Better late than never! On Saturday, May 2 we decided to head towards Rockville on Hwy 9 for some more, but different slick rock riding. Unfortunately I discovered that I somehow sheared off the head of the allen bolt that attached my derailleur hanger to my frame. DOH!!!
So a quick trip to Over the Edge bike shop in Hurricane was in order. I can’t say enough good things about these folks. They had a bolt that fit perfectly, installed it and made sure I was good to go. The almost silly part is they wanted only $5.00 for the fix. I would have gladly given them $25.00 or more but that was it. Over the Edge, you guys (and gals) are awesome!!!
Ok, off to an area called Guacamole. It is north of Hwy 9 between Hurricane and Rockville. It was about a 5 mile off road drive so I was really, really glad it did not rain too much the night before. The road culminates in a steep climb carved into the side of a cliff.
Looking down the road. What you don’t see is the 75 foot cliff/drop off to the right.
Once we reached the top, the ride was a lot like a mini version of Little Creek though it was a lot less refined.
In and around the rocks, sometimes the trails were easy to follow
Sometimes it took a more effort to follow the line.
There is lots of petrified wood on this ride. Here is a picture where somebody (not us) smashed a large chunk on an overlook. Uncool!
We covered about 7.5 miles but given all the play areas and exploration activates the ride took nearly 2.5 hours. It was about then we realized just how hungry we were. So off to Rockville for some lunch.
I had a Buffalo burger
Bud had an Elk burger
After wondering around town to let lunch settle we headed up the road to the trail head for Slickrock Swamp. The trail head out of the parking lot was very easy to follow.
After some seriously steep and loose climbing the trail leveled out and reverted to the slick rock/single track combo we had become accustomed to.
As we followed the trail in and around the mesa, it lead to a series of large boulders. A few of them had narrow passages. One of them was impossible to navigate with my wide bars.
On both trails the routes were marked by rock towers or painted dots on the rocks. We ran into one petrified wood sign. Somebody had a bit of time on their hands.
There was so much petrified wood in areas it looked a lot like a pile of wood chips, only they were all stone. We never found a stump or log, just small chucks. Very cool.
So all in all, Saturday was another great day. 20 ish miles of new trials and lots of good times that was had. After, we headed back to Hurricane and hit up a local sports grille for dinner. I even splurged and had a “monster” 32 oz beer. Funny, you would think that after a monster beer and a long day of riding, one would feel more buzzed. I think there is something funny about Utah beer. Maybe it’s just me….
