Arizona Trail Race: Saguaro National Park to Oracle State Park

The Arizona Trail Race route, running from Saguaro National Park past Mount Lemmon and culminating at Oracle State Park.

Mountain Biking Difficult

Distance: 136 km
Ascent: 3.4 km
Descent: 3.1 km
Duration: 1 day +

Low Point: 806 m
High Point: 2.5 km
Gradient: 7˚

Arizona Trail Race: Saguaro National Park to Oracle State Park Map

"The Arizona National Scenic Trail is a complete non-motorized path, stretching 800 diverse miles across Arizona from Mexico to Utah. It links deserts, mountains, canyons, forests, communities and people,” reads the description on the official AZTrail.org website.

Photo from Arizona Trail Race: Saguaro National Park to Oracle State Park — Photo: Nelo Hotsuma

Description

For mountain bikers, the Arizona Trail (AZT) forms one third of the triple crown of bikepacking, along with the Colorado Trail and the Tour Divide. Like most long distance trails, the bike-specific version of the AZT varies due to wilderness re-routes. The full-length bikepacking race covers a route that measures about 750 miles from end-to-end.

This section of the AZTR route runs right past Mount Lemmon outside of Tucson—a mountain bike destination and complex set of singletrack trails in its own right. Mount Lemmon is renowned as a technical mountain biker’s paradise, which can make this section tough going for a fully-loaded bikepacker.

Sources: https://aztrail.org/

Sources: AZTR GPX file courtesy of Scott Morris, http://topofusion.com/azt/race-route.php

Difficulty

Difficult

Mostly stable trail tread with some variability featuring larger and more unavoidable obstacles that may include, but not be limited to: bigger stones, roots, steps, and narrow curves. Compared to lower intermediate, technical difficulty is more advanced and grades of slopes are steeper. Ideal for upper intermediate riders.