Smores Shuttle route

Name: Smores Shuttle
Address: Safford, AZ
Rating: 5

near Safford, AZ

19.9 miles

Distance

3,625 ft

Climb

-7,479 ft

Descent

2 miles

High Point

-3,856 ft

Altitude change

5,183 ft

Altitude min

9,076 ft

Altitude start

5,220 ft

Altitude end

-3.7%

Grade

-56%

Grade max

53%

Grade min

8 miles

Distance climb

11 miles

Distance down

3,885 ft

Distance flat

This is a bike skill and fitness heavy route in a big mountain, back country setting. Riders need to come prepared with food, lots of water, tools and a good attitude. Bring a friend. Let someone know what you're up to.

Check individual trail reports before attempting this route. Conditions can be quite variable depending on seasonal maintenance, especially, after winter and after the monsoon. This is a bike skill heavy and high physical fitness route as you climb over 3000ft with a shuttle. Elevation is a factor as most of the route is above 6000ft and up to 10,000 ft. Come prepared with tools, layers, snacks, lots of water.

Shuttle can be run by placing a car at Noon Creek Picnic Area and at the parking area next to the Shannon Campground Road. Route consists of descending climbing the 2.5 mile Heliograph Road, descending Heliograph trail to then Arcadia Trail to Upper Arcadia Camp (seasonally has water). From Upper Arcadia camp head up the Swift Hwy approximately 2.2 miles to Turkey Flat Trail. Ride/hike a bike up Turkey Flat Trail. Then begin descending Ladybug Trail until you get to the lower trail head at Angle Orchard.

From there take the fire road out to the Swift Hwy go left and climb the Swift Hwy approximately 2 miles uphill from where turn onto the Swift Hwy from the Angle Orchard Road to non descript parking pull out at 32.652613, -109.810729. This begins the .75 mile hike a bike to the start of Round the Mountain Trail. Once you top out continue right onto Round the Mountain trail until it comes to a T with Connector Trail. Take a left and head toward the Noon Creek drainageTake this until you get to the creek crossing. Stay right after crossing the rocky creek area and then look for the trail to by pass a boulder area. The trail goes to the left and then heads up to the right out to the drainage. Once out of the drainage stay right/downhill on Noon Creek Trail. Enjoy fast techy trail all the way back down to Noon Creek Picnic area. There will be one turn to the left about 3/4 of the way down Noon Creek Trail. Stay hard left or else you'll end up back at the creek and over in Round the Mountain Campground. You'll finish near a small parking lot and picnic table in the Noon Creek Campground. Congrats You just descended 7300ft!

Want to make these trails better? Email [email protected]

Detailed Description

Smores Shuttle is a 20 mile popular expert route located near Safford Arizona. This mountain bike only route and has a hard overall physical rating. This route includes 7 trails. This route climbs 3,625 ft with a max elevation of 10,011 ft then descends -7,479 ft.

Trail Issues on Route

Minor Issue / Yellow: 1 trail (newest: Jun 16, 2026)

Route Supporters

Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists

Local Trail Association

Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists (www.sdmb.org)

Please consider joining or donating to the local riding association to support trail development & maintenance.

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Stats

Distance

20 miles
Altitude change

-3,856 ft
Altitude min

5,183 ft
Altitude start

9,076 ft
Altitude end

5,220 ft
Climb

3,625 ft
Descent

-7,479 ft
Grade

-3.7%
Grade max

-56%
Grade min

53%
Distance climb

8 miles
Distance down

11 miles
Distance flat

3,885 ft

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Trails in Route

	Heliograph Peak Road				2 miles
	Heliograph Trail #328A				4,006 ft
	Arcadia National Recreation Trail (Lower)				4 miles
	Turkey Flat Trail				2,546 ft
	Ladybug Trail (Lower)				4 miles
	Forest Road 4515				2,136 ft
	Noon Creek Trail #302A				4,012 ft

Details

Riding area

Pinaleno Mountains (Mt. Graham)
Primary Activity

Mountain Bike
Difficulty rating

Black Diamond
Route Type

Shuttled
Physical rating

Hard

Distance (Trails & Routes)

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Winter Trails

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trail	date	description
Arcadia National Recreation Trail (Lower)	Jun 16, 2026 @ 9:07am (America/Phoenix) 2 days	Trail is clear of down trees and one boulder that was about 3.5 miles down from the top. A small crew of riders helped get those off the trail. Select brush work was done to open up over vegetated areas. Also some removal of loose rocks from the high speed Fern and Burn section. Some corner tuning as well. Arcadia is in decent shape but it's still a big mountain, backcountry trail.
Heliograph Trail #328A	May 24, 2026 @ 7:04pm (America/Phoenix) May 24, 2026	Trail clear. No downed trees.
Ladybug Trail (Lower)	May 18, 2026 @ 5:36pm (America/Phoenix) May 18, 2026	Lower Ladybug is free of down trees as of May 16th 2026. SDMB volunteers removed 3 down trees with hand tools and rerouted about 60 ft of trail located about 1/2 mile down from the Turkey Flat Trail Junction. This new 60 foot section replaces and very sharp corner that was causing erosion due to no grade reversal. The reroute creates a grade reversal to reduce erosion, check speed of downhill traffinc and make for a nicer turning radius.
Noon Creek Trail #302A	Dec 29, 2025 @ 8:30pm (America/Phoenix) Dec 29, 2025	Rode Dec 28th 2025: Trail is feeling a bit scoured from big October rains and full of loose good sized boulders but it's got good elevation lost and rewards those that are willing to ride the rubble. It's occured to SDMB to tune this one up a bit soon as it's lost attention due to upper mtn pursuits. Could be a part of early season work in March. Interested? Email [email protected].
Turkey Flat Trail	Dec 29, 2025 @ 8:13pm (America/Phoenix) Dec 29, 2025	Rode Dec 28th 2025: trail is clear albeit it feeling a bit rustic due to off season lack of use. A couple of snow patches but nothing to worry about. Typical mix of pedal and push to get to the Ladybug descent. If you're thinking about visiting this winter to ride Ladybug be mindful it can easily be snowy from the TF trailhead up to the Ladybug trail jct. This report is relevant to a low snow early winter not the norm. Call the Safford USFS Ranger station for the latest observations.