There are golf courses, parks, and lakes all along the wash. This ride would be great for families, you can make it short, or for avid riders, very long. There are parks all along this trail where you can park your car and start the ride. Fully paved. We park at McDowell Rd where there is a skate park and little kids can bring scooters to practice, they have a separate area.
Golf courses, parks, and spring training baseball leagues run along side this wash. As you go further north the scenery changes, really interesting to observe.

I have ridden this trail twice and found it to be very easy to negotiate. The scenery is beautiful including water fowl, golf courses, beautiful homes and many (for this part of the U.S.) trees.

The start point is somewhat difficult to see but is about 0.6 mile north of McDonald Drive at the Arizona Canal. There is off-road parking just across the canal.

There are underpasses (and one overpass) the entire route allowing you to avoid traffic on major streets and it is mostly downhill making it easy for inexperienced riders. The trail follows the wash which has water in it during summer rain storms (two or three times a year).

The bottom end of the trail abuts Tempe Town Lake, an artifically created lake in the Salt River bottom. This area is being developed for recreation where triathlon and other events are held.

As an alternative to going to Priest Drive where the trail ends, I cross the old Mill Avenue bridge (one mile east of Priest) and head into downtown Tempe near Arizona State University. This area is a beautiful example of urban renewal.

hdprofessor