April 24, Zen Trail

Made the drive again back towards St George to ride the Zen Trail.  5.5 miles, 1500 feet of climbing.

This trail had more sustained climbing, up to the 3 mile mark.  Zen Trail is rated black, but Francine was quite happy to be able to ride most of the trail.

Descriptions say to skip the last 3/4 mile of the trail.  Since we got an early start, and we weren't too cooked, we opted to continue on the trail.  It did rise up and over a couple of sections, with some hike-a-bikes, where if it was hot, and you were getting baked, you would want to skip.

April 23, Barrel Roll, Sidewinder, Suicidal Tendencies; Santa Clara

Yesterday, Sunday, April 22, was sort of a rest day for us.  We wanted to explore Confluence Park which was just a couple blocks from the house.  The Virgin River joins with Ash and La Verkin creeks.  We rode up thru Hurricane across the river, hoping to find a way to descend the canyon, cross the river and climb back up to La Verkin.   Unfortunately, with no bridges, the Virgin River was running too big to cross.  We ended up riding pavement around Hurricane and then headed to the River Rock cafe for lunch.  Lisa and David came over for dinner after they went hiking in a slot canyon  near Kanarravile.  After dinner they "camped" in front of our house. 

Tuesday, April 23, we had a leisurely start eating pancakes with Lisa and David.  Headed to Santa Clara to check out a system of trails just outside St. George.   Hit Sidewinder and Suicidal tendencies for probably one of the best rides of the week.  3000 feet elev. gain and 13 miles.

April 22, Gooseberry Mesa

Lisa Parsons, South Rim Trail, Gooseberry Mesa

We are starting to check through most of the popular rides in the Hurricane, Utah area.  Today was Gooseberry Mesa.  Probably the first trail to be developed and widely recognized for it's fun mountain biking.   Today we were able to hook up with Lisa and David.  We made the 35 minute drive to the trailhead.  The 4 Wheel Drive Sprinter van, that Dave was driving, definitely handled the  bumpy jeep roads better than our Subaru Outback.  We were the second car at the trailhead and started the ride with perfect weather.   We rode the South Rim to the end, then  retraced our steps to Hidden Canyon.  Descended this to the White Trail (Road).  Went onto North Rim to its intersection with the White Trail again, then bombed down the road to the car.  12 miles.

April 20, Little Creek Trail Area

Francine going by a rock cairn necessary to stay on route

We were told that the drive to Little Creek was long and "out there".  It was 45 minutes from the house with lots of driving on bumpy jeep roads. It seemed most of our rides took 30 to 40 minutes to drive to, but some involved more dirt.  We went clockwise on Little Creek Mesa trail.  Attempted to ride out North Point trail, but got turned around and ended up on Little Creek Slick for our way back to the car.  Real nice ride.  Instead of painting white dots on all the rock, you have to keep an eye out for rock cairns to find your way.  It seems like quite a few of them fell over during the winter snow and wind.  Occasionally the route finding was a little difficult, but hard to get lost when you have trailforks app on the phone.  Fun ride, not much flow but plenty of interesting slick rock.  No one out there compared to Moab at this time of year, which would be packed with bikers.  8 miles.

Kevin and squirrel on rock to left of him

Hooked up with Lisa (Parsons) Delfiner and David after our ride.  They have been traveling in their converted 4X4 Mercedes Sprinter Van with their 2 dogs for the last 4 months, making it all the way to Florida.  They adjusted their travels to Hurricane/La Verkin when they found out our dates, and the weather for the slot canyons in Escalante was not good.  They came over for dinner and a late evening before heading off into the hills, in their van, for the night.

April 19, Guacamole Trails, Virgin Ut.

Tom and Lori went home first thing this morning.  We are on our own.  Made the pleasant drive to the Guacamole Trails.  Went out Margarita to Salt on the Rim.  Back on Margarita to Holy Guacamole.   Then onto Lime to Guacamole.  Nice rolling trails on the mesa.  11 miles.  Great ride

Francine by pool on Salt on the Rim

Francine on Holy Guacamole

Kevin stretching the hips on Holy Guacamole

Francine on Holy Guacamole

Rest break on Lime trail

April 18, The Jem Trails

We thanked Lori for the shuttle ride to the top of the Jem trails.  We descended Dead Ringer to Cryptobiotic to Hurrican Rim Trail for 13.5 miles, plus the 2 miles back to our house.

Francine and Tom on Dead Ringer

Tom on Dead Ringer

Francine on Dead Ringer

Tom and Francine

Tom and Francine on Hurricane Rim Trail