Bloated Skiing

Hood River

Kevin sailing at The Hook

We missed Hood River last year due to our trip to Italy, but we found some time in June this year to make it back. Just to make it a little more interesting, Kevin ordered a bike from one of the local shops to avoid paying sales tax in our home state of Washington. So far have hit Post Canyon, and the 44 trails area. Also got one day in for windsurfing.

May 22 Whistler

May 14, Red Hill/ Devil's Gulch Loop, Cashmere, Wa.

Francine grinding up Red Hill Trail

With rain on the west side of the Cascades we headed east looking for better weather. We didn't quite find sunshine, as it sprinkled throughout the day. We did find amazing dirt and a great loop with lots of climbing. I think we ended up with 6,000 feet of elevation gain. We started at the trailhead for Red hill and did the loop counterclockwise. Unfortunately, two miles in, we had to negotiate a fairly fresh clearcut. This added quite a bit of time, and I wish we had managed to do the loop before the logging. It was still a great loop and we were glad to get it with such wet conditions. We were out most of the day and didn't see any other trail users. Great ride!

April 26, Corner Canyon, Draper Utah

We had to ride early to beat the rain. Checked out of our Airbnb and drove about 2 minutes to the Equestrian trail head - bicycle center. Decided to try out Clark's for our climb. It's a one way uphill. Clark's was quite a grunt to the top. Kevin wanted to head up and do Jacob's ladder, but with rain clouds looming we decided to head downhill.

Headed down on Ann's, then Potato Hill trail, and the BST trail to a super fun descent on Creek View.

With the impending rain, it was sure nice to know all the descent trails we took today, and where they would lead us. We probably had some of the best conditions ever, due to the wet spring. 1.35 hours and 9 miles.

April 25, Lichen it to Lava Flow, Cedar City

Today we leave our sweet house in La Verkin. Since we wanted to get on the road, we left at 8am for the 35 minute drive to Cedar City to ride the Iron Hills Trail System. Cedar City seems so far, but that is about the same drive time to Gooseberry Mesa, Guacamole and Little Creek (45 min).

Lisa and David joined us. They were able to leave the dogs at the house they rented and were up for the drive to Cedar City. These are all fairly new trails, recently built in 2016, with more on the way. We saw another green trail skirting the base of the mountain. A girl in the parking lot referred to another trail coming off the C-Trail, called Overlook, or something like that, that she said was fun.

Started climbing Lichen It, a green, machine built, purpose built for mountain bikers, climbing trail. We twisted and turned on packed red clay-dirt in the juniper trees for about 2 miles. Temps were quite cool to start the day, at 55 degrees, as we were at 5600 feet. Continued out and up on Canyon Hollow to the first road. Here at about 5 miles, after a snack break, we headed back down. At Boulderdash, which the sign noted as Double Black, we went left to climb and descend to Lava Flow.

Descended Lava Flow to the bottom. Super fun, flowy and swoopy with technical rocky sections thrown in to keep you paying attention. 9 miles.

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.