Pine Strawberry Trail, Mountain Biking with Howlie

You start off with a climb

Directions: Take Highway 87 north from the Valley through Payson to Hardscrabble Road in Pine. Turn East on Hardscrabble Road and travel 1.8 miles to the trail. There is a sign at the trail and limited parking.

Dog Friendly: Yes but bring water. There was a spring but it was only a trickle.

The Pine Strawberry trail is a good out and back ride that takes you from Pine to Strawberry on some nice forest, single track. There are some good climbs and descents, with a few rocky patches but the whole ride is doable, depending on your fitness level. The elevation tops out at 6,028 ft and has a low point of 5,689 ft. The trail offers some great views of Pine, Strawberry and beyond.

This was also the first single track ride that Howlie did with me and it was ideal for him. Although there was plenty of evidence that the trail gets used, I only met one group of hikers. It was also about 18 degrees cooler than the Valley. Howlie is an experienced, obedient off leash trail dog, that doesn't react much to other trail users. Know your dog's temperament and fitness before taking them mountain biking or hiking.

Christmas, Arizona: The Holiday is Over

Directions: Christmas is located on a closed road which is about 7 miles North of Winkelman off of Highway 77. The road to Christmas is well gated, with a permanent wall built across the road.

Christmas is one of the spots you see on a map and wonder what it's like and how it got such an un-Arizonan name. Christmas is another mining ghost town, just like so many others that dot the American Southwest. The area was found in 1878 and claims were staked that later became invalidated because they were on the San Carlos Indian Reservation. It took a few years but the boundaries of the reservation were changed and news of the boundary change was received on Christmas Eve, the new claim was named Christmas. The town of Christmas was established in 1905. After some up and down economics, the town grew to over 1,000 by the 1930s and had a grocery store, hat shop, dairy, school and a church.

The mine changed owners several times throughout it's history, closed and reopened depending on the price of copper. It converted from an underground mine to an open pit mine in the 1960s. The Christmas mine finally closed for good in the 1980s. During it's lengthy existence nearly 55 million tons of copper were mined as well as some gold and silver.

Most of the building have bulldozed and all that remains in most places are the foundations. There are a couple of shacks and some tanks that may be part of a processing plant. The views are great.

I mountain biked my way through the town and up to the mine. It was over a 1,000 feet of climbing on wide but rocky road. I imagine there are other mining roads that have access to the upper workings that you can access with an UHV.

The Rugged Trail to the Grand Pacific Mine

Direction: It's only a short distance from Superior off of Apache Leap Road. The Google Map coordinates are: (33.269810,-111.070980). The road or trail is hard to see from the road, there is a ditch and mounds of rock. The road is rugged and is now only a single track trail but it's easy to follow.

Dog Friendly: So-so, there are cactus and there is no water. I didn't come across any open shafts but there is lot of mining in the area.

The Grand Pacific Mine claim was first discovered in 1900 and mined in 1916. The last year of production was 1955. Copper was the primary commodity, although they also mined silver, gold and manganese. I found a lot of tailings, a few foundations and a gated adit (see photo). There is also a lot of abandoned ore cart tracks.


I decided to make this another hike-a-bike adventure to save time on the descent but it was rugged trail. I was able to ride alot of the down and I was pretty cautious since I was alone. If you go by bike or hike, look out for the cat claw and other thorny bushes. Overall it was a good adventure, the mine was pretty cool and views were great.

MTB Journey to the Bronx...Mine

Directions: The Bronx Mine is only a mile or so off the US 60 but its not easy to get there. The old mine road is blocked by a ditch and rocks. There isn't good area to park near the road. I ended up parking on the other side of the 60 and riding my bike to the road. There is an old gate that you can get through to get to the road. The Google Map coordinates for the road 33.361712, -110.975440. It's about 1.5 miles East of Top of the World.

Good for Dogs: Not so much, with out better parking and access. I can't see walking my pack along the 60.

Molybdenite...I think

The Bronx Mine was worked in 1942 as a Molybdenite, Silver, Gold and Lead mine. The property was originally worked in 1890 for Gold, Silver and Copper. I found a collapsed adit and shaft that i believe is relatively deep. There are some interesting rocks in the tailings but the mine itself isn't all that amazing.

I wasn't expecting much from this mine but I was determined to get there. There are several roads that aren't accessible because of private land in Top of the World and that pisses me off. The terrain in that area is fascinating. The old mine road to the Bronx mine was a great downhill and there appear to miles more in the area. I got off to a late start and by the time I explored the mine is was getting dark. I will be back to explore the roads some more and other workings in the area. 

Collapsed Tunnel at the Bronx Mine

Exploring Copper Butte On a Mountain Bike

Heed This Warning!!

Directions: Copper Butte is located off of Battle Axe Road which is 12 miles South of US 60 on Highway 177. You're going to stay on Battle Axe until you reach a locked gate. Becareful, at about 1.9 miles you'll come to a fork, stay to the right for Copper Butte. The other road takes you to the White Canyon Wilderness, which is pretty cool as well.

Dog Friendly: Nah, wouldn't take my dogs here. No water unless it rains and the pits fill up.

Copper Butte is the location for the Copper Butte Mine (clever name), which is a copper mine, duh. They also mined silica and small amounts of gold and silver. The area was discovered in the early 1900s and was mine until the 1970s by various companies. At one point there was a 400 foot inclined shaft and a 114 foot vertical shaft that led to a 700 foot tunnel. There were also several pits of various sizes. When I went this weekend I found what may have been an inclined shaft with debris pushed up against the opening. I climbed to the top of the debris and could see into the opening. I couldn't tell how deep it was and based on the condition of the opening of the mine I wouldn't go into the mine. If you go don't be fooled by what looks like some interesting adits from a distance both are extremely shallow.

Both of these looked enticing from afar but we're shallow.

The surrounding area is amazing. I had wanted to explore Copper Butte since I went to explore some small canyon's near Battle Axe Butte. The views from Hwy 177 are great and they're even better from Copper Butte. It's rugged and beautiful place but it's the desert. It was cool for August when I arrived but it was still hot as hell. I never would have brought the dogs. I was little worried about myself and I'm pretty used to the heat. There was definitely more to explore but saw most of the main mine workings. I don't know if I'll come back to Copper Butte, if I do it will be in December. I am going to come back to explore the White Canyon Wilderness.

Battle Axe Butte viewed from Copper Butte

I brought my bike because I knew about the locked gate. I've used my bike for exploration before because I lift it over fences. Plus for Reymert and Bellevue it was great because there was a lot of climbing and even though there were times when I had to push it uphill, it more than made up for on the way down. Copper Butte was a practical MTB ride but not a great ride by any means.

Riding to Bellevue, Arizona

Time to Parking: 50 minutes from the 202 and the US 60 (33.354949, -110.966477)

Man Made Waterfall

Directions: The turn off is on the right .2 miles past US 60 mile post 236. You're going to travel .8 miles and there will be a turn off on your left and a clearing to park. There's a weird man made wall that created a small water fall.After you park, ride back to the dirt road, take the road to the right before you cross the bridge over the creek. Make an immediate left and cross the creek (creek bed in the summer.) Take this road up for 2 miles where you'll hit Hutton Peak Road. Turn left and this will take you to Bellevue.

Distance: 3.5 Miles to Bellevue(33.332131, -110.945384)

Dog Friendly: Yes, minimal cactus, pretty isolated. There was water but probably not in the summer.

Bellevue's Last Standing Structure

I find a lot places by scrolling through Google or Apple Maps in satellite view. I found Bellevue, Arizona by looking for some places to take the dogs hiking. Bellevue is a ghost town that was founded in 1906 to support the Gibson Copper Mine, there were 300 residents at it's height. The post office closed in 1927 and that was the end of Bellevue.

Copper Mill Equipment

It looked easy enough to get to, at least digitally. My first attempt was taking Forest Road 3 but it ran into a gate saying it was private property. I was disappointed but found a great hike for the dogs. I set out again a few weeks later, this time trying Hutton Peak Road out Top of the World, again ran into a gate and someones ranch or farm. Just like the first time I picked another random road and went exploring with the dogs. That's how I found the jeep trail that google calls "unnamed road".

Turn left here!

I checked it out and sure enough, this road eventually hit Hutton Peak Road well past the ranch. It was steep, rocky and still a good ways from Bellevue. I was already running out of sun light and it would have been a monster hike. I decided that if biked it I would at least be able to cut the travel time considerably by being able to ride down hill.

I'm not going to lie, the climb sucked. I still need to work on my fitness but this would have been tough in my cycling prime. This ride had over a 1000 feet of climbing but it's all rideable depending on your fitness. It's mostly uphill until you get to Hutton Peak Road and then you're treated to a good descent into Bellevue. That descent also means you get another tough climb out of Bellevue. There are some great views from the top of the climb and the decent is fast and fun. Watch out for the bushes on either side of the road, some of the best lines got me bush whacked! Here's link to part of the descent.  http://youtu.be/jJuNV3RjzAA

Gibson Copper Mill

Copper Ore

Bellevue is... well what most Arizona ghost towns turn out to be. A few foundations, a shed and piles of junk. The foundation for the Gibson Copper Mill is there along with some remnants of metal mill equipment. There are also a lot mine tailings and some ore. Along the road there are some other mine workings but nothing to interesting or significant. This was definitely more about the ride than the destination.

View from the top

What this Blog is about.

I started mountain biking in 1987 when I started at ASU. There weren't near as many MTBers back, there were times when we would go riding at South Mountain and maybe see one other group. When I first started riding Trail 100, it was rare that I even saw another biker. 

I continued to bike through most my 20s but that all ended when my oldest son started playing soccer. I became Coach Gene for 17 years, I coached my kids and lots of other people's kids at all different levels with a few organizations.

I'm taking a break from coaching and I've become a "Resurrected Mountain Biker". This blog will have posts about some of the less common rides I find. I have a people intensive job so I like my weekends to be away from it all, I don't spend too much time at South Mountain. If I just need a quick ride, I usually go to the Goldfields or if I absolutely have to, Usery Park.

Besides mountain biking, I'm also going to post dog friendly hikes. Dog friendly means, no jumping cholla, somewhere they can get off the leash and hopefully some water (not always possible in the Arizona desert!). My hiking partners are Ronin the Ridgeback, Raiden the marathoner and sometimes our foster pup, Haole Boy.