Tucson's 50 Year and Middle Gate Trails
And the Nearby Rollercoaster Ride
Back down from the mountain … and following up with a little more on Tucson’s riding scene …
50 Year isn’t actually in Tucson. It’s north of town, farther up the road from Oro Valley and east of Catalina. You should do a little homework with regard to parking and permits. I’m not going to say exactly what you should do, but if you park down at the bottom of 50 Year, it’s pretty obvious where to park after the hard road turns to dirt.
The first stretch of trail was all about pedaling through what is/was rangeland, meaning it was cattle country, the way I saw it. I didn’t see any cattle, though.
The sun rising higher in the sky warmed the air and the right side of my body. Some dips and bumps were par for the course. Pretty much, lower 50 was classic xc riding.
When I got to the turnoff for upper Middle Gate, I took it. I didn’t have enough time to venture out on Upper 50 Year. Next time, I thought. This time, I wandered on Middle Gate, absolutely loving the “old school” vibe. It was strenuous and lacked flow, which was pretty much perfect to me.
I didn’t see any other mountain biker, or hiker, for that matter, but I did see two deer.
Rugged and raw, it is not the kind of trail for button-down, $150 riding shirt kinds of people. You might catch it on thorns and rip it up, for goodness sake, or scuff and scrape and tear it on rock, for crying out loud.
E-bikers? Pfft. Forget about it. You’ll hate it. It doesn’t flow enough for you.
Eventually, I made my way back the way I came. When I rejoined 50 Year, a local rider offered greetings. Again, like the day before, no pretense hung in the air. We chatted and he offered a bunch of other suggestions in the area for riding. Then he pointed and said, yeah, the Chutes is right over there.
Over there I went, riding the rollercoaster down and around before gently climbing back up and out. If you’re there, ride the Chutes. It’s a fun little jaunt.
After that, I went back down 50, noting where I was going to camp on the next winter trip to my new-to-me winter getaway place.
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Up next, is a little indie beer guide to Tucson.
Looks like a cool place to ride.