Traveling back to Tucson, we stopped in Bakersfield to get a bike ride in on the Kern River Bikeway.

“The Kern River Parkway is a native riparian area which extends over 30 miles through Bakersfield along the Kern River.  It extends east to west from the mouth of the Kern Canyon to Enos Lane and is comprised of over 6,000 acres of trails, parks, and waterways.  One of the most used areas is the Kern River Parkway Trail, a paved road used for commuting and exercising by walkers, joggers, rollerbladers, and cyclists.  Also, no motorized vehicles are allowed within the Kern River Parkway – lakes, trails, and off-road.”

The 20 mile trail ride gave us a break from the car-driving but the temperature of 98 degrees made it a little hot. Take plenty of water.

While visiting with my son in Tucson, we decided to take a trip North to Flagstaff to enjoy some cooler weather with our grandson and hopefully take advantage of Flagstaff’s wonderful urban trail system. Since we all had wide-tire bikes, we took the unpaved trail which was right outside our hotel towards the Fort Tuthill County Park. From there we figured our way over to the Ponderosa Trail (which is paved)and also goes through an open meadow. We  made our way back towards the hotel. Flagstaff provides a great map of the Urban Trails and Bikeways, available free at their Visitor Center.  On another day we cycled around the Buffalo Park Loop – beautiful meadow on top of McMillan Mesa.