St George trip 5/20-5/22

[Sombeech]

It's that time again!! I know we all want to get out of here, and I am proposing a trip down to St George from Friday 5/20 to Sunday 5/22. (Almost 2 weeks from this post)

There's numerous bike trails that we haven't even seen yet. I will have more info on those trails in the posts to come, or you may feel free to post some info on some trails that interest you.

For some reason, I just love that Green Valley Loop/Bear Claw Poppy Trail. (Even though I cracked my ribs on it last time). It's the short 4 mile ride, mostly down hill right within St George. It's easily accomplished within 2 hours or less, including the pick up and drop off. I know we've done this a number of times, so this won't be high priority. There are a lot of more trails not rode yet.

We are also looking into doing some slot canyons, if time permits. We will keep in mind that most of us are beginners, so nothing too hairy. If anybody has info on some convenient canyons nearby, we'd love to have it.

Plan on funds for a motel, just in case....

[accadacca]

:clap: :ride:

Are you taking Friday off?

[Sombeech]

:clap: :ride:

Are you taking Friday off?
I would like to, but it's usually such a pain to ask for it off, especially since Chivato and I work together. I really want to try for it though.

If we get Friday off, I would love to go down Thursday night.

If we go down Friday night, that really only leaves us with Saturday and Sunday morning to cram everything in.

[accadacca]

I am up for any new trails. Do you have any in mind yet? I also wanted to mention that you can rent bikes down there. I have a couple decent loaner bikes that I can get if your a cheap ass. :razz:

Lets get planning. :popcorn:

Trail search here: http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/

[Sombeech]

Check out all of these trails in St George!

http://utahmountainbiking.com/trails/idx-st-g.htm

I just did a quick count, but there's about 30 on this website.
City Creek - Rusty Cliffs Trail
http://utahmountainbiking.com/trails/pics/b-cityc1.jpg

Little Creek Mountain
http://utahmountainbiking.com/trails/pics/b-ltcrk1.jpg

Slickrock Swamp Trail
http://utahmountainbiking.com/trails/pics/B-SWMP01.JPG

[Sombeech]

http://utahmountainbiking.com/trails/idx-st-g.htm

Little Creek Mountain
http://utahmountainbiking.com/trails/pics/b-ltcrk1.jpg


This one looks a lot like gooseberry mesa, but I am lacking some info on how long the trail is, and exact location.

[Sombeech]

Well, we've got plenty of resources for biking, now all we need are some ideas for slot canyons, (if this is something we are interested in).

With our limited time, I would hope to find a canyon we could do in about 4 hours, plus drive time, and also on the beginner to intermediate level. I don't think hardly any of us will have equipment for a rappel.

We are probably looking at about 3 destinations total for the trip. Maybe 2 biking, and 1 canyon? We'll gather the opinions though.

And also, the almighty buffet. Either in Mesquite or Vegas. It always tastes better after a good workout.

[rockgremlin]

A word of caution about slot canyons this time of year. Spring runoff is extremely high right now, so be very careful which canyon you choose. Zion's canyons are almost out of the question due to either being too technical, too much water, or too cold. In other words, almost a mandatory prerequisite for Zions slots right now are full-body wetsuits, and full canyoneering gear (Harnesses, ropes, belay devices, etc).

I know of one slot just outside Kanarraville that may be do-able, if the water levels are ok. Might be worth looking into...

[Sombeech]

I know of one slot just outside Kanarraville that may be do-able, if the water levels are ok. Might be worth looking into...

Where is Kanarraville? Do you know the name of the slot?

I guess we can always resort to Snow Canyon, and checking out the lava caves, but I think everybody's done them.

And if there is no convenient canyon to hit, we'll just do more biking.

[accadacca]

Yeah I vote for more biking if we cant find anything. The Snow Canyon thing is old news. This will not be the only trip down there. We can hit a Zions slot next time.

[rockgremlin]

Kanarraville is between Cedar City and St. George. The slot I know of is kind of "undocumented." It may be found on Shane's website with a "circle of friends" login.

[Sombeech]

Yeah I vote for more biking if we cant find anything. The Snow Canyon thing is old news. This will not be the only trip down there. We can hit a Zions slot next time.

Good call.

[accadacca]

It may be found on Shane's website with a "circle of friends" login.
Looks like were screwed then. :lol8:

[accadacca]

A few possibilities that I found:

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/mineral_gulch/canyon.html

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/kanarra_creek/canyon.html

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/spring_canyon/index.html

[Sombeech]

A few possibilities that I found:
http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/kanarra_creek/canyon.html
That Kanarra creek looks pretty cool. I wonder what the water flow is in Zion this time of year? I would suspect kind of high.
It looks like a colorful canyon though.

I would be up for it if we knew it was safe. In fact, we really should try to do this one if we feel it is safe. It looks like it is somewhat near the freeway, and close to a town.

[accadacca]

Looks doable to me so far. I put a post about it in the Canyoneering section.

Another link: http://www.climb-utah.com/Zion/kanarra.htm

[Sombeech]

This looks very photogenic. It just depends on how wet we want to get. Wading would be inevitable.

Kanarra creek:
http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/photographs450/kanarra2.jpg

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/photographs450/kanarra1.jpg

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/photographs450/kanarra3.jpg

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/photographs450/kanarra10.jpg

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/photographs450/kanarra7.jpg

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/photographs450/kanarra4.jpg

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/photographs450/kanarra8.jpg

[rockgremlin]

That's the same canyon on Shane's site.

BTW, I'm a member of the "circle of friends," so I can get access to all areas of Shane's site.

Kanarra looks like a great canyon, I've never done it, but would love to.

[accadacca]

That's the same canyon on Shane's site.

BTW, I'm a member of the "circle of friends," so I can get access to all areas of Shane's site.

Kanarra looks like a great canyon, I've never done it, but would love to.
Are you going with us?

[rockgremlin]

Depends on my work schedule, and if you guys are gonna do Kanarra or not.

I've been applying to different companies offering summer internship positions. Haven't landed one yet, but I should find out sometime this week (hopefully soon).

[Sombeech]

Depends on my work schedule, and if you guys are gonna do Kanarra or not.


I know I would really like to hit it. I'm wondering when would be the best time to do it on this trip.

We probably can't do it on the way in or out of St George, because our bikes would be left at the trailhead on our vehicles, unless we locked them up pretty good.

It's probably only a half hour drive there anyways, from St George.
Man, I'm tired of typing St. George.

[Sombeech]

Your bike not up to par? Do you want to try some full suspension for these trails?
Here are some rental sites from St. George, to Zion, to Cedar City.

http://www.bicyclesunlimited.com/

http://www.cedarcycle.com/

http://www.springdalecycles.com/

http://www.redrockbicycle.com/

[accadacca]

My vote is for our main Mt. Bike Trail (which we haven't decided on yet) on Saturday morning. Then go back, put the bikes away, regroup, exchange gear. Saturday afternoon we hit a slot. It doesn't get dark until like 9:00pm. Sunday morning we could do GVE, just like last trip. :2thumbs:

I didn't even have to type St. you know. :lol8:
BTW....I am picking up my new rockshox today! I will install them tonight! :bootyshake:

My new shock: http://www.sram.com/en/rockshox/mountainforks/duke/index.php

[Sombeech]

My vote is for our main Mt. Bike Trail (which we haven't decided on yet) on Saturday morning. Then go back, put the bikes away, regroup, exchange gear. Saturday afternoon we hit a slot. It doesn't get dark until like 9:00pm. Sunday morning we could do GVE, just like last trip. :2thumbs:
Let's go with that. Now, all we have to decide is what buffet we want to eat at Saturday night. :popcorn:
I'm guessing 6 of us for this trip, BTW.


My new shock
Nice.

[Sombeech]

I'm not sure if I can get Friday off yet...

[accadacca]

I'm not sure if I can get Friday off yet...
I will plan on it, just in case. If you can then we could hit a different bike trail that day. That would be sweet! :cool2:

[chivato]

Sounds like fun. Hopefully it will work out. :afro:

[accadacca]

Now we just need to pick a new trail to try. There are so many. I have been reading about several good ones.

[accadacca]

The trails around Brian Head look epic. I have heard so many good things about those trails. They may be to high for this trip. But I will be hitting a few of them sometime this year. I have not got to them the last few years. Check out the link under Southern Plateau: http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/idx-sout.htm

Check out these trails in that section:

Blowhard Mountain
Bunker Creek
The C Trail
Dark Hollow

An the list goes on............. :popcorn: IMO these are the best trails near St. George.

[Sombeech]

So, I guess you take the lift up to the top? Those look like a blast. Whether we do them this time or not, we should try to do them this year.

I wonder how much time out of the day it would take for travel... Isn't Brian Head/Cedar City about 45 minutes outside of St. George? Maybe we could catch one on the way home sunday morning?

These Warner Valley ones look kind of cool. The Cholla loop says it has some technical slickrock, and it's just outside of town. The thing that's throwing me off, is the 8 year old in the picture though.
This one looks a little too easy, but it says it is fast.
http://utahmountainbiking.com/trails/warner.htm
This one looks a little more technical.
http://utahmountainbiking.com/trails/warner-cholla2.htm

[rockgremlin]

Dudes, good luck on trying to Mtn bike at Brian Head this time of year!! They're still under many feet of snow right now. Their average snowpack was almost quadrupled this season!!

Not to snow on your parade or anything but something to consider.

Snowbird is re-opening the lifts all through this weekend because they just got a bunch more snow.

Check this out:

http://web.ksl.com/TV/weather/weather_snowpack.php - The virgin drainage consists of the Brian Head area, and they're currently at 382%!!

Unfricking-believable!

[Sombeech]

Oh, I believe it this morning! I've got 6 inches in my yard. All of my trees and roses will probably snap off. You should see 'em.

[rock_ski_cowboy]

I"m hitting Snowbird this Saturday... I have a friend whos been hitting it every Saturday for the last month and been loving the conditions.

[accadacca]

I"m hitting Snowbird this Saturday... I have a friend whos been hitting it every Saturday for the last month and been loving the conditions.
NICE!!! Are you a boarder or Skier?

[Sombeech]

Check out the extended forecast for Washington county next week.

http://www.weather.com/weather/extended/USUT0267?par=yahoo&site=www.yahoo.com&promo=extendedforecast&cm_ven=Yahoo&cm_cat=www.yahoo.com&cm_pla=forecastpage&cm_ite=CityPage

80's, partly cloudy. Sun tan weather. I wouldn't want to go down any later, either. That's good biking weather. Doesn't that sound nice right about now?[/url]

[Sombeech]

Ok, well things are looking good. Accadacca and I will be heading out Thursday night.
Everybody else will head out Friday. This will give acca and I a chance to hit the full loop of Gooseberry mesa before everybody comes down.
Then, a trail on saturday, and a trail on sunday.
We'll give you the report of how it went on a new thread. This one's getting rather large.
Anybody have any other ideas for this trip?