Lost Dog Trailhead

Great trail for some on/​off road running. This is a great location to exercise of you live in the west side. A lot of people bring their dogs out here it’s a popular trail year round.

I absolutely love Lost Dog Trail as an intermediate to advanced mountain biking ride! The trails are intermediate for hikers if you’re climbing straight up the mountain, so just imagine on a bike. The trails are wonderful, though I would highly recommend you go with a map if you’re looking for a particular trial to go on. There are no signs once you get on the trialhead but it makes for a fun adventure; like you’re exploring unknown territory and all you have is your map, compass, and your wits about you!
As for mountain biking, once you get past the water tank (FYI: no drinking water available to the public), the trails get pretty steep and really, really rocky! You’ll find your wheels spinning on a couple of sections with loose rock under your wheels and you’ll definitely become fluent in your gears and how to switch back and forth to accommodate for the rough trail. Most ride up Transmountain road (cheaters!!! haha) and will just drop down on a trail from the roadway, but if you want a real workout and want to get those climbing legs to get that polka dot jersey, then I would suggest taking on the mountain full steam ahead! Going downhill is something of an experience as the rough trails will challenge your balance, body placement, and vibration sensitivity!
With that being said, if you’re looking for a decent trail with a moderate climb and a fast downhill on the way back, I’d recommend taking «El Refri» trail. Extra bonus, you’ll figure out why it’s called that when you’re midway on the trail!
Overall, you’ll find me here after a good study session to burn off some steam. Look out for the Orange Trek 29er and I’ll be sure to wave as I have yet to master this mountain climb in 1 continuous trip! 3 = Mountain, 0 = Me, the mountain is winning my climbing challenge… for now!

A sign now indicates the address for the trailhead as 1651 Redd Rd.
Heed the previous poster’s advice for accessing the trail: head towards the water tower at the end of the parking lot and veer left up the trail in front of the water tower.
As of 3/​14, no signage for connecting trails after the initial trailhead.
Plenty of parking, easily accessible and marked from the street. No water fountain or facilities.
After 3 attempts, we finally figured it out and had an awesome 5 mile trail run connecting trails. If you are on the west side and need to get a run in, it’s an excellent option; however, if you don’t have the time to get familiar with the trails (or from out of town, like us), an out and back based on time might be the way to go. Some of the trails that seemed tertiary were the actual trails and there was no signage to indicate otherwise.
Trail running shoes were nice to have, but not essential.
For the novice, the run was challenging due to the uphill and rockiness of some stretches but made coming back down hill that much more fun.
I can’t speak for the mountain bike experience, but a majority of people on the trails were mountain bikers the three times we were out there.
Wish I had this trail in back of my neighborhood!!!

Lost Dog Trailhead is the start to the Redd Road Trails. For some unknown reason, it does not have an actual address other than to just say it’s on the 1600 block of Redd Road. There are tourism signs that will point you in the right direction when you’re on Redd Road and a metal sign with a dog on it and the words ‘Lost Dog Trail’ on it. Quick tip to get there: if you’re coming from Mesa get on Redd Road and head towards Transmountain, it’ll be on your right as soon as you pass Helen of Troy.
From the name you can obviously tell LDT is just the portion that connects all the trails in this area. It’s a rather short distance before you hit other trails (.4 miles according to the map). The biggest obstacle is the huge incline at the very beginning that follows the left side of the water tower. DO NOT TAKE A RIGHT AT THE WATER TOWER! That is not part of the trail, it just follows a rain ditch. Once you get over the hill, it’s a pretty easy and steady incline the rest of the way. Not speaking about the trails LDT branches off into, but solely LDT… it’s a pretty easy trail, so much so the first time I did it, I did it in flip flops (I found the Redd Road Trails when I was driving home, totally unexpected… hence the flip flops).
I wouldn’t say this is the most scenic of trails, however, you do get a nice view of the west side, Transmountain and all that jazz. Great starter for beginning hikers, walks with the dogs, or cyclists.