Saturday morning's outing was the Dixie Mine Trail. This is a series of trails in the McDowell Mountain area that we recently became aware of due to a connector off of one of the park trails. Several of us had made a preliminary investigation a few weeks prior but had not delved this far into the area. The majority if the trail was fairly primitive, most rideable with the exception of some steep, loose rocky climbs and some insanely steep sustained climbs. I soon learned that any relief in the form of a short downhill burst was met with harsh retribution. It finally got to the point of trying to ride this stuff or living to see my kids someday graduate from high school- I chose the latter. But we finally reached the top of the climb in the ride and the sweet reward of a several mile plunge (watch those slick rocky corners!). We had been watching a storm building north of where we were riding and ended up racing it back to the trailhead. It ended up being quite severe with the temperature dropping from the low 90's to 66 degrees in a very short period of time. Post ride cervezas were served in the cool rain following.
Nice parking area and facilities
Nothing like jumping right in to the climbs
Heading up
More rocks
Trail view
Looking up one of the steep rocky sections
Looking back down from the same point
Nice Seven that was on the ride
The sad truth- 2.17 miles in about 28 minutes
View looking back at the trail just traveled
The actual Dixie Mine
The storm passing through the area we just returned from
Another view
The rain and a cloud rolling down the side of the mountain
Ride profile
Nice parking area and facilities
Nothing like jumping right in to the climbs
Heading up
More rocks
Trail view
Looking up one of the steep rocky sections
Looking back down from the same point
Nice Seven that was on the ride
The sad truth- 2.17 miles in about 28 minutes
View looking back at the trail just traveled
The actual Dixie Mine
The storm passing through the area we just returned from
Another view
The rain and a cloud rolling down the side of the mountain
Ride profile
