HURRICANE!
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| No, not that kind |
I have been looking forward to this
rotation! I was dreaming about it while freezing my tush off in Bozeman over
Thanksgiving.
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| It was cold there |
“But Stoken”, you may very well be
asking, “why would you be so eager to pull the trailer all the way down to the
middle of nowhere, deep in FLDS territory, mere miles from a scary polygamist
stronghold, to a town where they can’t even pronounce the eponymous weather
event correctly, and you can’t find a decent beer to save your life?”
Because BIKES!
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| Bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes bikes! |
Hurricane and St. George have
scores of great desert trails between them, the Red Bull Rampage takes place
only 10 minutes north of town, Sedona is only about 4 hours away, and Bootleg
Canyon is just 2 hours south on I-15. The average temperature in January
is above 50 degrees, and even when there is precipitation, you can ride
slickrock in any weather conditions. As I hadn’t been for a ride since
Burning Bike last October, this situation sounded like heaven. Finally, I
could take advantage of my status as an unemployed bum with plenty of free time!
Not so fast.
The weather decided to be
thoroughly truculent. It was nice enough on the day we arrived, but the day
after that it rained…and the next day…and the next day…and (guess what!) the
day after that. This both damped and dampened my enthusiasm somewhat. But
I had faith that Jibbers Crabst would bring me sunshine eventually.
The bike shop in Hurricane, Over
the Edge Sports, runs 3 weekly rides: Thursday is for more
beginner/intermediate ladies, Friday is the more advanced ladies, and Saturday
is the general shop ride that tends to be medium challenging, depending on who
shows up. I checked the Facebook page to see if any rides were still on, and
although that Thursday was canceled due to moisture, Friday was on and the
destination was Zen trail, just west of St. George. It’s a black diamond
on the map, which sounded pretty good to me, so I rolled up to the shop at the
appointed meeting time.
There were four of us: the shop
owner’s wife and ride leader, DJ, and two local women. The ride was
something of a confidence booster, since despite my nearly 3-month hiatus from
riding, I had no problems keeping up on the sustained climb at the
beginning. The trail is mostly slickrock with some stretches of sand and
loose rocks, and the uphill part is interesting and challenging, with cairns to
show the way when it’s not obvious. When we got to the downhill, DJ put
me in front, and I made my way down without knowing what to expect around blind
corners and over large rock roll-downs. It was a rollicking good time! I
got back to the parking area feeling re-energized and excited for more.
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| #ladyshred |
The next day was the open-to-all
shop ride, which I saw as a chance for Mike and me to be shepherded around
on trails that non-locals might find difficult to navigate. Since most of
the classic mesa trails were inaccessible due to the recent and inconvenient
precipitation, shop owner Quentin took us to the Boy Scouts trail system, which
borders the south edge of Quail Lake State Park. OTE actually did most of
the trail construction, and you can tell that they know what they’re doing…and
they have an appreciation for technical stuff. Like Zen, it’s large and chunky
rocks interspersed with sand, and it dries out quickly due to its southern
aspect. In addition, it’s great for practicing tight switchbacks: there
are one or two that even give the trail builders trouble. The group that day was a sausage fest: me plus 5 or 6 dudes. I surprised myself by holding on to Quentin's wheel for most of the ride, until I kept getting lost on the downhills because the trail wasn't super obvious and I have terrible eyesight. It wasn't a hammer fest by any means, and the crew was very friendly and fun.
Over the course of the next four
weeks, OTE also played tour guide for us on:
Little Creek: it was
still covered in snow and ice at the time, and a long trip to get to the
trailhead, but I think it would be fun in warmer weather. Plus there are
petroglyphs!
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| Or so I'm told. |
Church Rocks: fairly short and easy
slickrock loop, with lots of choose-your-own-adventure options and a little
drop to practice your huck-to-flat technique. My first time there was a Thursday women's ride, and they're always mellow enough that DJ brings her daughter Fiona on the bike with her.
Broken Mesa: pretty
primitive and rocky, and horses had done a serious number on the dirt when it was squishy. The
final descent down Ice House would be okay if it wasn’t covered in demon baby
heads…and if the access wasn’t an 8-mile dirt road climb. Not recommended.
Guacamole: really
cool, and slightly reminiscent of the funner singletrack parts of UPS.
Lots of good sketchy optional lines. The road to the trailhead becomes
impassable when muddy.
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| Yup. We're up on a mesa. |
I also did some exploring on my
own, and had a very enjoyable time on the Barrel Ride trail system outside of
Santa Clara, which you can lengthen as desired with several figure-8 options. I did a solo out-and-back on Hurricane Rim as well, which is fun and interesting, and gives a great view of Zion National Park.
She was much better at navigating the canyons than Mike, who kept getting himself stuck in crevices and had to be pulled out by his beard:
There are more ridiculously cool rock formations than you can shake a stick at:
This one looks kinda like a toilet to me.
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| Rorschach rock? |
OTE, in addition to organizing
three weekly rides, has two days a week that they take trail crews out to do
digging and maintenance. I took a Thursday off from riding in order to have
enough energy to dig, and Quentin took me and two others up to a
trail-in-progress that will connect the JEM system to town. He had an arsenal
of trail-building-specific hand tools, as well as a huge gas-powered circular
saw for rocks that could not be coaxed out of the earth.
Trail building is a great full-body
workout, like Crossfit but with a purpose, but it reminded me that I have not
been staying in shape or doing enough stretching or yoga (the downside of
living in a 8x20ft space for long periods with three other organisms whose mission, it seems, are to be in my way at all times).
Anyhow, the focus of this
particular day’s work was a switchback that needed to be reworked so that it
would be possible for at least some riders to clear, and not just those who are
90% quad muscles. We dug, scraped, hauled, rolled, cut, placed, filled
and fractured from 4:00 to sunset, but by the time we quit it looked like the
switchback had been the victim of a wayward grenade. Luckily the crew would be back again in two days to continue smoothing it out. I joined them again two weeks later while Mike finished up with his last day at the clinic, this time to remove rocks that had fallen in the trail and onto a wooden bridge spanning a small gully, and make the section less of a lungbuster. I am normally in favor of leaving plenty of rocks around to keep trails interesting and challenging (not to mention more resistant to erosion) but these were definitely on the "more hazardous than necessary and probably only rideable by Danny McAskill" side of the line, so out they went. It was a terribly pleasant way to spend a warm southeast Utah evening.
Notes on the town of
Hurricane itself: it’s really nothing special. Lots of gas stations, one
grocery store, a couple cafes, four RV parks, a Walmart, and a handful of
restaurants. One particularly odd-looking restaurant we noticed on our first
drive through town was El Trovatore (formerly Baristas) which featured a large
and anatomically correct bull on a pedestal, and if you want to be amused for a
few minutes, go read some of the Google and Yelp reviews of the place. I
kind of want to go see the inside of it now.
Besides the trails and the breathtaking geology, Hurricane has one other asset: seriously legit sunsets. The sunsets routinely run through more colors than there are names for, and I got to enjoy plenty of them on my evening walks with the dogs in the Red Cliffs wilderness area across the highway from the KOA. (Apart from the abundant hot water in the showers, close proximity to a lovely and largely unused trail network was the only selling point of the St. George KOA.)
That last one is a sunrise, but still.
There isn’t a single liquor store
in Hurricane, so if you want that or pretty much anything else you have to go
down to Washington City or St. George. The area is really popular for retirees,
so the Costco is always completely bonkers all day every day, and don’t even
bother trying to get gas there. Any savings you might enjoy are
offset by idling in line for ten minutes waiting for the octogenarians to figure
out that they have to scan their Costco card before swiping the payment
card. You are guaranteed to see FLDS women there, too, with their
prairie dresses, big Elaine Benice hairstyles, and incongruously comfortable
modern sneakers.
STG and WC are metropolitan enough
that you can find just about anything you need. Just
about. My creative compulsions were stymied by the total lack of
non-chain craft stores. No bead shops, and no yarn/knitting
establishments. I guess everyone just grows their own sheep? Or
maybe that all just have Amazon Prime now.
Luckily, I had built up a decent
inventory during my freezing stint in Bozeman, and I managed to offload the
whole lot both at OTE and Red Rock Bicycle Co. in St. George in my last couple days there. I may not be
paying the bills with this stuff just yet, but at least I can fund my habit!
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| Bam! |
Since the weather was uncooperative
for a decent chunk of this rotation, I am very relieved that I will be going
back to Hurricane for their MTB Festival, which runs March
18 to March 20. It's going to be a ton of fun, and everybody should sign up and
get out there for some sweet slickrock singletrack!
Next stop: a well-earned travel week adventure in Sedona!
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