Last year this was an awesome trail ride through beautiful country. My riding partner and I tried to ride this trail again on July 9th 2016 and the dead-fall trees made it a real chore. We conservatively estimated 100 trees across the trail in under a 7 mile distance. A real nightmare with all the fire-damaged trees.

My wife and I have riden the entire trail on Mt. Bikes a couple of times. We have not encountered other riders on the trail. I suspect that the main reason is the tread is loose cinders, which are coarse in texture. The water crossings are commonly plated with cinder clods that are fist sized, and difficult to traverse. Much of the northern 1/2 of the trail is covered with bunch grass. The managing agency, Apache/Sitgraves NF, recently realigned/rebuilt a section of the trail, and again plated the tread with loose cinders, that do not pack down and provide poor traction, think riding in deep, loose sand. This could be a great trail to ride, it just needs a firm tread, and a little maintenance. With a firm tread, elimination of the fist sized cinders in the crossings, and bunch grass invasion, this trail would rate 5 stars.