Scottsdale trails

My wife and I will be coming out to Scottsdale (from so cal) in September for a week. We would like to try to hit a few trails while there. What is a good resource for looking up trails in your neck of the woods. Any suggestions on must see trails etc. we aren't necessarily after technical stuff as much as sightseeing for this trip but I sure wont pass up some nice obstacles.

Thanks.

 

Im in Scottsdale myself and would be interested in doing some runs in September...we should be into some "cooler" weather by then.

 

I'm still fairly new to trail running although I usually find myself referencing www.everytrail.com.

When we get a little closer to september I would just use this thread to fish for some other suggestions. I'm usually down to go!

If by chance you take a trip up to Sedona definitely come down through Schnebly Hill it's pretty epic. Here's a pic I took about a month ago when I went down with my lady.

 

There are some fun trails out by Bartlett Lake which is about 30 miles northeast of Scottsdale. Seven Springs area out to Bloody Basin Rd is about a 30 mile run north of Carefree, which is due north of Scottsdale. Some fun trails out off of Bloody Basin road but it's a full day trip if you do it right. There's a fun 11 mile sand wash between Bartlett Dam Rd. and Needle Rock that's fun if you can handle some deeper sand and a bit of pinstriping.

Sedona is nice but it's a solid 2 hours northwest of Scottsdale before you even get to town and near the trails. Look up Lake Pleasant and there's a road that goes behind it called Castle Hot Springs road. That connects up on the north side of the lake to a TON of trails that go to some funky places and are really fun. You can even take a couple routes about 35 miles north of Lake Pleasant up to a town in the woods called Crown King. That's a full day trip but it's a blast and is a great 4x4 road.

 

for pure sight seeing check out apache trail. It's pretty much a dirt road passable by passenger cars but you get some nice scenery traveling past the lakes.

Another one that we like is Sheep's bridge you can get to the bridge with any HC vehicle, but I'd recommend 4wd if you want to drive through the sand and park right by the river.

Both of these are easy day trips from Scottsdale and really easy drives.

 

This is my first vacation with just my wife since our boys were born (2-4yo). I am slowly starting the convincing her to move to az thing (went to Sedona last year with the kids) when I retire or sooner maybe. So scenic is good as is some fun wheeling trails.

 

Castle Hot Springs road around the west and north end of Lake Pleasant has some really great views and you can get right down to the back of the lake on a private point or cove with relative ease. I see 2wd trucks back there all the time, but if you have 4x4 with a little bit of clearance you can check out all of the cool spots. Great way to see some really healthy desert back there with mountains and scenery if you don't want to venture too far from the Phoenix metro area.

 

About 1 more month.

 

Yea x2 on sedona and apache trail. Neither is that technical, apache trail is just a dirt road... but extremely scenic and right next to the valley on the scottsdale side... worth it

Also if you're going to Sedona, maybe spend a night up in downtown Flagstaff and hit some bars/dinner up and enjoy the cool weather. It'd give her a good feel on how awesome AZ is and how quick it is to mix it up.

 

Thanks we just did a week in Sedona about 5 months back. We will be up in flagstaff later this year too. So far its working lol