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The New River Trail parallels its generally dry namesake waterway through the populous Phoenix suburbs of Peoria and Glendale. The entire 19.5-mile route is paved and uninterrupted, with undercrossings offering safe passage under every road. Along the way, the trail provides access to a number of neighborhoods, businesses and parks.
About the Route
From the trail's newer southern end in Glendale, the popular Westgate Entertainment District and both the University of Phoenix Stadium—home of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals—and Gila River Arena—home of the NHL's Arizona Coyotes—can be reached via a short but sometimes hairy on-road route along W. Glendale Avenue.
In Peoria, trailside Rio Vista Community Park features a lake at its center and offers a skate park, splash park, picnic areas, athletic fields, drinking fountains and restrooms.
Connections
The Skunk Creek Trail branches off from the New River Trail in the Rio Vista Community Park, providing access to northern neighborhoods of Peoria and Glendale, as well as the much longer Arizona Canal Path.
At its southern end, the trail connections to the Grand Canal Path. Near its northern end, the 67th Avenue Trail provides a connection between the New River Trail and Thunderbird Conservation Park.
The New River Trail runs between W Happy Valley Rd (Peoria) and N 107th Ave (Glendale).
Parking is available at:
Visit the TrailLink map for all parking options and detailed directions.
Nice safe trail to ride. No traffic to cross. Joins other trails.
My wife and I started our ride at the Fletcher Heights Trailhead at W Deer Valley Rd and rode south to where the trail crosses N Ball Park Rd (near the Grand Canal Trail) before turning back. The trail is well paved with concrete. There is no tree cover, but the overpasses do provide shade.
We just went on mile 8 and 9 of the trail, but plan to go back again to explore new parts of the trail!
easy to follow and mostly flat. Great for all skill levels
Paved trail that parallels the 101 freeway. There is a park with bathrooms and one porta-potty along the trail. Was not too crowded when I rode it. I would ride it again
Wow....what a perfect trail for all age groups and abilities. On a Saturday morning in May, My fiancé and I had a great experience riding from the very north end of the trail on Happy Valley from our house in Terramar and rode all the way to have lunch at Westgate and then headed back home. There are a few interruptions of the trail close to Happy Valley Road but we still stuck to the path. We can’t wait to take the New River Trail again soon.
Took my road bike here and got a good 32 mile in. Nice underpasses to avoid crossing roads. Lots of sun. Next time I’ll start about 730am. Friendly riders and happy people along the route. ¿
Nice and easy with good underpass elevation changes and a decent amount of curves. Glad it was March 19 and already very warm. Can’t imagine what dead of summer would be like.
We absolutely love biking this trail visiting it frequently during our January thru March stay in the Phoenix area. The trail is clean, paved/cemented, and wide. The trail's landscaping is beautiful--especially when the flowers are in bloom. The trail offers lots of options, allowing you to easily customize the distance you would like to travel. Riders and walkers are polite and friendly. This is a must-visit trail for any level of rider.
December 6, 2020 Great riding—trail is clean and well maintained. Rode from Rio Vista north to to end then back to south end—30 miles. Awesome day in Arizona.
We live in Sun City and usually catch the trail at Greenway and 91st. We cross the bridge at the Rio vista and go north cross over past thunderbird park where the trail then parallels the canal. When we ride south we go to just south of Peoria. One time caught the trail at its south end It is slightly uphill going north which wears on you if you start out south and then have to ride uphill at the end. Have seen coyotes road runners along the way. So glad we have easy access to this good trail
Completed with my family including 5 &9 yo’s. Highly recommend and we will do it again.
We did 12 miles of this with my family (including 5 and 9 yo). We preferred most of the scenery on the south part. Loved no road crossings. Will do it again soon.
very well marked, clean, urban scenic.
I also started at the Rio Park and found it delightful. Having ridden the Arizona Canal Trail the previous day I much preferred the New River Trail. There are no road crossings at all. The surface was either paved or concrete the whole way. There was a section or two where a trike would find bumpy as the seams are not flat. My turning radius is horrible thus there were 3-4 areas where I had to back up several times to make the turn. But overall it is a great Trail.
Trail is smooth and well marked.
The trail is great to cruise, but I really wish it had loose terrain to practice MTB tecniques and skills. Although concrete is good, but getting dirty on the dirt is even better.
Starting point was the Rio Vista Community Park. The park has plenty of parking and very nice facilities. We went up stream staying on the right side of the canal. The path was nicely paved asphalt and in some sections cement. Before long the trail crossed the canal and we rode on the left side of the canal. Here the trail was older but still okay. There were a lot of cracks in the asphalt but patched and trail still fairly smooth. We ride mountain bikes. There were a number of road bikes on the trail also. After a distance we crossed back to the right side of the canal but that was a mistake. The trail on that side was nice but at major road crossings there was no protected crossing, where on the left side the trail went under the road. We crossed back to the left and went about 7 miles out from the starting pointing. On the return trip we got into some goat head thorns and my wife’s rear tire went flat. My tires were also slowly leaking so I raced back to the car and returned for my wife at the nice little park I left her at. In the end we had 3 flat tires.
After the ride I reviewed the map and learned that we started on the New River Trail but should have crossed the canal on the nice bike/ped bridge close to the Rio Vista Community Park. The short section we did at the beginning was part of the New River Trail system that connected to the Thunderbird Paseo Park. Based on what we saw it looks as though there are a number of trail options from the Rio Vista Community Park. Check it out for some nice riding but watch out for the goat heads!
We live 100 yards from the trail 99th and Peoria. We are so happy that you have completed the trail from Olive to Glendale. We rode it this morning and it is amazing so much to enjoy on the way great job landscaping...we like to stop and do our photography. There was a herd of Cattle along the way and there are beautiful. What a wonderful addition to our bike rides. Thank you so much ...
Thank You Glendale for opening the gates. My last two rides I was able to cross the major streets with no problem at all. In fact we were able to make our first 12.5 mile trip today. Ok Don't laugh we are just beginning, but we road from Bethany Home to Cactus and back. And our ride was amazing. The fact that it rained last night made the New River Flow a little bit, Just added pleasure to our time on the trail.
We are beginner bikers, and love getting out early in the morning. We have been riding between Camelback and Peoria. The only thing that would make our rides better is not to have to cross Glendale and Northern when there are perfectly good bypasses for us to use. We are hoping that these underpasses will be permanently open so we can skip dodging the traffic. Riding along the river allows us to view an amazing amount of wild life and birds. Which makes our ride even more enjoyable. With Fall looming in the near future I am looking forward to some great rides. Hopefully Safer ones.
Check back soon, Peoria is working on an extension from Olive south 1 mile to Northern. Glendale is picking the trail up from Northern south to Bethany Home - another 2 miles. From there, you can go east along a gravel road and connect to the bike path south of Cardinals stadium. A great addition to an already great trail.
I ride this trail 5 or 6 times a week and love it. I would like to know why there is a locked gate preventing me from riding the last mile of the trail.
the only thing to make it better would be public restrooms
This trail is great, but there is an unexplained closure south of Olive Avenue. A locked gate prevents access.
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