Pure Arizona mountain singletrack — Black Canyon Trail

The Black Canyon Trail is a 145-kilometer (90-mile) singletrack trail starting to the east of Prescott and finishing just south of Phoenix in Arizona.

It is one of the longest and most beautiful trails I've ridden. As opposed to many mountain bikepacking routes, this one is real mountain biking from start to finish; with nothing but singletrack trails to make you smile for miles on end!

When my boyfriend and I launched into this adventure, we hadn’t done much research, but from what we had read, the trail was going to descend twice as much as it would climb, and the total of climbing would not be much above 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) for the 122 kilometres (76 miles) of riding.

The reality ended up being a little bit different. We climbed close to 2,700 meters (8,858 ft) and descended just over 3,100 meters (10,170 ft) over 145 kilometers. The trail was amazing and we had a great day out there, but since the reality differed quite drastically from our expectations, we want to make sure that this report gives you a realistic idea of what to expect when you prepare your own adventure on this iconic trail in Arizona!

Here’s the run down:
- 145 kilometers (90 miles) of 99.9% single track (I would say 100% but there are a couple of hundred meters on fire roads)
- 2,700 meters (8,858 ft) of climbing / 3,100 meters (10,170 ft) of descending
- One refuel station
- Countless highlights

**Note: This Tour is the one we rode. However, our GPS computer died when we had about 12 kilometers to go, so I hand-mapped another Tour that would bring you to the end of the trail. However, this hand-mapped ride doesn't show the true elevation of the trail. You can find the full route here: komoot.com/tour/373279205

In the end, this was an awesome adventure that I would recommend to everyone. I know a lot of people decide to do it as a multi-day bikepacking trip, which I believe would be an even better way to fully enjoy all the rad singletracks and mind blowing views this trail has to offer.

I was blown away by how fun — and how long — this singletrack was. I thought there would be more fire roads, but except for the last little bit, the Black Canyon Trail is exclusively a single track, and a super fun one at that.

I hope this little report can help you prepare your trip. For more on our experience, check out our video: