24th of July - Traversing the state

In the past, the 24th of July is spend with our family at Bear Lake. We just go for the day, leave early and get home late, but this year we decided to do more. The 24th was spent at Bear Lake as the past, but the following two days were spent in St. George and Zions. We essentially went from one end of the state to the other.

 

Bear lake was nice, we got some snorkeling in, played volleyball, and tried to jump on the floating Trampoline. We just had a general good time.

 



 

 

 

 

 

We arrived home late on the 24th, and early the next day headed down to St. George. We made a stop before in a little town called Kanarraville to hike Kanarra Creek. I think this was the highlight of the trip for most. It is a short slot canyon that leads to three cool waterfalls. Crowded, but not overly.

 

 

Climbing the ladder is not near as bad as it looks, we all made it up with no problem.

 

This slide is fun and popular, we all went down.



 

Day two in St. George we headed into Zions. There all but Mom and Hannah (who was not feeling well) made it out to the top of Angels landing. We followed that by a hike in the Narrows.

 

 

Scout look out, deciding who is going up.

 

 

Josh at the top, I wouldn't let the youngest do this.

 

 

Angel Landing! We all made it, any were surprised how young the kids were. Especially when our youngest at only 7 was passing much older people on the trail telling them how fun it was while they held tenaciously to the chain or tree.

 

After that we headed into the Narrows, people were tired but once in the water loved it.

 

 

They wanted to keep going while others turned back. It was overcast so not as warm as it normally is, some were having more fun than others at this point.

 

Going back, shivering and all, they kids were obsessed with floating in the water as much as possible. Dad may have sparked this interest. The camelbaks act as life jackets and blowing air into the reservoir only made them float better.

 

Before heading home, we stopped at the pioneer town of Grafton (and the ending of a killer bike trail). We enjoyed perusing the cemetery and the old log cabins. Makes you thankful for what we have now. Those settlers were beyond tough.

 

We arrived home early Sunday morning (1 AM ), everyone was tired but loved the trip. I have not doubt this will be on everyones list to do again.

 

 

Gooseberry's Fraternal Twin - Little Creek Mesa

Gooseberry Mesa -  for Mountain bikers the name evokes images of winding around and through trees while hopping rock ledges, skirting cliff edges and riding one of the prime trails ever created. Little known too most is it's twin; Little Creek Mesa.

While similar in riding, many have suggested that Little Creek rivaled and even surpassed the riding to be had on Gooseberry. The trails are less marked, but for the adventurous in spirit that becomes and indeed is part of the allure that keeps them coming back.

We had ridden Little Creek before, but I broke a rear hub after only a few miles. We went and bought a new rear hub and rim, but with daylight fading we were only able to get in 10 miles or so. We had heard rumor that there are many more miles of trail (actually up to forty according to over the edge sports in Hurricane) so we had to go back.

We didn't end up taking many pictures. We were too busy riding.

After riding much of what little creek has to offer, I guarantee we will be going back again and again!

St. George Biking

You know those days when everything is right? The Temperature, breeze, attitude, trail conditions...everything. Saturday was one of those days.

My brother and I decided it was time for our first biking trip. Our fitness level was fairly low, so I spent about two weeks spinning everyday after work, and he worked out twice, I still couldn't keep up.

There were some new trails we wanted to try called Zen, Barrel Roll, sidewinder, and Guacamole. It had rained the week before, but with seven days of sun and a light breeze the trail conditions were in biking lingo, "Hero Dirt"...amazing...perfect.

We hit the first trail called Zen.

It is a amazing new singletrack that climbs about 1100 feet and includes technical climbing, descending and great views. I consider it a must ride.

After Zen we rode some semi-new trails outside of Santa Clara called Barrel Roll and Sidewinder.

These are also fun trails but not at the level of zen, a little less technical, but some great flowing sections, perhaps more intermediate.

After finishing Barrell Roll we, along with every baseball team in Utah, stopped by subway for lunch.

Black Forest ham with lettuce, onions, cucumbers, pickles and Yellow Peppers. Perfect.

After Lunch we headed out to a rarely ridden trail just outside of Arches called Guacamole. It was by far the best of the day and a perfect ending. The trail is a combination of dirt singletrack and slick rock, very similar to little creek or Gooseberry mesa. The road up was beyond the capacity of the Saturn so we pedaled up the trail, the ride was more than worth it.

Over all a great day riding. 27 Miles, 65 degrees, sunny with a light breeze.

For the ride home we took the scenic route through Zion National Park. Very pretty and very empty this time a year.

Dinner was at Arbys in Panguitch, which is where that first photo originated. Guthrie sporting his Bieber-hair-helmet.

In two weeks is Fruita.

The season has begun.