The ride begins with a mellow climb on a doubletrack trail before taking a right-hand turn up a steep grunt to the first saddle. From here, the eponymous Javelina Canyon descent begins, filled with beautiful swooping sections of benchcut singletrack, chunky rock gardens, and a few cascading ledge-filled drops.

But this ride is far from over! Next up is a series of short, steep climbs followed by even steeper descents, with the technicality ratcheting incrementally upward on the ledge-filled downhills.

As you negotiate this section of the ride, you'll be confronted by a continuous cascade of non-obvious turns and trail junctions. Be sure to download this route to help you navigate the turns. However, if in doubt, look for whatever appears to be the easiest, least-steep way up the hills. While the most obvious line is always a steep, eroded, fall-line trail running straight up the mountain, more mountain bike-friendly benchcut singletrack reroutes have been added in many places to provide a more pedalable ascent.

The final downhill back to the trailhead is short, but it might be one of the sweetest sections of trail on this entire ride! Moderately-sized ledge drops with wide-open sightlines invite you to absolutely send it, with a few features offering intriguing gap options.

The ride is over all too soon! But if this 5-mile loop isn't enough for you, there are plenty more trails to explore on South Mountain.