With Flagstaff, Arizona being at a staggering 7,000 feet of elevation, it is a great place for a lot of professional athletes of all sorts to train for their specialties; such as mountain biking. Because of that, Flagstaff is plentiful in the trails available to accommodate for these athletes. In my opinion, the best trails around are, by far, the trail system that goes all around Schultz Mountain and the Arizona trail that goes all over Flagstaff. These biking trails range from downhill style trails to Cross Country style trails and everything in between! These trails are a slight pedal away from campus and require a bit of a ride to get there, but I like to look at it as a warm up to get the heart rate up so that you avoid injury! Given you do give these trails a shot, I highly recommend Schultz trail, (it goes right along the Arizona Trail) because you get a good workout riding up the mountain and then you’re treated to a spectacular downhill once you reach the top!
Directions to Schultz Mountain Trail System from NAU:
- Head north on Humphrey’s road
- Take a left on North Valley road and stay on the road for about 2.5 miles
- Take a right on N Schultz Pass Road and stay on it for about .2 miles
- You’ll approach a “Y” in the road with a dirt parking lot in the middle and this is your destination!
- From here you can explore all that is offered within the huge trail system of Shultz mountain