OK, the title is in quotations because we're now out of Mesa proper. We decided to take a quick trip to Gilbert downtown, so that Chris could have the white pizza at Liberty Market (unsolicited promo of Gilbert begins here). There are great restaurants in the vicinity of Gilbert Road and the water tower, and there are now even food trucks beginning to gather in the parking lot north of Oregano's on Gilbert. We keep meaning to try the other restaurants, but remain loyal to the dishes we really love at Liberty. Not bad for a downtown about two blocks in length (a legacy from little Gilbert the farm town), to have become a hub of East Valley eating.
Anyway, while Chris walked the dog, I did a quick scout of the canal trail that runs east to west north of the downtown area. Interestingly, the signage talks about this canal trail as being part of the Sun Circle Trail, a circle trail that will connect all county parks in Maricopa County. Here is the latest map: http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/maricopatrail/pdf/2012maps/regional-trail-11x17.pdf. This turned out to be a perfect easy canal ride for anyone--flat, scenic, close to places to eat, and a connector through the whole Southeast Valley. Looking at the map, one could take the canal roads all the way to South Mountain Park in the west, and San Tan Mountain Park in the southeast.
The two miles I rode began as a kind of double trail: dirt on the north side of the canal, sidewalk on the south. All mile-road intersections have signals, making crossing busy arterial streets easy. Supposedly, the trail turns north and south at Lindsey, but I went out to Val Vista. The trail there turns into a wide path under some power line rights of way. Be wary of which side you travel; the dirt side tends to be more obstacle-laden than the sidewalk.
Scout 2--Superstition Mountains (the Bad and the Ugly)
We've hiked and ridden the Crosscut trail several times. The trail itself is technical out of the Crosscut trailhead at First Water Road: the arroyo bank is steep, and the trail climbs up a rocky slope. Since the trail is used by horses, the rocks are often worn round. Once to the top of the slope, the ride is easy to intermediate all the way to Lost Dutchman State Park. Once past the state park boundary on the southwest side of the Supers, the trail becomes extremely rocky and technical again, but not so steep. Supposedly, the Crosscut Trail winds through the edge of the national forest, outside the wilderness boundary all the way to the Don's Camp. I've never followed it that far.
Some trails take off from the Crosscut east towards some hoodoos on the edge of the state park, and I thought I'd seen some cutoff trails that skirted the wilderness boundary to the old Massacre Grounds trailhead. Ahem . . . I was wrong, wrong, wrong. First, there were no cutoff trails. I probably spent 45 minutes covering one mile or so of open desert below the edge of the escarpment. It is cut by some pretty deep arroyos, and I collected a nasty shin bruise, some cactus spines, some scrapes to the bike, and, ultimately, some cholla balls to the calves, let alone to the tires and brakes of the bike. It's a wonder that I didn't blow a tire. Toward the end of this little odyssey, I came upon a clear trail that roughly paralleled the First Water Road. This trail turned out to be a new version of the Massacre Grounds Trail, that ended at the Crosscut/Massacre Grounds (as I now found out) trailhead. I knew they had closed the Massacre Grounds cutoff and the parking lot, but I didn't know they'd made a new trail. I never did find the parking lot. So much for cutting across country, even country where I basically knew where I was at all times.
The Birthday (the Good, again)
OK, this is kind of a cheat. I just took my regular route out to Val Vista, which usually nets me about 9 miles. But Chris believes in king or queen for a day on one's birthday, and this was her birthday. I decided to see whether or not Fry's was open, so that I could buy her some flowers to wake up to. Turns out Fry's is open before 7. There's nothing better than pedaling back in the growing light of morning, with a bouquet of flowers dangling from the handlebars.
