[Henrythewound]

I'm heading to Pinetop Wed-Fri this week. A quick check of the weather states a 50-60% chance of Tstorms on those days. I've ridden certain trails there before and remained pretty dry even though it was drizzling. Does anyone have recent reports of trail conditions? I'd like to avoid the peanut butter clay if the trails are already wet. I'll stick around Pinetop mostly but will likely venture to Los Burros at least once.

Thanks for any tips!

 

[GnarHammer]

bring the bike and have some fun.... may be a little wet but nothing too serious.. it said 60% of Tstorms this weekend, and all i can say is we had perfect weather

 

[Henrythewound]

Sounds good. we've remained pretty dry in Tucson despite some threatening clouds but I figured Murphy's Law might step in and make it rain in Pinetop if I hauled the bike up. Any trails other than those found in the Forest service guidebook worth looking for?

 

[GnarHammer]

i've been up near greer 4 weeks in a row and every weekend it said we would have rain..we did end up getting some rain every weekend, but not enough to discourage us from riding and just enough to get the soil in primo condition... ...i'm not too familiar with the trails in pinetop so i'd say best bet is to call cactus bikes up there... i'm sure they can point you to some good stuff...don't take my word for it tho (primo conditions) because with the scattered Tstorms it could be clear and sunny all around you, but just a mile away it could be an all out downpoor and miserable... but don't let that discourage you either ..... just bring the bike and hope for the best, that's what we did, and it turned out in our favor

 

[Dirtnoob]

Rode all weekend and it was fine, rained ever afternoon.

 

[eatdrinkride]

There's a 50% chance of rain almost any given day in the summer up there. Often it's short lived but I know what you mean about that wet clay peanut butter stuff.....no fun.

Bring the bike and go for it.

 

[chollaball]

Blue Ridge, Spring and Country Club are right in town - you can bail if it gets ugly. how can you not bring the bike if there's a chance to ride at 7k in summer in AZ?!? have fun, way jealous.

 

[eatdrinkride]

I have ridden Los Burros in the wet as well. I remember the soil being just fine in the higher elevations but maybe in the flat land meadows not so great. Still, I don't remember the peanut butter like some of the other WM trails........Country Club for one. Rode that in the rain and it was brutal. It's so close to town and such a short trail that it's easy to bail on if needed though without miles of muck to deal with on the way back. Heck, if it's wet just choose a trail that has fire-roads running parallel, you can always ride those back if needed. I seem to remember lots of fire-road choices on LB......last time I rode up it there was a fire that forced me off the trail, rode the FR's for miles.

 

[AZTtripper]

There's a great ride out of Greer on the two forks of the Little Colorado River Trails connect with the rail road grade for a loop. Not the same kind of dirt as other areas farther west. There is also great birding in Greer that kept the wife happy while I was riding.

 

[ECEGatorTuro]

Sounds good. we've remained pretty dry in Tucson despite some threatening clouds but I figured Murphy's Law might step in and make it rain in Pinetop if I hauled the bike up. Any trails other than those found in the Forest service guidebook worth looking for?

Call Cycle Mania or Cactus bike for trails. T.R.A.C.K.S. builds and maintains the trails in the White Mountains. Check out their website: http://www.tracks-pinetop-lakeside.org/

 

[Henrythewound]

Thanks for all the tips. I got the Greer gpx, I think I'll try to give that a shot time permitting. I also checked out the TRACKS site, it looks like an online version of the Apache Sitgreaves Forest Service trail book I have. Anybody have a gpx of any of those trails? I want to do Panorama as well but I somehow managed to get lost off the actual trail the last time I tried, even with the book.

 

[dirtbag911]

Tackiness....

i've been up near greer 4 weeks in a row and every weekend it said we would have rain..we did end up getting some rain every weekend, but not enough to discourage us from riding and just enough to get the soil in primo condition... ...i'm not too familiar with the trails in pinetop so i'd say best bet is to call cactus bikes up there... i'm sure they can point you to some good stuff...don't take my word for it tho (primo conditions) because with the scattered Tstorms it could be clear and sunny all around you, but just a mile away it could be an all out downpoor and miserable... but don't let that discourage you either ..... just bring the bike and hope for the best, that's what we did, and it turned out in our favor

The trails are pretty primo right now...we get daily rain for about an hour or two a day here in pinetop, less at Sunrise. Regardless the top 4-5 inches of soil has been tacky so come up and ride it while it's good! :thumbsup:

 

[AZTtripper]

Not sure where you got of course on Panorama there is a section of 2 track and then ST turns off to the left if you are going clockwise on the loop. The 2 track cuts the loop in half if that is any help. I looked for a GPX track but all I have is the half used in the TOWM. Just give it another go I bet you will do fine second time around.

 

[Henrythewound]

I'm not sure if it rained extra heavy last night or what, but I'd say Panorama & Blue Ridge are too soggy to ride, at least they were this morning. Maybe they'll dry out but with rain forecasted every day I'm going to stop by Cactus and ask which trails are most likely to be rideable right now. I've been shut out of Panorama twice now, and this time I didn't even get lost!

 

[dirtbag911]

I'm not sure if it rained extra heavy last night or what, but I'd say Panorama & Blue Ridge are too soggy to ride, at least they were this morning. Maybe they'll dry out but with rain forecasted every day I'm going to stop by Cactus and ask which trails are most likely to be rideable right now. I've been shut out of Panorama twice now, and this time I didn't even get lost!

Yeah that trail Panorama is a bad one after rain because it has very little tree cover in the open pasture in the valley. Blue ridge can only be done in sections at this time - Blue ridge #2 to the top and back is feasible since the water runs down.

There are some other options, come on by and I'll do my best to help ya!

Country club is also doable but you'll need to go counter clockwise to make it any fun. One day of sun will dry them up pretty good right now since the rain is only for an hour or two a day but yesterday's rain was pretty heavy.

Just remember to ride just on the side of the trail if it is too muddy, don't want to destroy the trails or get growing tires. :thumbsup:

 

[clockwork]

Just remember to ride just on the side of the trail if it is too muddy, don't want to destroy the trails or get growing tires. :thumbsup:

this is how trails go from single track to 3ft wide.

 

[dirtbag911]

this is how trails go from single track to 3ft wide.[/]

Actually these trails are 3 feet wide and lined with lots of pine needles and rocks. They are the most heavily used trails out here in Pinetop. You can always volunteer up here with TRACKS, every Monday morning at 6AM. I try to.

 

[Henrythewound]

Well, my Pinetop trip was not good for biking. I tried to ride every day but things were just too soggy. I did manage to get in a bit of fire road and connector trail riding but overall, the singletrack was far too soft to ride without adding deep ruts and gunking up the bike. Thanks to dirtbag @ Cactus for the tips, I guess I just picked a rainy week to visit. the Tstorms and lower temps were a nice break from hot muggy Tucson though, so it was not a total loss.