We are boondocking on the trail network here in Hurricane and it is very convenient to ride right from camp. Our first mountain bike loop was 25 miles with 2433′ of climbing. As I mentioned the other day, this is not our first time in the area. We have been coming to ride the trails for a few decades. Today was nice because we incorporated a new to us trail called Goulds.
First we rode Cryptobionic to the Hurricane Rim Trail and took that along the cliff to Panorama Point. This is where the Hurricane Fault runs and it’s one of the worlds longest faults. From this point we could look across to Pine Valley Mountain at 10,365′ and the red cliffs we rode at on our first day. Pah Temp Hot Springs runs just below the point and that made sense. I’d been smelling STRONG sulfur for awhile! Pah Tempe Hot Springs flow at 107-degree water and dump110,000 tons of salt into the Virgin River every year. There are five man mad cement walled pools that cascade into each other. Fortunately/unfortunately the area is privately owned and closed to the public. I looked it up and it’s a sacred Indian site and there seems to be some ownership contention.
After a bomb downhill to the highway, we crossed and climbed up the Gould’s doubletrack. This part was kind of boring in that it is a grind up a dirt road to get to the singletrack. The sun was blazing hot and I had to keep guzzling water to stay hydrated. Finally we reached the trail and happily swooped around the rim on flowy singletrack. We were surprised not to see any other people out here!
The next section of Gould’s continued across a gravel road and this part was like a racetrack. The hard pack clay around here turns to near cement when it dries and this section was very fast and twisty. It’s dry already out here and some of the trails can get a bit dusty. Luckily I usually ride first so Derek gets all the dust!
To get back down to camp we rode a maze of trail like JEM, More Cowbell, Goosebumps and more. This isn’t a true downhill since nothing is too steep. The whole loop is very pedaly but extremely fun riding. What makes this a great trail network is the variety and the option for so many different loops. Two thumbs up.
We found a new porter we really like. It’s an Icelandic Roaster Porter and very delicious. We stocked up on beer before coming to Utah since I’ve never been impressed with any beer from the state. This once just made me feel adventurous!
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