Road Trip Ride 4; Gooseberry Mesa Trail

Thursday night, we camped within the Gooseberry National Recreation Trail, just a few hundred metres down from the Gooseberry Mesa Trail trail-head.  Since we had driven up onto the mesa, there was no long climb to be had today, just endless little climbs, dips, boulders, rocks, gaps and other obstacles to navigate around.  Setting the path across the huge expanses of slick-rock were white painted dots, but there was lots of space to place and have fun.  When back within the trees, the riding was very tight, very technical and immensely fun. Definitely a full-body workout, not the big cardio work-outs we’d come to enjoy in the Colorado Rockies.

Again taking the advice we’d be given, we did a figure-eight loop of the mesa trails.  We started west-bound along the Cattle Grate Trail before joining the South Rim Trail, then turned north along the Hidden Canyon Trail; that hidden canyon was a very cool feature to pass through.  At trail’s end, we turned left to again head west along the North Rim Trail.  Just passed the Christmas tree [check the pics] we arrived at The Point; a stunning viewpoint looking out of the valley and the town of Hurricane.  It was stunning.

Turning around and heading east along the South Rim Trail, we again arrived at the south end of Hidden Canyon Trail.  As we’d been directed, we went back up to the North Rim Trail, but this time turned right, heading east along the Windmill Trail which, as you might imagine, ended at a now-defunct windmill.

Cruising back down the dirt-road to camp, we were all smiles after so much fun tearing around the top of Gooseberry Mesa.  Two great days of riding here in Hurricane.  Can we really expect more on Saturday?…