Day 1. Arrive Las Vegas, transfer to St. George
After landing in Las Vegas, take the shuttle to our hotel in St. George and if you have time, relax and enjoy the scenery and sights in this beautiful southwestern town. We'll have a meet and greet dinner at 7 pm at our hotel and discuss the incredible trip ahead.
Day 2. Bear Claw, Gooseberry Mesa, JEM
Get ready for a fantastic first day of riding! We'll start off with the fantastic Bear Claw trail, with famous features such as The Three Fingers of Death, Clavicle Hill and the BMX that can be challenging for even expert riders. Intermediate riders can pick less technical lines and can equally enjoy this trail. The trail only takes about 40 minutes to ride, and often we will do a second shuttle to the top.
In the afternoon, we'll head to the spectacular Gooseberry Mesa, now being mentioned in the same category as the Slickrock Trail and Porcupine Rim in Moab as one of the elite mountain bike trails in the world. Gooseberry is an amazing combination of technical, slick rock ups & downs and single track. Trails requiring different technical abilities loop from the road. (The South Rim loop is more technical than the North Rim loop). Views from the edge of the mesa will take your breath away!
We'll top off an incredible day with JEM trail, with spectacular views of the chasm of the Virgin River and a high-speed singletrack descent.
Day 3. Zion National Park, Guacamole
We'll start the day off with a bang, getting up early to catch the early morning light in Zion National Park. One of the first national parks in Utah - and one of the most spectacular in the US - Zion's beauty leaves visitors breathless and speechless. Known for its canyons, Zion offers up one of North America's premier hiking experiences. We'll take a couple of hours off the bikes this morning to explore this beautiful area before heading back to town for breakfast and a full day of riding.
We'll ride the amazing Guacamole trail in the afternoon, a super fun rocky trail that will have you grinning from ear to ear. The trail is a mix of undulating open rock riding and singletrack through juniper, pinion and brush.
Day 4. Little Creek, Hurricane Rim
Little Creek is another of the spectacular mesa-top trails in the St. George area, with views on all sides that will get your cameras working overtime. It's a mix of winding singletrack through pine forest and slickrock, practically in the middle of nowhere. The feeling of serenity and solitude you'll get on this trail add up to a whole lot of bliss.
We'll head to Hurricane Rim in the afternoon for more epic riding along some premium singletrack, following the Virgin River before dropping into the town of Hurricane.
Day 5 (Spring). Barrel Roll, Grafton Mesa
After breakfast, we'll head to the Santa Clara River Preserve to ride Barrell Roll, a real roller-coaster of a ride and a blast to shred. It's one long maze of singletrack fun that weaves its way through cliffs with tons of undulating, fast and flowy, up-and-down sections. Views along the trail vary from the spectacular Red Mountain and Pine Valley Mountains, to the Santa Clara River corridor, and the desert mesas of the River Reserve. We'll then tackle Grafton Mesa, an amazingly fun, technical trail with stunning views and a little exposure along the way. Big climbs and monster descents, this trail is sure to be permanently seared into your brain.
Day 5 (Fall). Virgin River Rim, Blow Hard
We'll start the day with the famous Virgin River Rim trail, a high-altitude alpine singletrack, skirting the edge of Utah's high southern plateau. The trail offers excellent forested singletrack riding and some awesome views. After a delicious and calorie-packed lunch, we'll head to Brian Head to ride the amazing Blow Hard trail, an advanced-technical downhill trail. The trail drops 3300 vertical feet over 7 miles, for an almost 12% rate of average slope. It's a challenging and tricky ride, delivering some great views and real bragging rights.
We'll head back to our beautiful rustic lodge in the mountains, Cedar Breaks Lodge and Spa, where we can enjoy a nice dinner, go for a dip in the pool and tend to sore muscles in the hot tub.
Day 6. Thunder Mountain
After a hearty breakfast, we'll head over to Thunder Mountain, another one of Utah's well-known epics (rated #1 trail in US by Bike Magazine). Thunder Mountain is probably the most scenic trail in Utah. You'll ride through the bright red and pink "hoodoos" unique to the Bryce Canyon area. Although the trail is only eight miles long, often riders take over two hours to ride it because they are off of their bikes taking pictures. One of the most photographed areas is called the "spine" where you ride across a 3 foot wide spine dropping off at 45 degrees on both sides. The last 2 miles of Thunder Mountain is a fun, flowing downhill through the aspens and pines.
Day 7. Horsethief Bench, Steve's Loop, Moore's Fun (Fruita)
Fruita is now mentioned as often as Moab when talking about mountain biking meccas in the United States (and some will say in the world). There's a bit of everything: breathtaking climbs, tight switchbacks, exhilarating downhills and technical challenges unmatched in most of North America. Today, we'll hop in the van for the 2-hour ride to Fruita, then ride several local epics in the Kokopelli area, including Horsethief Bench, Steve's Loop, and Moore's Fun. Tonight we stay in Fruita.
Day 8. Zippy Do Da, Mag 7, Bar M
Today, we'll be checking 3 epic rides off our mountain bike bucket lists! We'll start with Zippy Do Da, an exhilarating 3 mile downhill desert trail - no big deal! Then, we're off to Mag 7, an awesome new trail system in Moab. The first part has lots of fast-paced, holy-crap-that-was-fun sections. Then, there are two options on the second half of the trail: we can either go down the famous Poison Spider Trail including the Portal or the more intermediate, Gemini Bridges Road. We'll hit up Bar M in the afternoon; a great mixture of slick rock and singletrack loops.
Day 9. The Whole Enchilada
Linking up several Moab favourites, this trail spans almost 30 miles and has a cumulative descent of over 8,000 feet. The beauty of this ride is not just the sheer scale of it - but its diversity. Starting in high alpine forest at Burro Pass, the ride transitions to aspens, high desert and finishes off plummeting down to the Colorado River on exposed singletrack. It includes Porcupine Rim, one of the most incredible trails in the world. The type of riding if vastly diverse as well: from slow, steep and technical rocky singletrack to wide open high speed sections and everything in between.
Day 10. Slick Rock, Arches hike
This morning, it's off to the most recognized trail in the world: Slickrock. Often because it is so well known people mistakenly think Slickrock is easier than it really is. This is a rock trail marked by white dots to guide your way, and it's not a beginner or even lower intermediate trail - it's a technical romp through spectacular scenery, and a ride that will stay with you forever. The views across the slick rock, especially in the early morning or late afternoon will take your breath away.
In the afternoon, we'll head over to Arches National Park, then make our way back to Richfield for our final dinner together.
Day 11. Richfield to St George
We'll head out in the morning for one last fun & quick ride in Richfield before hopping in the van for the drive back to St George, arriving at around 3 pm. You'll then need to book a shuttle back to Las Vegas. We recommend you not book a flight out from LV before 9 pm, or spend the night in Sin City to fly out the next morning.
