Mountain Unicycling

Arizona, and the Phoenix area has some of the best technical mountain unicycling in the nation. The trails tend to be rocky, steep, and with the possibility of close encounters with cacti! Check out the videos to the right for a better sense.

2nd Annual — “Unofficial” AZ Mountain Unicycle Weekend, Feb 12–15, 2010

The Unofficial 2010 AZ MUni Weekend was great with riders from, CA, OR, TX and of course AZ

Thanks to all who participated and we look forward to seeing you next year. Here are some of the trails that we rode.



South Mountain Park on Saturday and White Tank and White Tank Mountain Regional Park on Sunday. We decided we don't want to have a poorly-organized/lead official weekend, so we made the difficult decision to cancel. If you are interested in joining us for an informal / unofficial weekend on Feb 13/14, please contact Mark by email and he'll be in touch. This webpage will be updated with enough basic information for those who attend, but most communication will be via email.

Finalized Schedule for the informal 2010 weekend:

Friday, Feb 12

  • Unicycle Basketball at 7:30 PM at our club's usual location, Agua Linda Park, NW corner of N Prima Rd & E McDonald Dr, Scottsdale.

Saturday, Feb 13

  • Morning MUni ride at South Mountain. We'll meet in the main parking lot (Google Map, but look at red X on map below) at 9:00 AM which is located at the south end of S. Central Ave in Phoenix. When you enter the park, take the first left after you pass the gate house (will be empty and no fee) and then park in the first parking lot to the left again. I've indicated where this is on the map with the red X shown below. South Mountain main parking lot The plan is to leave half the cars at the bottom of the Kiwanis Trail parking lot and drive in the rest of the cars to the Buena Vista lookout parking lot at the top of the summit road. From there we will ride our munis west along National Trail (the blue dotted line on the map below) until we reach the place where National intersects the top of Kiwanis and Telgraph trails (this is the very obvious hair-pin corner on the summit trail). From that point, we will hike our unicycles up to the the stone hut a bit further to the west on National trail (easily visible from the hairpin turn) and we will have lunch together with a beautiful view and regroup. South Mountain Trail Map After lunch we will ride back down to the top of Kiwanis trail and then ride down Kiwanis trail to the cars. This ride has many advanced sections, but it is barely a mile long and very pretty, so you shouldn't be too upset if you have to walk some if it.

    We will then drive back up the the summit to get our cars. For advanced riders, we can then do a shuttle run of Holbert Trail, which is an awesome, but advanced trail. Beginners, can ride some of National to the east if they like and return to the cars, or perhaps save some energy for the Sunday ride.
  • Early Dinner at Four Peaks in Tempe: Four Peaks is my favorite place to eat and drink in Phoenix. It's a brewery in Tempe that servers excellent pub food. It gets very-busy in the evening, but we can likely avoid the rush if we go there around 4:00, after our big ride on Saturday. Also, please bring some snacks on Saturday for a mid-ride lunch. Here's their address: 1340 E 8th St, Tempe, AZ

Sunday, Feb 14

  • Morning ride at White Tank Mountain Park. Meet at near end of W Olive Ave (this becomes White Tank Mountain Rd as you enter the park, see Google Map below of the gaurd house/main gate), in front of park entrance at 9:00 am. Three ride options: green: Mesquite canyon up and down (6.8 mi), blue: Mesquite canyon to Willow (6.8 mi), double black: Mesquite Canyon to Goat Camp (10.3 mi). There might be a $6 per car fee, so we'll meet just in front of the little guard-house at the park entrance at the end of Olive Ave / White Tank Mountain Rd.
    View Larger Map
  • Here's a map of the park: White Tank Mountain Park, and here's a topo: White Tank Topo

Monday, Feb 15

  • This might be a holiday for some people. Mark will not be leading anything that day, but will provide directions/suggestions for anybody who wants to ride.

Accommodations

There are lots of accommodation options in the Phoenix area. If you are really into camping, then camping in the White Tank Mountain Regional Park is an option.


AZ MUni Wknd 2009

Last Feb the Arizona Unicycle Club hosted the first AZ MUni Weekend. Nearly 30 participants came from four different states to check out the technical single track around Phoenix. Click here for pictures of the event and here for maps and info about the event (thanks to everyone who participated and especially our sponsor).