The paved Rio Salado Pathway runs along both banks of the Salt River in Tempe. The generally dry waterway was expanded into Tempe Town Lake in 1999, and the scenic waterfront area is now a popular recreational, residential and commercial destination. Often, the trail is referred to as the Tempe Town Lake Trail.
On the lake's south side, the trail connects Arizona State University's main Tempe campus with Tempe Beach Park, as well as the Tempe Marketplace retail mecca. A newer extension on the trail's eastern end continues the trail behind the Tempe Marketplace and under the State Route 202 and 101 interchange to an end at Riverview Park in Mesa. Sloan Park, the spring training home of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, was recently built in the park, bringing massive crowds to the area on game days.
The trail is shorter on the lake's north side, but it serves the Tempe Town Lake Marina and provides a critical connection to the Indian Bend Wash Path at its eastern end. Trail users can extend their trip by taking that trail north all the way into downtown Scottsdale.
A bicycle and pedestrian bridge links the two paths over Tempe Town Lake. At the bridge's southern end, the trailside Tempe Center for the Arts offers a variety of exhibits and events in a critically praised building.
Parking and restrooms for the Rio Salado Paths are available at Tempe Beach Park (54 W. Rio Salado Parkway) in Tempe and Riverview Park (2100 W. Rio Salado Parkway) in Mesa.
I started the trail at Riverview Park, near the Spring Training home of the Cubs. I rode west for over 10 miles, through Tempe, past views of the Sky Harbor, to the trail terminus in Phoenix. Then turned back, crossed the spectacular pedestrian bridge, and rode the north trail segment, before heading back to Riverview Park.
The trail is clean, well maintained, marked, lit in sections for nighttime riding, scenic in many spots, and overall a great PHX cycling experience. Strongly recommend, and can't wait to do again, and/or take the connection to the longer trail that runs all the way to Scottsdale for a full day in the saddle.
Rode this for the first time and loved the ride. I had a little trouble finding it at first due to my GPS, but once we did we rode from the Cubs training facility to the end of Tempe town lake. Will do this one again.
I jump on the stadium connector in Mesa then on through this trail into Phx. Great long rides for conditioning to help with mountain biking!
Accessed the trail from the parking lot of 16th St south of the 17. Ran on the south side of the trail and was able to run almost 3 miles east and did not have stop to cross the street. The path is flat except when going under bridges. The only tough climb is about a mile east when you go under 24th street, the rest wasn’t too bad. There are stickers and painted arrows to guide you to the trail that takes you under the bridges, thanks to whomever does that. Heading East I enjoyed a great view of Phoenix Sky Harbor airport but if I had taken the north side of the trail I wouldn’t have gotten that Far East as the trail seemed to end by then.
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