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Dirt Rag Articles
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No doubt about it, what most mountain bikers live for—the Holy Grail of mountain bicycling—is singletrack. We live to ride sweet, tight, undulating paths whose rhythm takes over our thoughts as we lose ourselves in the ride.
What better feeling than that post-ride sensation of being alive in every pore of your being? Or that strange tightness in your facial muscles, which you realize is soreness from excessive grinning?
It's all good, all fun, a dream come true.
And for a place where that dream does come true, what better name than Fantasy Island? That was the mythical vacation spot on the '70s TV series of the same name, where Ricardo Montalban helped bring people's dreams to reality.
But this Fantasy Island is no dream. Located in Tucson, Arizona, the trails have riders pinching themselves every day. Trails twist and turn like a python with serious indigestion. Between and within the turns are down-up wash crossings that leave your stomach behind; humps and rises that let you launch for a little air or a lot; drops that take your breath away; unique features like the half-pipe—a rush for high-bankers—and the over-and-under, where you cross above a narrow channel, loop around and then drop into it, going beneath the riders behind you.
It's a trail network that invites you to push your limits, test your bike-handling skills, risk snagging a cholla cactus on your forearm or plowing into a prickly pear. What the heck, it's only skin.
The ride is only part of the story. Fantasy Island invites you to see a bigger picture; it has more subplots than a Tolstoy novel. Love, hope, danger, creativity and sacrifice are intricately woven through this little piece of desert. There's magic: how a nationally treasured trail system grew from vapor into reality. There's intrigue: the danger of the developer's bulldozer—a threat not yet overcome. There's thrill: of rounding a corner to find a Mojave rattlesnake stretched across the path, he of the neurotoxin-laden venom that can kill an adult in two or three hours. And there's art: the trail decorations found at almost every turn.
But the strongest subplot intertwined with these trails is the story of one man's determination to, by God, have a place for him and his friends to ride.
As developers cashed in on a population boom, local trails on Tucson's East Side were disappearing, replaced by tile roofed homes with paved streets. If you wanted to ride your bike you had few options outside of loading it up and driving 30 or 40 minutes.
Chuck Boyer, a local mountain biker and masters racer who needed a nearby place to train, remembered hunting years ago on a piece of desert just east of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
Most people wouldn't have looked twice at the area. Back when the desert seemed limitless and people were fewer in number, it was throwaway land. Flat, ugly greasewood flats—a good place to toss your garbage and save the drive to a landfill. Part of it had been used for motocross racing. After it was pretty well trashed, the landowners—the Arizona State Land Department and the City of Tucson—locked the gates, ending the abuse. Other than a rancher who runs a few head of cattle there, the land was unused.
Chuck and a few friends decided to check it out. The network of cow trails and the motocross course, plus a couple of washes, including one he calls the "Little Grand Canyon," had lots of potential. All it would take is a little repair and "enhancement" of the old trails.
Excited to get started, Chuck worked without benefit of tools for the first quarter-mile or so, scraping dirt with his feet. With the help of a half-dozen or so local riders, he got to work in earnest, improving on what the cattle, motorcycles and Nature had provided. That was nearly five years ago. Chuck has since logged more than 5,000 hours working on the system.
As the trails were going in and word of mouth about them spread, something else started happening. The trash from the wildcat dumps began showing up in offbeat arrangements—two barrels with bowling pins on top here, a ski boot hanging from a tree there; a cowboy hat that moved from cactus to cactus along the trail; an old chaise lounge with a coffee table and a pair of skis propped up nearby.
A bicycle windmill, comprised of three frames welded together, marks one trail junction, its front wheel turning lazily in the breeze. Another trail junction is marked by a tree decorated in Christmas ornaments—augmented by seasonal alterations such as Easter eggs in spring. (That loop is called, naturally, the Christmas Tree Loop.) Where trash wasn't available, rock sculptures and arrangements grew.
In addition to manufactured artifacts, the area carries a surprising variety of wildlife. A small herd of deer hangs out in the Little Grand Canyon, and javelinas wander through. A Gila monster makes its home in a small cave on one of the half-pipe walls. Rattlesnakes are plentiful from April through October, and the occasional horned toad can be found sitting beside the trail, no doubt trying to figure out what the heck those strange wheeled creatures are as they glide by.
Those animals may never "get" bicycles, nor will they know that they are their salvation. For without Fantasy Island, this piece of desert, too, would come under the developers' blade. It still could, but the odds are a heck of a lot better today that Chuck Boyer's grandchildren and their children will be whooping and hollering as they swoop into washes and launch off bumps.
As the trail system gained popularity, mountain bike advocates realized something had to be done to make this playground permanent. The Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists (SDMB) had some savvy advocacy veterans on hand. That talent was augmented by the advice and expertise of Steve Anderson, whose day job is trail coordinator for the Pima County Department of Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation. Many mountain bicyclists know Steve in another capacity: president of the International Mountain Bicycling Association Board of Directors.
The situation was somewhat daunting. The trails are on land owned by the City of Tucson and the Arizona State Land Department. A developer had an option on the city land, which was at the heart of the system. The state land, in an area of rapid growth, was ripe to go on the auction block. If the land should go for development, the mountain bikers could only hope for some sort of compromise, to salvage at least some of the trails.
As they waited for the city ownership scenario to play out, the advocates moved to preserve the state land. In Arizona, state-owned land is held in trust to fund a number of public entities including, primarily, schools. As cities expand and the land's value increases, it's sold to the highest bidder. State land is leased for grazing and other uses in more rural areas.
A recent change in the law allows some state land to be reclassified for other values, such as natural resources, and that reclassification mandates that the land must be used in a way that safeguards those values. In other words, it's protected from those red tile roofs.
SDMB asked the Pima Trails Association, a local shared-use trails advocacy group, to file a petition for reclassification of Fantasy Island. That petition is slowly working its way through the process, and as long as it's pending, the land is safe from development. Early indications, by no means a guarantee, are favorable.
In the meantime, mountain bicyclists caught a break on the city land. The option fell through, and the city regained control of their land.
The trail system is now proposed as part of a larger regional park. Petitions supporting the park are gaining wide support, because now the people who benefit aren't just mountain bicyclists and walkers, but also people who use soccer fields, baseball and softball fields, dog walkers and other public park users. Shirley Scott, the city councilwoman whose ward includes Fantasy Island, enthusiastically supports the park. Local neighborhood associations are circulating the petitions.
It's still got some hurdles to overcome, but what once started out as some scuffing in the dirt and a gleam in Chuck Boyer's eye is now a highly popular recreation spot, well known to city, county and state officials—who also know that the growing base of support for the park would make them highly unpopular if they were to allow any other use on the land.
For Tucson mountain bicyclists and the thousands of visitors who include it as a must-ride experience, a dream will come true when Fantasy Island becomes a permanent, publicly-owned park.
If You Go
Permits
State Land Department permits are required to ride on Fantasy Island. These permits, which cost $15 per year for an individual, can be obtained by calling or stopping by the department. The permits are valid for all Arizona state land trust riding areas.
Contact: Tucson State Land Department; 233 North Main, Tucson, Arizona; 520.628.5480
Access
Fantasy Island has two access points. The most popular is on the north side, where Harrison Road dead-ends at Irvington Road. On the south side, there's an entrance on Valencia Road across from the westernmost entrance to the Rita Ranch subdivision.
Caution
About those rattlesnakes: the odds of getting bitten are very slim unless you mess with them. Snakes are most active in spring and fall. They are also active in summer, but they come out way after dark when it's cool enough for them to move about. If you are there between November and March, you won't see one unless it's unseasonably warm for at least several days.
Gila monsters are also poisonous, but bites are very rare, as they are shy, non-aggressive creatures that rarely venture above ground. Again, if you don't mess with them you will have no problem.
Weather
Tucson weather is pretty much ideal from October through April. Short sleeves and shorts are all you need to wear most days. You can ride fairly comfortably during the summer months, but you'll want to go out very early to beat the heat.
More trails
Southern Arizona has lots of other trails and attractions. For more information go to www.sdmb.org and check out the trail information and tips for visitors.
Get the map at http://www.topofusion.com/images/FantasyIslandMap.jpg
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| Comment from Michelle Rau on 2010-01-21 |
| Excellent article! Covers just about everything. |
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| Comment from Baba on 2008-02-08 |
| FI is one of the classic MTB trails. It's not physically challenging and very single-speedable, but you come away grinning every time you ride it. |
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