Guacamole Mountain Bike Trail, UT.

Last ride near Zion. Guacamole Trail...aka "Gooseberry Lite". Lots of exposed slickrock with a neat lead-out over looking the valley below. 7.5 mile ride.
Lynn rode up in the car with me and decided to hang out for the hour I expected to be gone.
Double that time....I'm not really sure how I found my way out. Guide says if self guided figure 3 hrs.
Main thing on this trail, give yourself plenty of time and don't start out too late in the day and get caught out there in the dark.


Drove a marginal road to the top of the Mesa in the rental car. Back seat of the Focus folds down, so the trunk had plenty of room combined with the backseat to stow the bike.

Rented a nice TREK from Zion Cycles.


See the trial ahead? Yeah, it's a searching game on this ride. Looking out toward Zion Park.
Up close.....
Farther away........
This cinder cone was the only thing that kept me straight. Luckily a guy at Over The Edge the day before told me keep note of it as a landmark. With it being around noon the sun was pretty much over head so using it as a compass was difficult.
This stack of rocks is the divider where the loop starts/ends. Funny thing, I never saw it on the way out. I picked up the "loop" somewhere off the lead-out but ended up here about the time I started thinking "how am I going to know where to head back on the lead-out trail?" Well, this was the place. There were many small loops leading off the main trail but they all eventually lead back to the main tread. Carins marked the way on the slickrock.
This is Fred that runs Zion Cycles in the town of Springdale, the last town before Zion. Come to find out that Fred had sold the Gary Fisher HiFo PRO that was broke at Blue Diamond. The guy had just walked out of the shop when I came in. Further, Fred is from WI and lived in the same area I currently live and we know some of the same folks in the biking community. He's been here 9 years or so. Small world sometimes.

JEM, Goulds Trail, Hurricane Loop, Trails..all in one. UT Mountain Bike Ride

Rode the J.E.M. trail that includes a few trails that make up a 24 mile loop. Starting off at the most northern Parking lot then turning right on to the Hurricane Rim trail doing the loop counterclock-wise was the recommended route. This allows one to finish on the JEM going downhill for the fast, furious, finish.

Rented a nice FELT from Over The Edge rental in Hurricane.
Hurricane Rim/Cliffs trail. At some points VERY close to the edge.
While stopped looking at the map, Lam from Central Idaho, peddled up to me and we rode for 6 miles together after making introductions.

At the high point of the Hurricane Cliffs Rim trail Lam turned around and headed back. He had started at the town of Virgin, so had a number of miles in before we met just past the trailhead. I continued on down and around the canyon head. Lam can be seen as the tiny speck on the horizon line. Click on pic to enlarge.
Looking down into the towns of Hurricane and La Verkin.

The start of the Goulds Trail.
Which leads to the Goulds Rim Trail.
Met this family earlier in the ride. They were doing it clock-wise. 2 young boys about ages 10-11 or so. One was pushing a 29er. Good riders from what I could tell.
Gooseberry Mesa in the background. Another Epic ride in the area. I rode it back in 2008 as part of big western trip. It's a slickrock ride.
Goulds Rim.

Start of the actual J.E.M. section.

Met Katie and DJ from Park City, UT on the only section I actually walked on purpose. They were coming up the tight, steep, switchback and I was going down it. I rode most of the 50 yards but backed off on the last switchback. Price for failure was too high.
Didn't take any pics after this, the trail was too fast and fun to stop. Cruising through the high desert at about 15-20 mph for 5-6 miles.

Zion Park, UT.

Zion Park. Not much to say other than what the photos can hopefully relay. Very interesting Park.





Under a small waterfalls that allows for a hanging garden.

I was laying on the ground to get the angle of this shot.

They don't allow cars in the Park anymore, just too much congestion. The bus tour goes up the canyon about 10 miles and makes a number of stops. One can hike some short trails at the stops or just enjoy the views. Buses run every 6-8 minutes. Eventually, the canyon becomes too narrow for a road where a mile long hiking path has been built to continue on.






The canyon then becomes too narrow for even a hiking path so to continue on one has to walk in the stream bed. This becomes what is called The Narrows.

It was getting later in the day. The sun couldn't reach the canyon floor much anymore but it was hitting the tall peak in the background with full force. My camera was having a real tough time focusing as it couldn't deal with the contrast.



There is anther entry point on the East side where a mile long tunnel has been cut into the mountain. This was taken in the road up to the tunnel.