Dirty Freehub

Photo by: Sonya Laing
DirtyFreehub Featured Route:

Alto Ruins

5 Star Route
Tucson, Arizona
A ride leading out of the quaint town of Patagonia to the ghost town of Alto on hard-packed gravel roads (mostly) with big views. Includes the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve and a hummingbird sanctuary.

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Ride great gravel routes! / 10,000+ miles!

Smiling and riding dirty! Gravel cycling is our passion. We provide free, five-star gravel route guides across the Western USA and Tasmania …. All so you can connect to where you ride … so you can learn about culture, history and the environment. We hope to inspire you to get more involved!

We do this out of our love for exploration, community and giving back! We are a 501(c)3 non-profit, volunteer-driven organization. All of our content is free and open to the public. All that we ask is that when you use a Dirty Freehub route guide, give us a shout out in your social media posts or the other places you share content (like Strava). Our Use & Share With Integrity statment has more information on this.

And … if you think what we do is really cool, and you want to see more routes developed, donating to the Dirty Freehub Project is one way you can make this happen.

Our Newest Gravel Routes

Apex Mine

5 Star Route
St. George, Utah
A 100% gravel route through a stunning and fragile landscape filled with caves, mines, free ranging cattle, and the endangered Dwarf Bearclaw Poppy plant in Southwest Utah.
Route: Lollipop | 23 mi
Gain: 2,500 ft
Surface: 100% Gravel
Technical Difficulty: Demanding
Navigation: Straightforward
Locale: Remote
Tire Suggestion: 50 mm+
eBike Friendly: Yes

Milk & Honey

5 Star Route
~ Paisley, Oregon
The Paisley area has been plagued with bad wildfires in recent years, but somehow we found an amazing route that skips the burn areas. Streams, meadows, pine and ponderosa forests and ridge line views … this route is big on adventure and wildlife. (w/ shorter options)
Route: Loop | 47 mi
Gain: 3,100 ft
Surface: ~ 85% gravel / dirt roads, 15% paved
Technical Difficulty: Moderate
Navigation: Attention Required
Locale: Remote
Tire Suggestion: 40 mm+
eBike Friendly: Yes

Whiskey & Gold 60

5 Star Route
Baker City, Oregon
Besides visiting the quaint town of Haines, this route runs across rich, flat farmland and tosses in three historic cemeteries. Distant snow-capped mountains will frame your photos perfectly. This ride is perfect for those getting into gravel; it is much more road than gravel.
Route: Lollipop | 60 mi
Gain: 1,600 ft
Surface: ~ 25% gravel, 75% paved
Technical Difficulty: Easier
Navigation: Attention Required
Locale: Rural
Tire Suggestion: 35 mm+
eBike Friendly: Yes

A7

5 Star Route
~ Tucson, Arizona
Travel the historic Redington road into the San Pedro Valley and explore the lands that indigenous people occupied for over 12,000 years and, more recently (late 1800s and early 1900s), were the lands of some of the largest cattle ranches in the area. For your effort, you will get wide-open views of the San Pedro River valley (beautiful!) and the surrounding mountain ranges. You will pass through a dense pocket of cholla cactus, and ride some fast, smooth, super-hero gravel.
Route: Lollipop | 30 mi
Gain: 2,800 ft
Surface: 100% gravel
Technical Difficulty: Moderate
Navigation: Straightforward
Locale: Remote
Tire Suggestion: 45 mm+
eBike Friendly: Yes

Las Cienegas (Gunsmoke)

5 Star Route
~ Tucson, Arizona
Our favorite Las Cienegas loop; using the best riding roads from the Inner and Outer Loop routes. Miles 12 to 17 are one of the most scenic ridge climbs in the area. You get a true appreciation of the concept of Sky Islands.
Route: Lollipop | 28 mi
Gain: 1,300 ft
Surface: ~ 100% gravel
Technical Difficulty: Moderate
Navigation: Attention Required
Locale: Remote
Tire Suggestion: 50 mm+
eBike Friendly: Yes

Kentucky Grit

Alts & Options Route
~ Tucson, Arizona
Two great 5-Star routes combined into a longer, all-gravel, 5-Star route. Some hard-packed fast roads, some ruggedness, a cool canyon traverse, rolling hills of grasslands and oaks, and vista mountain views.
Route: Lollipop | 41 mi
Gain: 3,800 ft
Surface: ~ 95% gravel, 5% single-track
Technical Difficulty: Moderate
Navigation: Attention Required
Locale: Remote
Tire Suggestion: ~ 45 mm+
eBike Friendly: No

Kentucky Camp

5 Star Route
Tucson, Arizona
Visit the ghost town of Kentucky Camp, ride a short section of the Arizona Trail that is scenic and well suited to a gravel bike, see big views of the Sky Islands, and ride in the oak woodlands of the Santa Rita Mountains --which feel more like Prescott, AZ than the Sonoran Desert just south of Tucson.
Route: Tootsie Roll | 22 mi
Gain: 2,100 ft
Surface: 95 % gravel, 5% single-track
Technical Difficulty: Demanding
Navigation: Attention Required
Locale: Remote
Tire Suggestion: 45 mm+
eBike Friendly: No

Buenos Aires (Rancho de la Osa Start)

Alts & Options Route
~ Tucson, Arizona
This is a version of the classic Buenos Aires route but starts from Rancho de la Osa, a working dude ranch near the US-Mexico border just outside of the town of Sasabe.
Route: Lollipop | 44 mi
Gain: 2,500 ft
Surface: ~ 100% gravel
Technical Difficulty: Demanding
Navigation: Attention Required
Locale: Remote
Tire Suggestion: 45 mm+
eBike Friendly: Yes

Sasabe

5 Star Route
~ Tucson, Arizona
A highly scenic rolling gravel ride through Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. Get big views of the sacred peak Baboquivari. Visit Rancho De La Oso, an amazing dude Ranch loaded with Hollywood history. Get up close to the "new" border wall. Pop into the Sasabe store for a burrito. Stop at the Buenos Aires Visitor’s Center to learn about the amazing wildlife and storied history of the Refuge.
Route: Loop | 29 mi
Gain: 1,300 ft
Surface: ~ 90% gravel, 10% paved
Technical Difficulty: Easier
Navigation: Attention Required
Locale: Remote
Tire Suggestion: 40 mm+
eBike Friendly: Yes

White Tank

5 Star Route
~ Phoenix, Arizona
Ride a fast, flowy section of the Maricopa Trail. Hit the rugged and technical at White Tank park. Take a hike out to see the white granite bowls formed by flowing waterfalls. Learn about the people who occupied these lands for thousands of years.
Route: Lollipop | 21 mi
Gain: 800 ft
Surface: 85% single-track trail, 15% paved
Technical Difficulty: Demanding
Navigation: Attention Required
Locale: Urban Backcountry
Tire Suggestion: 45 mm+
eBike Friendly: Yes

Ash Meadows

5 Star Route
~ Las Vegas, Nevada
In the midst of the high Mojave desert just outside of Death Valley, a dry, inhospitable and what at first glance seems lifeless, lies an oasis with a very rare and unique ecosystem.
Route: Loop | 42 mi
Gain: 997 ft
Surface: 100% gravel
Technical Difficulty: Easier
Navigation: Straightforward
Locale: Remote
Tire Suggestion: 45 mm+
eBike Friendly: Yes

Dropbar

5 Star Route
Bend, Oregon
A ride that strings together some of the best drop-bar-gravel-riding mountain bike trails in the area. The Mrazek section is a “frickin” fabulous flowy downhill. This route is not subject to extreme moon dust like some of other mountain bike trails in the dead of summer.
Route: Loop | 28 mi
Gain: 1,800 ft
Surface: 40% gravel, 40% single track, 5% bike path, 5% paved
Technical Difficulty: Moderate
Navigation: Attention Required
Locale: Urban Backcountry
Tire Suggestion: 45 mm+
eBike Friendly: No

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