Willow Springs/Corral Canyon Loop
A number of rides begin in the Corral Canyon area, south of Patagonia. It is often 15 degrees cooler here in the summer, and the terrain is oak forest and rolling hills. There is a lot of good singletrack and some challenging jeep roads and doubletrack. This Willow Springs/Corral Canyon Loop is a favorite. It can be ridden in either direction. It is easier to follow in the counterclockwise direction, but more fun in the clockwise direction. The trail description is for the clockwise direction. The Willow Springs section can be very difficult to follow, so take a GPS if you have one so that you know you can find you way back the way you came should you get lost.
Getting there: Drive to Pataonia, south of Tucson and west of Sonoita. Go out of the SE corner of downtown Patagonia, on the Harshaw road. Follow it for 6 miles. You will come to a junction. The right fork goes to Harshaw and beyond. Instead, go left for 3.1 miles. That will put you at the Corral Canyon trailhead (unmarked). Watch for a small road to the right, dropping into the wash, immediately after a road labeled "Private". The meadow on the other side is the parking area where many trails start.
0.0 Start from parking area. Ride up road going east.
0.58 Turn right (south) into doubletrack going up Willow Springs Canyon.
2.13 Main road appears to go straight ahead and deadend. Follow rough road to right across wash. Road ends after 100 feet at campsite. Pick up the single track at south end of campsite, and follow it through gate in fence.
2.18 A trail enters from the right, going up an adjoining wash. This is marked yellow on the map. The yellow trail is very rough and can be ridden downhill (from west to east) but not uphill.
2.78 The main trail starts to climb straight up a ridge line away from the wash, which is on the right. Instead of climbing, cross the wash. There is a faint trail, but it may be overgrown. Immediately after crossing the wash, turn left and continue up it to the fence. You must climb the fence. It is easy to straddle the fence where it drops into the wash. The trail gets hard to follow, but continues up the wash, crisscrossing it. Shortly after the fence you will cross the wash to the south side, starting up a ridgeline, and then there is an abrupt switchback to the right that crosses the ridgeline and then continues along the wash.
3.63 The trail switches back to the right and climbs the hillside about the wash, then turns left and follows the canyon to its head. It turns left around the top of the canyon, working its way up the hillside to a gate in the fence. The trail may not be visible in this area. 3.76 Go through the gate and follow an almost invisible trail along the fenceline.
3.73 Turn onto the road where the fence ends and there is a cattleguard on the road. For a shortcut return, turn right on the road (green route):
3.73 To continue the main route, turn left (SW) where the trail joins the road. Follow the road downhill to a good dirt road.
4.26 Turn right (W) on the good dirt road.
4.63 A road enters from the right. Continue on the main road.
4.70 A second road enters from the right. Turn right and follow it uphill. If you continue along the main road, you can do the Guajalote Flat loop (green) and return to this point. The Guajalote Flat loop should be ridden clockwise.
5.01 Bear right at the fork and continue uphill to the ruins of the Mowry Mine. Keep going through the ruins, to the end of the road.
5.26 The road turns left, uphill and becomes a very rocky singletrack. Follow the singletrack up and downhill, through a wash, across a very rocky field, to a road.
5.71 Turn left on the road, and follow it downhill. This is a dangerous, loose, rocky descent. Most people will walk their bikes for at least the top part of the descent.
6.17 The descent ends at the top of the Corral Canyon Road. Turn right (SE) and ride downlhill. The road entering from the left (NE) is the green route marking the end of Bear Scat the Hard Way.
6.85 At the top of a rise, the direct route (green) from Willow Springs Canyon enters from the right. Continue downhill.
7.30 The road crosses a wash and turns right. Following the road to the right is the direct route (green) down Corral Canyon, which returns you to the parking area in 2.26 miles. The main route (red) turns left up the wash, and becomes a doubletrack.
7.97 Crest a short steep hill. To the right is a stock tank. A faint singeltrack turns right and follows the top of the hill, joining a pronounced singletrack on the other side, at a gate in the fence by the stock tank.
8.05 If you go through the gate and follow the green route, you are on the Bear Scat trail. Instead, the main train rutns right (NE) downhill. This is a swooping singletrack descent between trees and down washes. Eventually, a road appears alongside the singletrack, and you can ride that, but it is more fun to stay on the singletrack to its end, where it rejoins the Corral Canyon Road.
9.38 The singletrack T's into the Corral Canyon Road. Turn left and follow it back to the parking area.
10.39 You are back at the parking area.