A classic cross country ride on the southern edge of Tucson, filled with kitschy trail art.

Statistics

1 - 2

hrs

169

m

169

m

1

max°

Difficulty

FATMAP difficulty grade

Moderate

Description

Fantasy Island has long been a coveted Arizona mountain bike trail, drawing riders from across the Desert Southwest.

While in recent years, housing development has encroached on the trail system, this long-time classic still serves up a spectacular cross country ride right on the edge of Tucson. Fantasy Island is unique in the Tucson area as a one-way directional mountain bike trail.

This directional flavor has allowed the builders to construct the trail for maximum flow, and to remove the annoyance of constantly passing other trail users that’s found on most other trails in the area. Fantasy Island offers up flowy, non-technical cross country mountain biking at its finest.

While the network is overall very non-technical, “all loops have a varying degree of technical areas, with nothing being super technical, though keep your eyes open for sudden more technical sections,” [writes](http://www.sdmb.org/trails/fantasy-island/) SDMB.

"If you are a true beginner, it’s best to head to the Southern entrance and start out on the Bunny.” The design of the trail system allows you to easily tailor your ride mileage based on your available time and fitness.

The basic Lone Cactus loop that forms the spine of the network measures a mere 6 miles long, but the route mapped here clocks almost 12.

And if you can manage to connect to the southern trails in the same ride, you can pedal even more miles.

As you ride the network, keep your eyes peeled for the unique artifacts sprinkled throughout the trail system.

These artifacts give the trail an “eccentric funky vibe,” [according to](https://www.mountainbikebill.com/AZ07TucsonFantasy.htm) Mountain Bike Bill.

The items "can best be described as either found bike art or garbifacts,” he continues.

"I'm sure there are interesting stories to go with each one of the items you will see out there.

They are all over the place, from witches hanging in trees to tombstones and SpongeBob Squarepants on the side of the trail." Sources: http://www.sdmb.org/trails/fantasy-island/ https://www.mountainbikebill.com/AZ07TucsonFantasy.htm