Maricopa Trail: Usery Mountain Visitor's Center to Bulldog

This trail is very well signed while you are on trails within the Usery Mountain Park. It gets a little less so as you cross into the Tonto National Forest. Just follow the "Maricopa Trail" signs and the little arrows pasted on them and you'll be fine. The two places that might be confusing are the parking lot crossing at the Horse Staging Area--the junction between the Blevins Trail and the Pass Mountain Trail--and a half a kilometer off the Pass Mountain Trail towards Bulldog parking where I swear there WAS a sign but there is just a cairn at a fork in the trail. Stay to the right. This trail collection starts out from the Visitor's Center on the new Lost Sheep Trail, which is graded for mountain bikes and has quite a bit of traffic on it. Continuing on (stay left) to the Moon Rock Trail for a bit and then to Blevins Trail (turn left) to the horse staging area, you cut through and get on the Pass Mountain Trail towards the Wind Cave Trail trailhead, then keep following Pass Mountain Trail onto the Maricopa Trail: Pass Mountain Trail Connector towards the Bulldog parking area. From there, you can continue on along the road up to the Wild Horse Trail to continue your Maricopa Trail journey as far as you'd like to take it.It is roughly 3 km back to the Visitor's Center along the road if you don't want to hike the whole path in reverse to get back to your vehicle.

This is a new extension into the park (2019) with new signs and maps (thanks to a partnership with REI).