A Ride In The Desert

TravelerThe Brown’s Ranch Road segment is the main artery leading out of the Brown’s Ranch trailhead and connects with dozens of other trails in the newly developed northern region[1] of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. The trailhead opened June 10, 2013. The sandy, flat path has been used by desert dwellers including ancient Hohokam and more recently mid-century ranchers. In fact, the stretch of road from Dynamite Boulevard to the parking lot is the exact route for cattle drives that ran from the ranch into Scottsdale until the 1960s. The Brown family purchased the land in 1917 and it was a working ranch until 1970. At its peak, Brown’s Ranch encompassed 44,000 acres supporting 3,000 to 5,000 head of cattle.[2,4] The land was acquired in 1999 by the City of Scottsdale and the project to develop the trails and trailhead cost 3.8 million dollars funded by a 2004 Preserve Sales Tax. From the trailhead, after you read more details of the history of the area follow signs for Brown’s Ranch Road trail. The trail segment is 2 miles one way and is an easy, wide path ideal for trail running, biking, and horseback riding. Add elevation gain to this segment at 0.4 miles from trailhead going northwest up to Brown’s Mountain trail and summit (marker #BT1). Watch for the intersection with the Corral Trail at 1.4 miles (marker #CL1) for the turnoff to the right to see the ruins of the Brown’s Ranch including the footprint of the northern ranch house, corrals, stock tanks, blacksmith’s shed, bunkhouse, and other structures. If you are looking for larger loops, connect with trails leading to Cholla Mountain and Little Granite Mountain. There are plans underway to connect these northern McDowell region trails with the more mountainous southern region trails (Windgate, Bell, Quartz, Sunrise)[1]. The Maricopa Trail will eventually connect 420 miles of trails in 10 parks throughout Phoenix and Scottsdale including both southern and northern regions of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.