The St. George area has one of the best trails, Gooseberry Mesa, which is worth flying to Salt Lake and making the five-hour drive down to Southern Utah. The only thing that would prevent me from making the Gooseberry Mesa trip is if one of my kids had a snowboarding lesson or if my wife wanted to see a movie that night. Then there's no way I'd go.

 

One of the problems with making the trip down to St. George is that after Gooseberry Mesa, there aren't any other great rides. Or so we thought. I'm breaking my silence on this blog to make the following announcement: Little Creek Mesa ranks right up there with Gooseberry Mesa, Gold Bar Rim, and Slickrock. Let's break it down.

 

 

Not easy. If you know where you're going, it takes about 45 minutes to get there from Hurricane, including 30 minutes of dirt roads. If you don't know where you're going, and if the car you're supposed to be following makes a wrong turn and hides behind a tree, you may make a wrong turn trying to catch up to the car that was actually behind you, and it'll take you about 2 hours to get there, and you'll be in a little bit of a bad mood, and you may be tempted to skip the ride and cut straight to the beer cooler. In such a case, I recommend letting patience be the better part of valor.

 

 

Little Creek Mesa is basically a big loop that you can ride in any direction, so I'll describe the way we went. Remember when I said it's a big loop a few seconds ago? Well, that's not actually true. It's more like a lollipop with a half-mile stick and a candy part with a 12-mile circumference. You ride out from the parking lot to a T where the loop connects. People suggest that you memorize that area so you can figure out your way back to the trail (OR YOU MIGHT DIE!!!). If you leave yourself an extra hour or two, you should be able to find your way back. But if you need to get back home early -- for example, your wife may want to go see a movie -- then it's best to remember where the intersection is.

 

The ride combines dirt singletrack and large patches of undulating slickrock. We spent the first hour of the ride rolling through the slickrock areas, stopping every now and again to goof around on ledges and craters. After about an hour of pleasant riding, we hugged the rim for a few mesmerizing miles, and then the trail turned away and headed back in. Even though we hadn't found any moves that we'd want to give names to, I was thinking the trail was still great just for cruising along. The swigglebutt sections through the dense pine sections and the long ride along the rim alone were worth the trip, but then we hit an amazing technical section with moves that we'll want to try again and again and again, including a crux move that's perfect for both singlespeeds and geared bikes. Singlespeed riders can't make the middle move, but they can loop around to the right and scramble up if they hit it perfectly. There's also a long, steep stairway that I regret not going back and trying, so that's part of my waking dreams.

 

Click here for youtube videos that Elden posted.

 

 

We didn't actually do the whole ride. We missed out on a long spur and several smaller loops. Still, a mountain bike trail just doesn't get any better than that. Aside from easy access, it has everything.

 

***** out of ***** stars