Tucked away in north east Mesa is a nifty little 5+ mile downhill run, the Hawes Loop Trail.   Since there was no parking at the trail head we had to park at the Basha's located on the south east corner of McDowell and Power Roads.  From there we traveled east on McDowell Road for a few miles until McDowell intersected Hawes Road.  At that point we made a left onto Hawes, traveling north.

Now the problem is, or was, finding the trailhead!  No doubt a new-gated development closed off the documented access to the trail, so it was up to us to locate by the old "I think it's this way" method.   We came upon two others bikers also looking for access to the trail but they too were mystified.  We pushed on and came upon the Hawes Trail Loop sign and just to the right of it was a narrow steep winding uphill trail.  I think it's this way? Only one way to find out, so up we went.  As we entered the trail we found a sign stating the trail was under construction.  Great, was this really the way or would we come upon a dead-end after expending valuable energy? The trail was no friend of ours, we were forced to walk quite a bit.  Are we really going the right way?  We continued up the narrow winding trail for around 45 minutes or so.  Then, near the top of the hill, the trail leveled off affording us the luxury of riding.  Travis forged ahead while I mounted my camera to the handlebars.  I filmed some  video (link below) near the end of our first riding segment, prior to re-joining Travis at our first vista break. I think the trail in routed us to the original Hawes Loop Trail due to the fact the trail now looked heavier traveled.