The Chuck Huckleberry Loop, Tucson Arizona, Valencia Road to Tanque Verde Road.

The Greater Tucson area has a comprehensive bike route network of trails that encircle and connect the city to it’s suburbs and rural areas. Most of this 137 mile long network is managed by Pima County. A loop of about fifty four miles in length is the core of this network.

I started todays ride at the Valencia Road Trailhead. Valencia Road is currently being widened at this location and I assume the project will impact the trailhead soon. The trail continues south and connects to the Julian Wash Trail about five miles away. Today I headed north on the Harrison Greenway.

The first three miles of the Harrison Greenway follow the unrealized route of a section road between a desert preserve and Davis Monthan Airforce Base.

To the west, the trail is bordered by the security fence for the base. To the east there are expansive views across the desert to the mountains. The land east of the trail has been developed in to a mountain bike park with over sixteen miles of dirt trails mostly aimed at beginners and provides well made trails right in town.

After crossing Irvington Road at a signalized intersection, the trail continues to the north paralleling Harrison Road.

For most of the next mile and a quarter, the trail maintains excellent separation from the busy road as it travels downhill to Pantano Wash.

The route then turns in to one of the few on street sections utilizing lightly traveled Stellarole Street to make the half mile connection to the Pantano River Park. Here the trail passes through a semi-rural area with small ranches and horse farms.

At the Pantano River, the trail turns in to a greenway following the dry wash bed towards the northwest. There are numerous parks and trailheads along the route. At this point across the wash is one of the larger stands of palm trees I’ve seen in the area. They seem to mostly be found in older developments.

To the west is the dry river bed and to the east for a mile of so you are still in an area dominated by small ranches and horse farms.

This greenway portion of the bike loop is well maintained, well used and has lots of amenities along it as it enters a more urban area of Tucson.

The view from one of the parks along the way. The Pantano River Park section of the trail has no at grade crossings with roadways.

A particularly nice section of the bike trail is sandwiched between the Pantano River and the Pantano Parkway as it cuts through a very nice residential area.

The reason there are no at grade crossings is because at the major roads that cross the wash, the trail is routed under them with spurs leading up to street level. This is the road I take to one of the best hiking spots around, Sabino Canyon.

Many spur trails provide access for local residents.

There are a few bridges over ditches and small washes that feed in to the Pantano River.

Beyond 22nd Street the area becomes more urbanized. From Broadway to Tanque Verde, the Pantano River had bike trails on both sides which partially explains the discrepancy between the total mileage of the trail system and the length of the loop.

The trail passed under Golflinks, 22nd, Broadway, Speedway, Sabino Canyon and Tanque Verde Roads. I called it good at Tanque Verde. and made my way back to Valencia. At all of the underpasses signage warned the bicyclist to not proceed during flash flood events.

I ended up riding about a ten mile section of the loop out and back for a total of twenty miles. I spent a lot of time stopping and taking pictures. I covered all of the Harrison Greenway and most of the Pantano River Park sections of the trail. I can’t wait to explore more of this wonderful bicycle loop.

One of my pet peeves with bicycle trails is how little use they get for the money the taxpayers invest in them. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the Chuck Huckleberry Loop. It was hard to get photos without lots of other bicyclist and pedestrians in them. In general the trail surfaces were excellent and access was easy. This is definitely one of the best urban trail systems in the nation.