Goosberry Mesa, 12/29/2007

For our last day in Gooseberry we decided to do Gooseberry again. This time the full ride that goes out to the South Rim via God's Skatepark and then across to the North Rim via the Hidden Canyon Section. You then take the North Rim out to the vista point and return back to the car via South Rim in reverse. It makes for just under 14miles of excellent and varied technical single track riding. Yep it doesn't suck.


Sean on the opening lift of a nice sequence of lifts and turns. I really enjoying the problems that Gooseberry puts together they are rarely a single move and are connected so well it often reminds me of Bouldering (climbing) problems.


The next lift in the same sequence only a couple of more turns and two more steep lifts and you finish the section.


And are rewarded with another fun sequence just past it. This 60 or so feet of riding is just exemplary and is fun both directions.


Amber lifting through one of the tight grooves that are common between the slick rock domes. The trail constantly finds the right areas of weakness to keep the flow smooth and still keep it fun and challenging.


Domes and Bowls in the middle of God's Skate Park.


From a different angle.


The last part of the sequence.


It was still cool out with a lot of ice around the place in the shade, but it was much warmer than earlier in the trip.


Sections of single track in the trees are also good times.


Amber on the first of two lifts in this section, it is the end of a rocky climb (not to steep, but technical enough to get you working).


A section in the Hidden Canyon portion of the trail. Hidden Canyon is very different than the trail out on the South Rim. They are both very good and very fun, but the style of riding is very different as Hidden Canyon is much tighter slower riding while the more open South Rim is faster and has some steeper slick rock domes to tackle.


No photos of the North Rim section as we went into grind mode as it was starting to get cold again. This is one of the smaller domes on the return South Rim section of the trail.


Another steeper than it looks dome.

All in All it was simply an awesome trip and it is a shame (for us) that Gooseberry is just outside of weekend travel range being about 10-12 hours drive from Denver. I expect we will start to visit here more often on long weekends in the winter and spring.

It is definitely a must visit destination.

Slickrock Swamp - 12/28/2007

I read about Slick Rock Swamp or Rockville Bench as it also known on Utah Mountain Biking and it sounded like it might be a fun little "filler" ride. Boy was I wrong!

This ride was simply incredible. It was a lot like Gooseberry but was a little shorter. Whoever marked it out did a great job totally maximizing a fairly small area of excellent terrain. It is a loop that wanders in and around a small slick rock mesa.


It was much warmer today as well with temperatures almost breaking 60 degrees Fahrenheit. There were still frozen pools however.


The route followed the edge against a number of small canyons and the rim edge as well. It was a very 3 dimensional feeling ride.


Like gooseberry, there were lots of small slick rock domes and bowls to play in.


And the backdrop was spectacular as it was right on the border of Zion National Park. In fact there is talk of the whole area being added to the part which would be a huge shame as that would mean no more mountain biking.


Amber rolling into a bowl.


This is a steeper than it looks entry into a steep chute.

Overall this ride was a must-do ride. Sadly it seems inevitable that access will be lost as there was a lot of development going on close by and the national park is right on top of it as well. If you get a chance definitely ride it while it is available.

Little Creek Mesa, 12/28/2007

For our next day of enjoyment we headed over to Little Creek Mesa. I had bumped into a few riders in recent times that had commented that they really enjoyed this ride so it seemed a good natural second ride for the area.

Again it was pretty cold and this ride had a lot more snow as it had more single track in under juniper trees that let the snow in but sheltered it from the sun. It was fun to be creating fresh tracks as we rode.


We had our new GPS with us for this ride and it was very useful as the trail wanders in some of the slick rock canyons in the end of the ride. I actually can't imagine riding without the GPS again on trails I haven't ridden before as it was so easy to use and so helpful to have.


Another one of those "Big sky while riding a sea of slick rock" photos.


This ride also had slick rock steep sections but in general was technically easier than Gooseberry. I think once you knew your way around on the trail it would be a very fast and flowing trail.


Back at the car. Ambers bike has new annodized linkages that Ibis has made available. They were originally designed as a part of the new Mojo SL frame but they fit perfectly on our Mojo's as well and the red ones go nicely with Ambers Pretty in Pink Chris King hubs.

Overall I enjoyed Little Creek. We did the Western Loop, I personally still rate Gooseberry above Little Creek, but it is a fun ride that helps keep the quality of the riding for a trip here very high.

Goosberry Mesa, 12/27/2007

After escaping the snow in Moab we arrived in Hurricane, Utah excited to be able to ride Gooseberry again. I had enjoyed it a lot when we rode it on thanksgiving and was keen to try a version that included the Hidden Canyon option.

It was still cold down here with the high for the day being 38degrees (Fahrenheit) and being colder than that for much of the ride. There was also a bit of wind chill factor to contend with. However, just like Moab, as long as you were dressed for the conditions it was great riding with the added bonus of being a solitary experience with no-one else being out on the trail.


Amber starting out the single track.


One of the many up then down moves that make this ride so much fun.


There was quite a bit of snow on the shaded areas that was quite a fun change to ride on. It felt like we had 3 surfaces to play on - Slickrock, hard pack dirt and hard pack light snow over either of the other two.


Pretty pictures are easy to come by at Gooseberry.


Where is waldo? I was suprised how many of the pools had water in them - all of them were frozen solid.


Amber has started to get lifts down to a much more smooth, natural flow and she got better constantly throughout our riding on this trip.


A section of Hidden Canyon.

I really enjoyed the riding on Hidden Canyon it added even more variety and was consistent in it's technical challenges.

Gooseberry Mesa, Utah 11/24

We had long wanted to get done and ride Gooseberry so with snow all over Moab the day before this seemed a perfect opportunity.

The night before we went down and checked out Springdale which is the little town just outside the entry to Zion and very pleasantly surprised at the feel of the town. It was a great little place and where we had dinner was awesome. The bike shop was small but jam packed with stuff and the staff was incredibly helpful.

Gooseberry was just flat out excellent - all of the riding was totally world class and the way the trail was strung together was outstanding. The riding changed style and feel a few times through the trail but always it was fun and challenging.


The riding was very three dimensional. At times it felt like you were in a huge slick rock skate park - which is probably why one section was called God's Skate Park. The views were also excellent with the entry to Zion being visible at various times.


Lot's of ups and down with many of them being steeper than they look. In many ways it was similar to the Slick rock trail in Moab but with the steeps not being as a long, which in my opinion made them a lot more fun.


The trail meandered in and around rock domes and bowls.


It was very well marked and hard to get lost on. This was the end of a nice section of up and down slick rock.


A good example of how you were in bowls a lot.


Amber doing a step drop into a bowl.


Out on the south rim the feel of the trail switched again with fun flowing singletrack combined with steep slick rock sections.


There was also some fun play sections. This is a fissure you can roll over with a pretty back drop.


One of the slick rock sections on the south rim.


The south rim section of the trail has a small out and back to the viewpoint vista and the riding out there remained excellent as well.


Coming back along the north rim you have the option to take a number of spurs. This is in the Yellow Trail section and again the riding was just straight up good times.


The last section we used was the Bowls and Ledges section - yep it was good times as well.


Overall I would have to say that the ride was one of the most enjoyable rides I have ever done. Lot's of variety, lot's of options to play and a great sense of flow.

We need to go back and do some sections like the Hidden Canyon section and also go back and do some of the other rides in the area - there are a lot of them! We may well end up down there again over the Christmas holiday week.