RIDE HIKE ROAM
HIKING · BIKING · TRAVEL, PLANNED ON PURPOSE
Brown’s Ranch Mountain Bike
Just the Details:
165+ miles of trails – according to trailforks.com (will vary depending on the site)
Several Trailheads:
- Pima Dynamite – parking and bathrooms
- Brown’s Ranch – parking and bathrooms – I would recommend parking here
- Granite Mountain – parking and bathrooms – for northern trails
Can connect to McDowell Mountain Regional Park via Gooseneck Trail
Below is a screenshot from trailforks.com to give you an idea of the size and amount of trails.
Types of Trails:
- Purple (unpaved road)
- Green (easy)
- Blue (intermediate)
- Black (difficult)
Brown’s Ranch – Tips
- Lots of trails with varying difficulties
- Can form your own length and ride difficulty
- Will be hikers and once in a while a horse or two
- Lots of maps and signs on the trails
- Avoid jumping cactus (jumping cholla)
- No ebikes
- Bring water, bring water, bring water.
- Trailforks has great maps
Good trails:
- Perimeter Loop
- Dare-A-Sarah, Renegade, Hawksnest
- El Diablo North and South (two technical trails, in black)
- Granite Mountain Loop
[…] Brown’s Ranch is the easy, shared-use option, and the best place in this guide to ride a bike. The Preserve’s northern trail system around Brown’s Ranch offers gentle, sandy singletrack suitable for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding, with loops in the 5 to 7 mile range and only a few hundred feet of gain. It is also the place to check before you go: recent reports noted the Brown’s Ranch Trailhead temporarily closed for improvements in 2026, with alternate Preserve trailheads open. Check the City of Scottsdale Preserve page for current trailhead status before you build a day around Brown’s Ranch. […]