Gooseberry Mesa
and the Frog Hollow 25 Hour Course - Sept 26/27 2009
words
and photos by Sharon Bader and Lee Lau unless otherwise noted. |
Gooseberry Mesa || Frog's Hollow 25 Hour Race Course || Rainbow Rim Trail || Hike in the Grand Canyon || Thunder Mountain || Scenic Drive Through Utah - Zion - Bryce - Scenic Hwy 12 || Virgin River Rim Trail || Rides in Grand Junction and Fruita || Flowing Park - Colorado
Fall is approaching and its been awhile since we visited the desert so we felt the time was right! We left Vancouver at 9:00am on Thursday, spent an hour and a half at the border and made it to Mountain Home Idaho at 9:30 for the night. The next day we drove to Twin Falls for breakfast, loaded up on supplies at the Win Co and headed to Salt Lake City to meet up with Gary and Martin for the drive to Gooseberry Mesa! We arrived at Gary's at 1:30, were on the road and heading to the Mesa by 2:30, had dinner at a Burrito place in Cedar City then got to the Mesa during sunset to hook up with Kevin Foote from Colorado. Kevin was returning from Interbike in Vegas with a place in their Hall of Fame for all the trail work he has done in the Grand Junction area with COPMOBA.
Breakfast on the Mesa! We were joined by Cimmaron, Bryce, Sarah, David and Kevin.
no riding before coffee.
Map of the Gooseberry Mesa area. Another great resource for information on the Gooseberry Mesa trails can be found at Martin Cuma's Website
Trail Head Map
We start off on the slick rock.
Lots of downs
Kevin's rockin' the Endorphin!
then back up again!
Round round we go!
Gary goes round and round as David goes out and about!
where's the trail?
Bryce, who forgot his shoes, but luckily had some closed toed Keen Sandals takes the big boy line!
The things you can do on a demo bike!
Along the South Rim we go
Cimmaron near the edge
The trail along the South Rim, you can see Hwy 59 below.
is this lunch?
Edgy shots
Don't jump man!
Back along the single track bordered by Juniper that kills.
Gary, Martin and Sharon.
Lunch stop at the view point! Looking down this cliff is where the Frogs Hollow 25 hour race will be held.
mmmm sandwiches!
The Nuggy shot!
even after 10 years!
As the day heated up to above 30oC, we decided to hide out in the shade and drink beer for the next 5 hours.
Martin, Kevin and Keith wondering if they should head back out for a ride?
NOT!
Even the bikes enjoyed the break!
The bike tree!
Cliff's of Zion at Sunset.
Once the sun went down enough and it cooled to a balmy 25oC it was time to cook some sausages over the fire!
Thanks Martin!
Then some night time chillin'
Pretty much says it all!
The great Volvo doubling up as a clothes hanger.
The adds say its an off road vehicle.
Tent at night.
Tent in the morning sunrise.
Nice and warm!
Frogs Hollow 25 Hour Course.
On Sunday we rode Cimmaron's Inaugural 25 hour Frogs Hollow race which will be held in an area below Gooseberry Mesa which includes the JEM Trail.
Staging/Parking area.
Climbing up some double track and new single track there are a lot of passing opportunities.
Could almost be a race!
We stop where the double track crosses the JEM trail. Here Martin and Gary continue for a death march and we continue down the JEM trail section of the course.
Grouping up.
Heading down the JEM trail.
Group shot - Lee, Sharon, Sarah, David, Cimmaron and Keith.
Heading down, Gooseberry Mesa in the back.
Back at camp the next night it was just me and Lee! Rather quiet compared to the night before so Lee could get some video's edited!
Gotta love modern technology.
Driving down Hwy 59 you can see the Mesa where we rode.
Don't fall!
Really! Don't fall!
Google Earth Image of Gooseberry Mesa.
Elevation Profile of Gooseberry Mesa.
Proof you do indeed do lots of climbing.
Google Earth Image of the Frog's Hollow race course.
Elevation profile of the Frog's Hollow Race course.
Google Earth of Frog's Hollow Course and Gooseberry Mesa.
Terrain map from Google Maps of Frog's Hollow Course and Gooseberry Mesa.
Map of Frog's Hollow Course and Gooseberry Mesa.
Gooseberry Mesa Video
Gooseberry Mesa, Hurricane, Utah -Fall Trip 2009 from Lee Lau on Vimeo.
Frog's Hollow Video
JEM Trail - Hurricane Utah; 25 Hours of FrogHollow course from Lee Lau on Vimeo.