Cranky Gulch	Wallace	Idaho	?	?
Upper Glidden Lake	Wallace	Idaho	?	?
B & A trail	Baltimore - Annapolis	MD	Easy	Beginner
Lake Tahoe Rim Trail - Flume trail section	Lake Tahoe	Nevada	tough	Advanced
Windsor Trail;	Sante Fe	New Mexico
Amole Canyon	Taos	New Mexico	Easy	Beginner
Thun trail	Birdsboro - Pottstown	Penns	Easy	Beginner
French Creek st park	Philidelphia - Reading	Penns	moderate	Intermediate
Marsh Creek St park	Philidelphia -Exton	Penns	Tough	Intermediate
Springton Manor Farms	Philidelphia -W Chester	Penns	Easy	Beginner
Mickelson Trail	Deadwood	SDakota	Long ride	Beginner
Lambert park	Alpine	Utah	moderate	all levels
Thunder mtn	Bryce Canyon	Utah	moderate	advanced
Baby steps	Moab	Utah	moderate	Advanced
Porcupine Rim	Moab	Utah	Tough	Advanced
Slickrock trail	Moab	Utah	difficult	Expert
Sovereign Trail	Moab	Utah	intermediate	intermediate
BST - Bonneville Shoreline Trail	Salt Lake City	Utah	Tough	Intermediate
Gooseberry Mesa	Zion	Utah	Moderat	Intermediate
Little Creek	Zion - St. George -Hurricane	Utah	tough	Advanced
Galbraith Mtn	Bellingham	Washington	all levels	All levels
Greenline #6	Olympia	Washington	Tough	Expert
Cranberry Lake	Seattle - Anacortes	Washington	moderate	Intermediate
Whistle Lake	Seattle - Anacortes	Washington	Difficult	Expert
Japanese Gulch	Seattle - Mukilteo	Washington	moderate	Intermediate
rows  1  5  7  10  20  30  31  120  240  365  750