Dixie Mine up to Bell Pass (Fountain Hills, AZ)

My neighbor and I took this morning off, and we drove across Phoenix to Fountain Hills to ride up to Bell Pass (McDowell Mountains). It was about 6:15 am when we hit the trail, and it was very colorful morning to be on the trail. The light cloud cover that provide the spectacular sunrise, also aided in keeping us cool. The elevation of the parking lot was about 2,100 vf and Bell Pass tops out at around 3,200 vf.
We began the ride on the Dixie Mine trail, which is 2.5 mile stretch of slightly techy stuff. We took the intersecting jeep road up about 1/4 mile to the Prospector Trail, and from there we headed up to the pass. It was a pretty sustained but manageable climb. This pass always has a nice breeze honking through it to kewl you off. From the pass, you overlook into Scottsdale and the rest of the valley.

Time for the rewards of our climb, and it was soooooo worth it. This downhill section is a hoot. We bombed down the path to where it ties into the Windgate trail. We opted not to head up to Windgate Pass this time, so we continued down, down, down. The course of this trail flows so well and fast. We ended up tying back into the Dixie Mine trail, but before we made our exit, we took a quick peak into the mine shaft.

We definetly didn't set any land-speed records on this ride, as it took about 3 hours to complete the 11.5 mile loop.

Here are a couple of Vid's (using helmet-cam version 1.1 rearview)

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