{"id":1298,"date":"2015-05-15T19:02:58","date_gmt":"2015-05-16T03:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=1298"},"modified":"2018-09-09T19:07:29","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T03:07:29","slug":"utah-weekend-boy-scouts-zen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=1298","title":{"rendered":"Utah Weekend – Boy Scouts & Zen"},"content":{"rendered":"

We woke up on day 2 of our Utah weekend to find that it had rained most of the night.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After consulting with the folks at Over The Edge in Hurricane<\/a>, we\u00a0changes our ride plans for the day to kept from mucking up the trails. We went out to the Quail Overlook Trail System<\/a> which is beside the Quail Creek Reservoir.\u00a0 Colloquially this place is known as the Boy Scout trails due to a nearby Boy Scout camp.<\/p>\n

\"UT-BoyScoutTrails-09MAY15-02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh my this place put down some techno-spank right out of the gate that included tight rocky single track with plenty of \u201cpower\u201d moves.<\/p>\n

\"UT-BoyScoutTrails-09MAY15-16\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The trail system primarily includes four loops on three sawtooth escarpments.<\/p>\n

\"UT-BoyScoutTrails-09MAY15-09\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The builders have done a super job of laying out the system to maximize the use of a rather small chunk of\u00a0land.<\/p>\n

\"UT-BoyScoutTrails-09MAY15-04\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This place is advertised as an expert level trail system and I can\u2019t argue with rating, but I will clarify it.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a \u201cslow-tech\u201d\u00a0wheels-on-the-ground playground. There is not a lot flow here and it is not a bad thing, its part of the character of that place that just seems to pack \u201cIt\u201d into the miles.<\/p>\n

\"UT-BoyScoutTrails-09MAY15-05\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I particularly enjoyed the combination moves.\u00a0\u00a0 Things like a rocky climbs with ledge moves coming out tight switch backs.\u00a0\u00a0 There were plenty sections where you seem to be continually in a state of using body English.<\/p>\n

\"UT-BoyScoutTrails-09MAY15-12\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The most northern loop called Adventure Scout was\u00a0by far the most technical of the bunch out there.\u00a0\u00a0 We ran into one\u00a0of the primary builders of this trail system (Quentin \u2013 \u2013 Awesome Job Quentin!!) and he described a couple of sections as best ridden \u201cBalls over Brains\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It is interesting to note that not following that advice could have you literally going \u201cBalls over Brains\u201d into some very unforgiving terrain.\u00a0\u00a0 There is a lot of effort per mile\u00a0designed into this\u00a0this place.\u00a0 We only did a little over six miles and it felt like we had done twice that.\u00a0\u00a0 I really dug the combination of power moves and the bit of\u00a0 mental \u201ccheckers\u201d required to clean the stuff out here.<\/p>\n

As we enjoyed a\u00a0tasty smuggled in San Diego microbrew over lunch, we decided that we had enough gas in the leg tanks for an afternoon session.<\/p>\n

\"UT-Zen-09MAY15-02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We hit up The Zen Trail<\/a> which is right on the outskirts of St George.\u00a0\u00a0 I had heard lots of good stuff about\u00a0this trail and it has always been on the To-Do List but have never gotten to it.<\/p>\n

\"UT-Zen-09MAY15-03\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Things opened up with a climb and soon we were near the edge of the mesa.<\/p>\n

\"UT-Zen-09MAY15-05\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is about a total of 1,100 feet of climbing on this route.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We could see ominous clouds slowly moving our way.<\/p>\n

\"UT-Zen-09MAY15-07\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The variety of this trail is quite awesome. Rock crawling, sweet single track, vista, there are lots of goodies out here.<\/p>\n

\"UT-Zen-09MAY15-09\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When we got to the top of the mesa we\u00a0had some great views of Green Valley below.\u00a0 We could also see the rain a coming!\u00a0 Shortly after the picture above, the rain caught us and the camera remained holstered in my pack.\u00a0\u00a0 The descent was exceptional with a combination of sweet single track and with some slick rock.\u00a0 There were also a few undulations along the way that put a little sting in the legs at this point in the day\u2019s overall effort.\u00a0\u00a0 We also missed a turn and found ourselves on double track.\u00a0 After a bit of uphill backtracking we hooked back up on the single track that lead us back to the trailhead.<\/p>\n

\"20150509_190226\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just as we were getting back to the truck the rain stopped and the sun broke out.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ahhh rainbows and microbrews from heaven.\u00a0 We were living well!<\/p>\n

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