Garden Canyon / Brown Canyon Loop

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This route combines trails in two of the more popular areas: Garden Canyon Linear Park and Brown Canyon. Thanks to the corridor built through Fort Huachuca, these two areas can be ridden together.

The Garden Canyon portion is a good introduction into mountain biking. The Brown Canyon Loop is more technical with some steep ups and downs. Traffic during the weekends can get heavy at times with hikers, dog walkers, equestrians, and others.

Starting at the Buffalo Soldier Trail and Hwy 92 intersection trail, the ride begins easily, meandering west on the Garden Canyon Linear Park Trail. The first portion of the trail is generally flat, with some sandy areas. Expect some traffic. Take care crossing roads. You can ride beneath the roads, but there are substantial sandy areas that are difficult to navigate. There is parking at each of the road crossings if you want to start higher up. The trail remains fairly tame, with a few alternative options all the way to the Fort Huachuca fence.

Enter Fort Huachuca and ride the corridor on the Perimeter Trail Brown-Garden #358 southwest to the Brown Canyon Ranch area. Exit the fort and continue southwest.

You can go up Brown Canyon at this point or head south to Brown Canyon Ranch. There are several options, most trails lead to the ranch. From the ranch (also a trailhead), you can take the dirt road south to Ramsey Canyon Road and trailhead. At the road, turn right, head west for about a mile up the road to Brown Canyon Road and turn right. This route is off camber and has some steep portions. For the most part, the trail up is a washed out jeep trail.

There are areas that can be challenging, either bike handling or endurance. Loose rocky sections, off camber, short steeps are all part of this uphill portion.

Once you begin to go down on Lower Brown Canyon, there is a water trough. Urban legend has it that there is a high level of lead in the water, who knows. From the trough down, the trail is singletrack, flowy, occasionally rocky, occasionally wet, some spots are more difficult that others, but nothing too challenging. This trail will continue down and out of the canyon and reconnect with the trail near Brown Canyon Ranch.

The other option is to ride from the ranch up into the canyon. Typically, the trail is ridden in a clockwise direction, but, in either direction, the trail is fun.