Park at the El Paso Tennis Club. To the far right-hand side of the pool a rocky jeep road will begin. Follow this into Arroyo Park. There are several routes through the gully, each of which is relatively flat and enjoyable. The brief ride through the arroyo is a perfect warmup for the real challenge- Monk's Trail and the dozens of offshoots that accompany it. Climb out of the gully and cross the street. You should arrive at a dirt road with a gate. Simply ride around this and continue along the dirt road. The main trail begins in the small arroyo to the right of this road. Almost immediately the rocky singletrack begins a difficult climb. A particularly challenging series of switchbacks is included in this. There are numerous other trails that branch off of Monk's- some are extremely dangerous, so you may have to do some scouting and backtracking. Eventually, the trail emerges at the top of a mountain. There are several great vistas at the top. From here, you have two options- you can continue riding down the backside of the mountain on one of several singletrack runs, or you can simply turn around and ride back on Monk's or an offshoot trail. If you decide to ride the backside, you will have to either turn around at the base and backtrack or ride on the pavement back to your parking spot (this is probably close to a 3 or 4 mile ride). Riding back the way you came is fast and very hairy in some places. Suspension is a must because of the large rock gardens and scree you will encounter. Overall, Monk's is a tough trail system- there are, however, several unique sections of singletrack that are worth the challenge.
Arroyo park has a spiderweb of trails that are good for beginners and intermediate level riders. Monks will be tough for beginner riders and hard tail XC bikes. Intermediate and better riders with an all-mountain or enduro bike will enjoy the techy descents. There is abundant parking both below and above Arroyo park, however there is now signage to guide you along the trails or posted maps to identify what the trail network is.
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