About Trail Adventures in Tucson

About this guide ...

Why a guide? There are at least 2 good sources of trail information (see the Bibliography when it's added) on the Tucson area so why make another one?

Well, 2 reasons. First, no guide is complete and we've found some great trails that we wanted to share. Second, we've added pictures, detailed trail maps, and elevation profiles, three things that are usually in short supply in most guides. And third (ok, 3 reasons), books are a pain to carry on the trail and cannot be continuously updated.

Thanks to the web, we can offer current trail info that you can print out and take with you. If you mess it up, you just print out another one.

About the ratings. One of the toughest part of trail guides is rating trails and giving a realistic riding time. The shortest time listed is usually our best time and the longest is an estimate of the 'death march' ride. I give a few words of Quick Rating but the Rating paragraph should give you a good idea what to expect.

Trail Maps are based on USGS 7.5-minute topographic maps. The trails themselves are taken from hiking trail maps, Forest Service maps, and my mapping and GPS readings on the trail. Whenever possible I have mapped singletrack with GPS measurements since older maps were made before GPS became available to the general public.

Distances have been measured directly from the topo maps and confirmed where possible. In light of the variability of bike computers, no matter how well calibrated, I have found map distances to be the most reliable. I've also found it best to rely on landmarks (like trail crossings) to keep track of where you are, along with a good trail map. The trail logs are geared toward this type of trail riding.

Elevation profiles are taken directly from topo maps. These can be extremely helpful when trying to get an idea what an unknown trail is like. All the profiles have the same vertical exaggeration (approximately 4:1). This means that all profiles use the same horizontal and vertical scale so you can directly compare trails.

Printing trail maps. Much time has been spent creating detailed and accurate trail maps that download in a reasonable amount of time. I am currently converting older JPG maps into PDF maps so I'll cover both types.

JPG Trail Maps. These trail maps are sized to fit on an 8.5x11-inch sheet at 200 dpi (dots per inch). Unfortunately, web browsers convert JPG files to screen resolution (72 dpi). That means the browser gives you a huge map nearly 3 times its original size. Do not print these out of your browser unless you want a multi-page map that's tough to read and use. Print the map from a graphics program that understands dpi and you'll get a one-page map with good detail. W98 and NT open the MS Photo Editor when you double-click a JPG in the Explorer. Maps printed fine from that application in my tests. If you want a more versatile application, support freeware by visiting IrfanView and downloading IrfanView32.

PDF Maps. JPG maps are being converted to Acrobat Reader PDFs to eliminate the hassles involved with printing higher resolution JPGs. These maps will open and print from your browser with no additional manipulation (with Acrobat Reader installed).