While the genesis of the McKenzie Ranch Trails Park came from staff at the Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation Department, the park was built in partnership with the Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists. Their volunteers were a huge help. Less than 1% of the total park acreage has been developed as a trails park, which means that it remains in excess of 99% natural desert, and Pima County expects it to remain that way.

The McKenzie Ranch Trails Park has several trails on the property; the 3.2-mile Hohokam Trail, which is open to all non-motorized trail users, and the Competitive Mountain Biking Course, which consists of two loops totaling 10 miles. Equestrians are not allowed on the mountain biking competition course, because mountain bikers are riding the course at speed, and it’s not safe to allow both types of users on the course. Runners and hikers can use the course if they travel counter-clockwise (the bikes are riding clockwise), so they can see the bikes coming at them and step out of the way. While the park is available for non-motorized trail use from dawn to dusk 365 days a year, private promoters will put on 4 mountain biking events a year…about one a quarter.

McKenzie Ranch Trails Park is a 1,700-acre open space park that has been owned by the county for more than five years. The ranch is on the far east side of Pima County about 1.5 miles north of Marsh Station Road and about 4 miles east of Three Bridges in Pima County’s Cienega Creek Preserve.