Biking Arizona's BuenaVista Mountain Bike Trail
(Trail #637)
in the Apache National Forest
The Buena Vista Trail is located about 5 miles south of Show Low on Highway 60. To reach the trailhead parking, turn left just beyond mile post 337 onto Forest Road 300 (Rim Road). The trailhead is a few hundred yards ahead on the left. Most of the trail is old roadbed through beautiful ponderosa pine forest (this is the Mogollon Rim which contains the country's largest stand of ponderosa pine). The trail is 9 miles in length, with a .4 spur trail leading from the parking area to the loop trail.
Several of the inclines deserve the description of "technical" as seen above. I had the misfortune of being caught by a brief thunderstorm about 2/3 of the way around the loop, and the infamous "Arizona clay" turned slick as ice after receiving the 15 minutes of moisture, forcing me to walk the bike in places. Afterwards, I drove back to Show Low, found a do-it-yourself car wash place, and hosed the bike down for 5 minutes to get the thick-caked mud off the bike.
There are four long, steep uphills, although the first two (when you do the loop counterclockwise) take you to the top of the same peak. (In fact, you can cross the "median strip" of trees here if you want to cut your ride short.) Views like this reward your uphill effort and are a nice complement to the magnificent forest stretches.