​When you have a passion, your hope is that your kids will someday share the same passion.  My daughter has been after me for a while to go mountain biking.  I watch her race around our neighborhood on a way too small beach cruiser with 20" wheels.  She seems to love it.  Of course, anyone that knows me knows that I never jump in with one foot so, rather than renting a bike or using some other method of gauging whether or not she'll like it, I jumped in and bought her a new mountain bike for Christmas.  

The best case scenario was she'd love it immediately.  The worst case scenario would be that it would be something that would collect dust in our already crowded garage while occasionally getting used to cruise to the park on.  
Christmas morning came and we saved what turned out to be the best gift for last.  After we opened everything else up, we walked out to my garage where her new ride was sitting on my workstand.  I received arguably the biggest hug of my life and Bella proceeded to thank me what felt like about 100 times. 
After seeing her gift, she immediately asked me if she could go mountain biking like I do.  Of course, if you buy the kid a bike, you need to take her out and ride it, right?  I thought long and hard about where I could introduce her to riding without killing her.  Santan, which is close to me, has some easy bits but enough there to scare a first time rider.  My mind went right to Usery after that which is flat and easy with just enough rollers to allow her to feel what mountain biking is like.  

One thing led to the next and we found ourselves out at the trail head the day after Christmas.  I had an easy four to five miler in mind with options to shorten or add if we needed to.  After a few moments of trepidation, she looked and felt comfortable on the flats of the Levee Trail.  From there, we dropped into Spillway up to Blevins and down NoSo back to the car.  The section that got the greatest amount of hoots and hollers from her was Blevins.  In fact, she seemed bored by the flatter sections.   All things considered, it was pretty cool to see the trails through the eyes of a new rider. 
Needless to say, she already has me planning the next trip to the trail.  
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As some if not all of you might be aware, the Pima Canyon entrance to South Mountain Park is undergoing a massive, and much needed overhaul.  The project involves replacing the old ramadas that have been there for years.  Also, gone are the pit toilets!!!  Okanongan Trail Construction has been brought in to clean up some of the trails.  Finally, the road leading into the park is getting a facelift as well.  It seems like they are going to make much better use of the existing space.