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 Post subject: Belated Utah TR
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:44 pm 
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Better late than never I guess...A friend and I decided to do a quick assault of SW Utah at the end of September. It was his first trip to Utah and we only had 4 days away, so we fit as much as we could into a 4 day trip.

Day 1

Left San Diego around 4am and got to Gooseberry around lunch time. Winds were calm, skies blue and temps in the mid 70's.

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After riding several loops we ran over to Little Creek and arrived just before sun down.

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Day 2

The next morning we woke up to the rising sun and cooler temps and by the time we start rolling Little Creek temps have risen to mid 60's. While Little Creek requires more navigation due to cairns, the trail seems to have far more flow than Gooseberry with a great mix of slickrock and dirt with some fun drops and slightly more technical than Gooseberry. Very few pictures = too fun to stop and take pics.

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By late morning we finish our ride and head over to Zion. After lunch we join the crowds on a hike up the narrows. Definitely worth the hike and it was a great hike on a warm day with temps approaching 80.

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After the narrows we hiked up Angel's Landing as the sun was getting lower in the sky and the hike was in the shade. It can be brutally hot when the hike is in full sun. This hardly captures the beauty of Zion, but if you've been there you know how spectacular the valley is.

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We get back to our campsite to grab our stuff and head over to the showers only to find the pay showers down the road had just "closed" to outside campers. The shower nazi wasn't about to bend the rules for 2 stinky guys that hadn't showered in a couple of days, so we grab dinner and head back to the campsite and try to wash off with soap and cold bottles of water. Temps were still warm, but the wind was crazy!

Day 3

We woke at sunrise and headed out up to Thunder Mtn. Again the temps were in the low 70's with more blue skies and the trail delivered what we expected. It's not technical, but the flowy trail winds through canyons and hoodoos nearly identical to Bryce Canyon. I was kicking myself for not bringing the GoPro.

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We didn't capture the most spectacular parts of the trail as we hated to stop. More fun for us = lamer trip report for you.

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Getting back to the car by late morning, we grabbed some snacks and started driving to Brianhead. As we hit about 8k to 9k feet in elevation the aspens began to appear and the colors blew our SoCal minds. Neither of us had experienced the brilliant, vibrant colors that didn't appear real.

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We arrived at Brianhead and hired George's to shuttle us to the top of Dark Hollow. Our shuttle driver was born and raised in Cardiff and had just moved to Brianhead a few years ago. His adopted home was the small town that Cardiff was at one time, so he was stoked to leave the hectic SoCal life...can't blame him.

Dark Hollow was our favorite trail of the trip. Descending 5k-6k', it's a GREAT mix of flowy singletrack, rock gardens and fun little drops in a SPECTACULAR setting. I'd guess the trail drops about 3k' before you connect with a fireroad where you probably drop another 3k' back to the car. The trail could be truly epic and double in size if they cut singletrack back to the road. Despite the fireroad the trail still topped our list. We rarely stopped to take pics and weren't about to stop in the fun rock gardens.

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Towards the end of Dark Hollow my buddy washed the bike out trying to avoide a downed log and sprained his ankle. With only Bootleg left on our tic list we decided to skip it rather than aggravate his ankle on technical trails. So we headed home and surprised the wives by getting home a day early. Hard to believe how many trails we hit in 3 days and the varied terrain.


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 Post subject: Re: Belated Utah TR
PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:24 am 
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Wow! That's what I call road trip, beautiful pictures and good write up.
Thanks a lot for the TR but you owe us more pictures next time :thumbsup:


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 Post subject: Re: Belated Utah TR
PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:48 am 
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You guys sure hit a lot of great trail in short order!


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 Post subject: Re: Belated Utah TR
PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:00 am 
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Sweet, that looks like a great trip. Thunder Mtn is on my to-do list for next year for sure.


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 Post subject: Re: Belated Utah TR
PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:30 pm 
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bajamtnbkr wrote:
Wow! That's what I call road trip, beautiful pictures and good write up.
Thanks a lot for the TR but you owe us more pictures next time :thumbsup:


Jose, you set the gold standard for photojournalism. I don't think I'll ever meet your expectations, but I'll try next time :lol:


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 Post subject: Re: Belated Utah TR
PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:34 pm 
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Robo wrote:
Sweet, that looks like a great trip. Thunder Mtn is on my to-do list for next year for sure.


New username?

There is a network of trails in the National Forest around Thunder Mtn that you can ride. We didn't as we were anxious to get up to Brian Head, but you may want to budget a little time to check those trails out.


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 Post subject: Re: Belated Utah TR
PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:42 pm 
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the raw natural beauty of that area is ridiculous. they could easily make it one huge national park. but then we wouldn't be allowed to ride it....


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 Post subject: Re: Belated Utah TR
PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:50 pm 
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mealsonwheels wrote:
Robo wrote:
Sweet, that looks like a great trip. Thunder Mtn is on my to-do list for next year for sure.


New username?

There is a network of trails in the National Forest around Thunder Mtn that you can ride. We didn't as we were anxious to get up to Brian Head, but you may want to budget a little time to check those trails out.


Yep, changed it from my real last name to my nickname - more easily pronounceable!

Thanks for the tip!


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 Post subject: 50
PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 5:40 pm 
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 Post subject: Re: Belated Utah TR
PostPosted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:37 am 
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I need to go back to moose. It's been forever and don't even remember details of all the spots at all.

I'm so jealous.. Very nice write up.

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