The other day we rode a bunch of trails in the WIlkins Peak Trail System and today we were across the river riding a couple new ones. We started down by the river and rode the Greenbelt trail out to the singeltrack.
The Green River Greenbelt in total is 12 miles of paved trail that meanders along the river and up into neighborhoods. We rode a small section of it past the Green River Bike Park and played around for a little while before continuing up to the singeltrack. The Green River Bike Park is 3.5 acres of elevated trails, pump track, dirt jumps, big berms, rock drops, teeter-totters and more. Oddly, we were the only ones there. This is a theme for us here in Green River. We have yet to see anyone else on a trail.
After winding around on the pathway, we turned off at the end of a neighborhood and found El Lupe Trail. El Lupe is a fun trail with little drops and twisty sections in and out of dry washes. This is high desert and the landscape is mostly sage and scrub with some wildflower blankets here and there. There is ZERO shade and it was a pretty warm day. We turned off onto the more technical El Loco Trail for more mileage.
El Loco is an unofficial unsanctioned trail but is awesome. The initial decent into the trail has a very exposed spine with some technical turns and a lot of extremely narrow singletrack with exposure, but I loved it. It’s more primitive since it doesn’t get ridden as much, but the trail takes you further out onto the bluffs overlooking Green River. You can see GIANT fish in the river below and we saw an osprey and an American avocet wading and feeding.
Green River
After our ride we stopped at Expedition Island downtown Green River and walked around. Teacher, civil war veteran, naturalist,and scientist John Wesley Powell started his expedition into the unknown right here at Expedition Island in 1869. This trip was the first official U.S. government-sponsored passage through the Grand Canyon. Expedition Island used to have an amusement park complete with 2 stern wheeler gas propelled motor launches named Sunbeam and Teddy R. These boats took tourists up and down the river here. That is hard to picture. Today the island has a big treed and grassy park with a paved path, a float channel and a whitewater park. We took a dip to cool off after our ride!
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