Utah Weekend – JEM, Goosebumps

Our final day of the weekend trip had me waking up to stiff legs.

The view from the front door.

We both desired to get back home at a reasonable time, so we opted for something efficient and fun. After breaking camp we parked at the JEM trailhead at the base of Gooseberry Mesa.

More Cowbell
I need “More Cowbell”

The last time I rode your when doing this as part of the Hurricane Rim Loop that consists of the Goulds Rim, JEM and Hurricane Cliffs trail. Since then there has been a lot if trails added in this area, it is now its on system.

Spider
Look at this little fellow

We ended up riding JEM, More Cowbell, Dead Ringer, Goosebumps, Cryptobionic, and some of the JEM Loop Route. (Not in that order) What a fun time we had. After a celebratory beer it was time to get back to the land of playing working stiff. It was another great adventure in Utah!

Utah Weekend – Grafton Mesa

Day Three took us out to Grafton Mesa which I had heard lots of awesome stuff about but had never been out on.

More Money

Sean on More Money

Grafton did not disappoint.

Sean on Show Me The Money

Sean on Dig-It!

We also did the Pigs In Space and Meanderthal trails along with a portion of Reach Around.

Free skin treatment

You know you are some good trails when they come with exfoliation services.

The drop in spot.

We did not take the techno-gnarly trail off the mesa as we had not made any shuttle arrangments and were not feeling up for major dirt road grindage to get back up on the mesa. Clearly I will have to go back!

Utah Weekend – Little Creek Mesa

Day Two had out at one of my all time favorites in the area, Little Creek Mesa. Sean had ridden one of the loops out here, but had not been out to the point so I was more than happen to do some showing around.

Mesa happiness
One of my happy places

We started out in the main loop and worked out way out the the western rim of the mesa.

Western Rim Little Creek Mesa
Western Rim of Little Creek Mesa

We then worked out way out the North Point.

Gooseberry from Little Creek
Looking at Gooseberry Mesa from the North Point of Little Creek Mesa.

From the North Point we continued on around and hooked up with Magic Carpet Ride.

Magic Carpet Ride
Magic Carpet Ride and long shadows.

Back at camp we enjoyed tasty beers before working on some bourbon while solving world hunger. Well maybe not world hunger, but may have put a dent in the bikes in wilderness issues. Ugh maybe it was which sections of the Pacific Crest Trail should be open to bike.

Bourbon
Yummy Bourbon!

One thing we certainly did figure out. It did not suck to be us on this day.

Utah Weekend – Wire Mesa

Man did I have great weekend near Hurricane Utah. Sean was out on an excursion in Utah with RV, his dirt bike and some MTB action on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We set Apple Valley as our rally point and we were soon off to Gooseberry Mesa to find a place to park the RV for the weekend.

The view from the front door of the RV.

After setting up the RV we had enough time left in the day for a ride so we hit up nearby Wire Mesa.

Wire mesa with Zion in the background
Sean on Wire Mesa with Zion National Park in view
Views from Wire Mesa
Views from Wire Mesa
More views of Wire Mesa
More views from Wire Mesa

The Wire Mesa trail does lots of bobbing and weaving right along the rim of the mesa. The trail seems longer than it actually is. The views are just great.

We pretty much used all of the remainder of the day. It was a great opener ride.

La Costa

This was my kind of way to spend a Monday morning. Taking a spin around at La Costa.

The trail system is bit beat up with braking bumps and braids around obstacles which there is a plethora of rant material to work with on this subject, the biggest one is there is just not enough good legal singletrack in coastal North County. There is good legal singletrack here so it is highly popular and ends up taking a beating.