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Print Friendly MapThe Eastern Canal Path spans the entire length of its namesake waterway through Mesa, Gilbert and Chandler in suburban Phoenix. The trail, which at times has a smooth paved surface and at others a coarse gravel, provides access to nearby residences, schools and parks.
In the north, the unpaved path continues along the South Canal as the Southern Canal Path, in turn providing access to the massive Arizona Canal Path in the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community. Take that trail westward to reach Scottsdale and Glendale.
Parking for the Eastern Canal Path is available at several parks throughout its route. In the north, park at Sheepherders Park (2455 E. McDowell Road) in Mesa. Farther south, park on-street adjacent to Los Alamos Park (2840 E. Covina Street) or at Greenfield Park (4105 E. Diamond Avenue), both in Mesa.
In Gilbert, park at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch (2757 E. Guadalupe Road), where you can also explore the scenic area's other trails.
Had a very nice ride on this trail. we stopped about 1/2 way to have a nice picnic lunch.
The trail is convenient to get on with lots of access points. Most of the portion I rode was paved and smooth trail. The north end was pretty ruff. My biggest complaint is that you have to stop every half mile to cross a major road and many didnt have crosswalks. Didnt like having to dart quickly across 4 lanes of traffic. Lots of goatheads as well. Every time I rode this path I seemed to pick up 2 or 3 in the tires
Really was looking forward to having a path to skate on that was connected to my neighborhood (Near Val Vista and Williams Field) but so much of this area is dirt or gravel, it would not be possible. Even the areas that are paved can be rough, or are laden with loose rocks, problematic if you’re riding on smaller wheels like on roller skates. This would otherwise be a nice trail if it were consistent smooth pavement, but for me I have to go elsewhere for skating. It is also worth noting you will encounter many busy roads to cross, so if you are learning to skate or want to move at a slow pace such as with children or the like, I would recommend Queen Creek or Sonoqui Wash trails to the south.
The south end of the trail is closed. You can’t pick it up until around Lindsay and Pecos. Don’t bother trying to start at Riggs. It’s a nice trail, mostly paved. Some parts are gravel, but it’s not bad. There are a few parks along the trail, with shade and branches.
The Riggs road entrance is locked and blocked.
Had already done S part of path, so started at Elliot and rode N to Broadway and back.
Parked at elementary school at Elliott & Greenfield, rode wide sidewalk E to path. Nice asphalt path, fair amount of walkers/joggers/cyclists on weekend, older asphalt Southern to Broadway, then gravel so turned around.
Nice and scenic, easy road crossings, goes under the 60, will ride this path again.
The South end of this path seems to be closed. We tried to ride it this morning (3/15/17) and could not access it from the south. It's gated and locked.
It appears the hard paved part starts on the S end of the path just S of Pecos, so we got on the path at Pecos and rode N to Guadalupe then back.
We parked in a small shopping center parking lot on the NE corner of Lindsay & Pecos, which was right next to the path.
The path is asphalt on the W side of the canal the whole way, and in addition there is a very nice concrete path on the E side of the canal from Warner to Guadalupe.
There is a signalized crossing at Elliott, the other major street crossing all have room in the median to cross half of the street at a time.
There were a fair number of other cyclists on a sunny Saturday. We will ride this path again, and also try farther N.
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