St George questions

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Originally Posted by rideit

Anyone wanna flail/mob around on bikes this coming March 11-13?
Gonna be the first time riding since November, so very chill pace.
Gonna have a regular bike and an e-bike for shits n giggles.
Looking for some new to me trails…

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I'd like to rideit but I'm slammed lately with work, being sick this week, and family obligations. It's been a really cold and wet year in the SW so the mid elevation stuff and up is probably a no go in SW Utah but the stuff right around St. George is good. Vegas would be fun. If you can get down to Kingman or Sedona let me know and I'll meet up with you for a ride. The stuff I've been working on in Kingman isn't a big system but it's fun as heck tech terrain, I think you'd appreciate it. There probably isn't enough in Kingman to make it a worthy destination but it's definitely worth it if it's on your way or you want to hang out in a new and completely undiscovered place. the historic downtown is really cool and feels like a ghost town. It's so freaking chill and there's killer Mexican food.

Thanks man, I would love to get a tour again with you! This is a lightning trip, three nights total. Gotta get some dirt time in before going to ride with some pros in Colombia…:fmicon:

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Originally Posted by rideit

Thanks man, I would love to get a tour again with you! This is a lightning trip, three nights total. Gotta get some dirt time in before going to ride with some pros in Colombia…:fmicon:

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I kind of figured it was a quick hit sort of trip. Columbia eh? That sounds dope! I was just looking at Ecuador. Holy crap they have some downhills there.

I have done a 12k descent in Peru (sadly no longer doable), and a 10k road descent in Hawaii. The prime Colombian descents seem to be fairly typical, though, 3-5K or so in the Manizales area. Haven’t really heard much about Ecuador. My goal is to hit all or most of the biggest descents in each S.A. country by 65.

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Originally Posted by rideit

I have done a 12k descent in Peru (sadly no longer doable), and a 10k road descent in Hawaii. The prime Colombian descents seem to be fairly typical, though, 3-5K or so in the Manizales area. Haven’t really heard much about Ecuador. My goal is to hit all or most of the biggest descents in each S.A. country by 65.

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Theres 5 to 7k descents in Ecuador. Maybe larger. 12k? Hot damn!

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Originally Posted by raisingarizona13

Theres 5 to 7k descents in Ecuador. Maybe larger. 12k? Hot damn!

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Several. At least one in the 3,000m range

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Originally Posted by rideit

Anyone wanna flail/mob around on bikes this coming March 11-13?
Gonna be the first time riding since November, so very chill pace.
Gonna have a regular bike and an e-bike for shits n giggles.
Looking for some new to me trails…

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I'll be down there from the 9-13th... I already have a few commitments so I'm not sure how much add'l time I'll have to ride, but I may be able to get out for a quick Grafton or Zen/Barrel loop one day. Shoot me a PM next week and maybe we can link up.

Sounds good, that would be super rad.

I think it's going to be really muddy down there.

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Originally Posted by smmokan

I'll be down there from the 9-13th... I already have a few commitments so I'm not sure how much add'l time I'll have to ride, but I may be able to get out for a quick Grafton or Zen/Barrel loop one day. Shoot me a PM next week and maybe we can link up.

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Where are you going to be on April 22nd smmokan? We've got a fun event coming up in Kingman that Saturday.

Even on the trails closer to town? I wasn't planning on goose or little creek.

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Originally Posted by rideit

Even on the trails closer to town? I wasn't planning on goose or little creek.

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They got a dusting on this round but it won't take much to dry out I think. The moisture train just won't stop this winter tho. Even Kanab has been under snow mostly for months now. I don't think the stuff right around St. George is going to be too saturated a long as there's a couple of days of warmth and sun.

I’m kind of gambling on this, it was exactly the same on the same weekend last year. Snow didn’t disappear from north facing hillsides until past La Verkin.
But I gotta feed the jones!

This year for snow and rain is quite different than the past few years. I was thinking the Grafton idea might be impossible though, not the trails around St George. My wife was in Zion recently and there is snow on the ground and another storm coming.

I swear there was a webcam at the Yurts on Gooseberry, but I can't find a link...anyone?

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Originally Posted by raisingarizona13

Where are you going to be on April 22nd smmokan? We've got a fun event coming up in Kingman that Saturday.

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I'll be back home in CO in April...

Who knows, maybe Vegas!

Hi

I was there last week before the storm cycle. Any north facing hills or in shadows was too wet. South facing and lower were better. It had been in the 50’s and 60’s a couple days and I thought all would be dry. It wasn’t, and there has been a lot of snow since. For perspective, we’ve hiked angels landing that weekend without issues numerous times. This year was heavy ice requiring spikes to clear.

Bump. Actually gonna be nice cooler temps so GF and I are doing to quick weekend down from MT. I was there in 2021 solo and camped at Sheep Creek and did JEM area, Zen, Grafton.

GF is solid Blue+ who has actually ridden blacks and un-rated hyper loose gnar in Mexico. Looks like Wire and Gooseberry are must do. Gooseberry have a bunch of mandatory shit or can she walk when she needs to?

Places to camp that might have afternoon shade so the dog will be chill? Places to swim/hobo bathe besides Sheep's Bridge and the res?

I wouldn’t call Wire Mesa a must-do; it’s a pretty boring (and short) trail that just has great views. But everything in the area has great views. At intermediate+, I’d do Gooseberry and Little Creek, they’re both much more fun than Wire Mesa.

Must do for Blue+ is Holy Guacamole. The flow is spectacular. There are a lot of quick punchy step ups but they aren’t technical, just short and steep which may suck her energy. But it’s a short fast ride with spectacular views of Zion and even more spectacular flow. There is camping here but shade is sparse from my recollection.

Goose isn’t stiff in terms of mandatory features IMO, and Windmill is going to be more on the great views for less effort. The harder rated trails are really more about just continuous effort with lots of up and down. The nice thing about Goose is that you have bailout options via the various roads in case of bonking / frustration / had enough punchy Mesa combat riding. Great place to camp but not a fun place to be if there are T storms, and the roads can get pretty nasty if they get saturated. I think there is more shade up here than Guac, but it’s been 8-10 years so my memory is hazy. I don’t recommend testing your mettle on Smithsonian Butte road from Grafton up to the Mesa top unless you have a vehicle setup for high clearance off reading and low gear ratios, just go around to the south side before driving up to Goose.

LCM is great but there aren’t bailout roads - my wife lost her energy and will here with the Mesa combat riding and it was a pain getting back to the truck. LCM has lots of camping options and is more remote feeling than Goose or Guac, which see a lot more traffic.I think there might be more shade here than Goose, but memory is still hazy, this was about 5 years ago when I was last there.

I seem to remember more shade at the informal Kolob Gardens campground right off the creek of Kolob Terrace road, if that place is still around anyways!

Gooseberry and Little Creek are awesome. There's no painted dots at Little Creek, so route finding can be challenging. Make sure you're running a navigation app if you ride here (Trailforks, MTB project). My favorite trail there is Grafton.

I think gander is a better ride than wire mesa. Road could be dusty but you can ride it as an out and back.

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Originally Posted by rippling over canyons

Gooseberry and Little Creek are awesome. There's no painted dots at Little Creek, so route finding can be challenging. Make sure you're running a navigation app if you ride here (Trailforks, MTB project). My favorite trail there is Grafton.

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Grafton is a fun ride, for sure. It doesn't even show up on MTB Project, though. :confused:

I'm not a huge fan of Wire, either, but it works for a shorter, partial rest day ride.

I liked Grafton better than Wire, but it's longer while still being a little boring compared to GBM, Little Creek and Guac. And more cactus hiding in the trail (as of October, anyway).

Yes I rode some of the stuff on Grafton in 2021. It was cool but definitely a good bit of cactus hiding and the final section off the mesa down to the huge gap jump is a no go for the GF i'm sure. That is one chunky gnar section for sure.

Yeah, that part isn't so boring, either! I was referring to the trails up on the mesa itself, including a big loop out to views like Wire's. But you're right: there's no doing Grafton without the DH, so maybe a bad candidate with the GF. Plus cactus.

Ended up finding a sweet spot with no neighbors out Kolob. The Sheep Creek/Jem area sites were BUSY.

We ended up riding all the blue stuff on Gooseberry the first day. I think I liked Gander the best. She wasn't ready for Secret etc.

Day two we did Margarita > Guac > Holy Guac. Perfect weather both days. I always forget UT is a little far for a 3/4 day trip.

We’re going to be in St. George in October and I just realized it’s the same weekend as Rampage. Will Gooseberry and Grafton be a complete shit show? Is it better to ride that area during the actual event assuming most will be spectating?

Grafton shouldn't be busy during the event but I bet it's busy the days before and event days in the afternoons. But after a full day of a comp iit's hard to ride anything long afterwards in the shorter days of October. If the event is delayed I'd guess everyone will ride and things will be crowded. I saw workers riding Gooseberry the day before Rampage but I wouldn't say that whole area was a shitshow, just busy. It was cool to leapfrog Darren Berrecloth on Gooseberry for a few miles that day.

Camping will be hard and restaurants will be busy. Lotsa drunks who won't be riding too, ha.