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Fun ride, but misleading. We got on at N 68th Street in Scottsdale, and it is neither paved or concrete. Very rough ride along the canal. Some parakeets in a tree and some other art along the way, but be advised it isn’t paved the whole way.
The trail is scattered with homeless people, shopping carts, & trash. I don't feel safe. They need to patrol the canal roads & clean them up to make them safe.
This is a nice paved trail, not flat but no big hills. Once on the trail, I only saw one road that had to be crossed while running, the others had underpasses which was nice. This does go partially along a flood zone, so that doesn't happen often but I wouldn't go there after a heavy day/night of rain. Plenty of parking at the Horse Park. I didn't see any obvious restrooms or water fountains. I didn't like the fact that you had to cross Riggs Rd to get to the trail. Riggs Rd is getting widened and about to become a main rd for traffic patterns around the area. It's 5 or 6 lanes wide and no close lights or crosswalks to cross at. All things considered, I'm local so I'll def be back for more runs here. Thankful for all the trails we get to enjoy!
First, the map shows the east end at Alma School Rd. The east end is at Dobson Rd. I was there 2 wks ago.
The trail is paved from Dobson to the 143. There is usually some water in the river east of Tempe Town Lake. You can get on/off at Riverview Park in Mesa, Tempe Marketplace, Tempe Town Lake and all the major streets you cross.
It looks like they are going to extend the trail from the 143 to about 32nd St. If they do it will be awesome to be able to ride from 19th Ave in Phoenix to Dobson Rd in Mesa.
Easy parking at the Equestrian Center. Very nice asphalt path through the wash. Pleasant vegetation and vegetation with plenty of wildlife. The old stagecoach well was interesting and with the covered bench seating a pleasant rest stop. This is a solid short trail for a quick ride in the desert. Note this is a portion of the Maricopa County Trail system so it will be getting longer, eventually.
The trail is wide, and gently uphill. The rough surface is more suitable for mountain bikes and hybrids, not good for a road bike. Approx 1 mile is paved, presumably to keep the dust down for a nearby subdivision.
To get to the trail, turn right as you exit the Horne Rd gate. The trail begins on the other side of the road, on the left side of the canal.
You will pass an orange grove and many horse properties for the first half of the ride. Look for large carp swimming in the canal.
At the small hydro power station at E McDowell Rd, stay left to go though the underpass rather than going up a steep concrete incline.
About half way along the trail you will pass under the Red Mountain Fwy and the populated area ends abruptly.
Their are spectacular views across to the McDowell’s as you follow the Salt River (dry). It’s all desert landscape from this point to the Salt River Dam.
You may see wild horses.
It’s gently downhill as you head back along the canal to the Park of the Canals.
It’s worth wandering around the small Brinton Botanical Garden-good place to stretch your legs and rehydrate.
FYI there've been improvements. The trail now ends by connecting to the New River Trail on the west end. The last half mile is a nice paved path. The area around Priest Dr near Tempe is still being worked on. It is a gravel trail from just east of Priest to 48th St. But the path is hardpan and I've had no problems on either a hybrid or MTB. The previous reviews are true. Both the good and the bad.
I was very excited to see the extension of this path to Riverview as it is near a flooded section of the Salt River, so today I walked from Tempe Marketplace to just past the last freeway overhead in Mesa.
Where I walked there was shade from the highway interchanges above, but most of the path is not shaded, so is only usable on cooler days/months and by bicycles. Walking the path with the intent of birding was not very rewarding. True, we did see a couple of Osprey's diving for fish, but the amount of trash and distance from the water itself was truly disheartening.
I hope this is just the beginning of what this pathway can become and will look forward to well advertised opportunities to at least clean up the areas below the walkway and perhaps to help in planting more native vegetation where possible.
Has been extended and is now almost 5 miles long. Also, you do not have to cross ANY roads. Underpasses have been built on all. During our ride today we saw a coyote, roadrunner and several jackrabbits. Well maintained. In fact today a trail worker was blowing sand off the asphalt! Don't see that on our Wisconsin trails.
Phoenix is in the midst of a project to improve a significant portion of the canal path: http://www.grandcanalscape.com/ Work has started but it has not made a noticeable improvement yet. Most of the work is going to happen on the north side of the canal. Project descriptions indicate that there will be "improved crossings" where the canal intersects streets (which is a lot).
If you ride the Grand Canal on Saturday and Sunday the crossings at 7th Ave, 7th St and other busy roads is somewhat manageable. Just don't expect to cross safely during weekdays. You almost always need to find the nearest crosswalk. I hope the "improved crossings" promised will alleviate some of this. If they do, I'll certainly do an update of this post.
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