Bicycling America's National Parks: Arizona and New Mexico: The Best Road and Trail Rides from the Grand Canyon to Carlsbad Caverns

By Sarah Bennett Alley

Book Overview

Bicycling is becoming an increasingly popular way to experience our national parks as many are restricting access to private vehicles. This complete adventure guide to the national parks of Arizona and New Mexico features more than 80 road and mountain bike rides through the parks' most spectacular natural areas. The outstanding variety of natural environments and terrain found in the Southwest, coupled with its rich cultural and historic heritage, make the national parks of Arizona and New Mexico a cyclist's paradise. With this book as your guide you can ride to a secluded overlook of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim; glide through the Sonoran Desert in the company of massive saguaro cactus; or pedal among the ancient ruins of the Anasazi at Chaco Canyon. The routes and trails in this book are suitable for both road and mountain bikers from novice to expert. They traverse the beautiful and enchanting landscapes of the desert Southwest, while taking you to some of the region's most fascinating historical and archeological treasures. Each ride description includes a detailed map, tour directions, information about the trail or road surface, the length and difficulty of the ride, and sights you'll see along the way. A trip-planning appendix for each park tells you where to stay or camp, do your laundry, eat, buy supplies, and repair or rent a bike.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0881504815
• ISBN13: 9780881504811
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Countryman Press
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.0" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

surprisingly good

I bought this book expecting it to be a useless gimmick--especially since I've hated Alley's other mtb guide books. Lo and behold, it's a gem with a specific and useful purpose: if you're going to visit the national parks in these states and want to ride in or around them, this book is essential. I ride and my partner doesn't, and she loves National Parks, where good riding can be hard to find, so this book saved our lives--she would visit the park and I would head out to find a nearby ride. The trail and road choices are good--the treatment of trails/roads around the south rim of the Grand Canyon is the best I've found. Alley casts her net widely around the parks--anything within 60 miles or so of the park counts. Thus the "trails in and near Tuzigoot Natl Monument" is really little more than a short list of trails in Sedona, 40 minutes away. Trail info is good, background info is fascinating, and the maps are the usual. Each park or monument begins with a handy one-paragraph summary of the riding opportunities, e.g. "Near this park you have a choice of two nice road rides, one beautiful dirt road, and three challenging single-tracks." One inexplicable gaff: the book omits Canyon de Chelly, so you're on your own, but you only have two paved roads to choose from there anyway.