The best MTB trails around Mesa

Buttermilk Country Wildlife Area is a 325-acre high desert meadow surrounded by Inyo National Forest. Mostly made up of Great Basin vegetation like sagebrush and pinyon-juniper woodlands, this area is home to so much wildlife. McGee Creek runs along the eastern boundary, providing important habitat for the migrating Round Valley deer herd.

Explore Buttermilk Road, a popular spot for free dispersed camping on BLM land. The road, which closes seasonally, attracts climbers, off road drivers and mountain bikers. Located at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with views of this high-desert landscape, and peaks like Mount Tom and Basin Mountain. Be cautious of snow and mud in higher elevations.

Bike through the Tungsten Hills, the low, reddish hills west of the town of Bishop. This area was once home to a major tungsten mining site until the late 1940s and still has numerous old mines and an open pit. Keep an eye out for shiny rocks; they could be semi-precious minerals like red garnet, epidote, and quartz crystals while riding.

Take a look into the old Jackrabbit Mine, but it is not recommended to go exploring here. This mine is a historic tungsten mine located along Deep Canyon. Sitting within the Deep Creek-Tungsten Hills Mining District of Inyo National Forest, the area features Mesozoic granitic rocks. This mine also has amazing views around it.

Rock formations similar to those in Joshua Tree National Park, but with the snow-capped Sierra Nevada in the background. The boulders are a popular climbing area. All around there are many dispersed campsites.

Coyote Valley Road is a fairly wide, sand and gravel road that heads south from West Bishop toward Peterson Mill. The road starts in a sandy wash, which can be challenging without fat/large tires. Once you reach the switchbacks, the terrain improves, though the incline can still be tough in places. At 8,000 feet, you arrive at the top of Chipmunk Canyon, which might also require hiking due to sand, but you're close to the top. After the sandy wash, you will soon see the first chance to turn left onto the Coyote Flat connector which links up with the popular Waganobe Trail. If continue right past this junction, you descend to the creek, and climb up to the summit of Coyote Flat, where you finally begin to descend.

Formerly known as the Druid Stones Trail, the Waganobe Trail has been renamed by the local Paiute Tribe. This challenging downhill trail can be reached a few different ways, but for folks looking for a very full day you can climb the Coyote Valley Road (7S10) with a 4,500-foot elevation gain. Alternatively, you can shuttle cars and complete a shorter 2,600-foot climb up Habegger Road to about 11,000 feet that offers stunning views and fun descents on dirt roads leading to the singletrack portion. The start of the Waganobe Trail is about half a mile south of where Coyote Valley Road (7S10) crosses the West Fork of Coyote Creek. After taking the Coyote Flat Connector to the Waganobe Trail, and after a brief climb, you descend along a doubletrack, and complete another climb. The road then transitions into a steep, overgrown singletrack that opens into a meadow. Cross the meadow and find the trail in a stand of aspen trees until you reach a road, turning right to an open meadow. From here, a faint trail heads east through sagebrush. Watch your pedals in this section. Eventually, a left-hand turn across a creek appears. If missed (which is easy to do), the trail dead-ends shortly after anyway, s you can just backtrack to find the faint path up the hill on your right. This segment is technical if overgrown. As the brush clears, the trail becomes loose, but still super fun. The descent includes a few short, steep climbs, leading to a saddle where another trail splits left. Continuing straight, the landscape changes to open desert with large boulders and you'll eventually encounter plenty of hikers (so be respectful) as the trail becomes increasingly steep and technical over rocks. You continue the steep descent until you reach the trailhead.

Chalk Bluff, for which the road is named for, is remarkably a straight, ~5-mile-long, escarpment that forms the south edge of the Volcanic Tableland. Named Chalk Bluff for its light tan-to-white colored, chalk-like rocks, they stand in contrast to the darker, volcanic Bishop tuff boulders that stand atop the escarpment and are popular with rock climbers. The Owens River flows below the Chalk Bluff with the gravel road running between, all making for a truly unique riding experience.