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My first visit to southwest Utah came in April of 2016. I was on a road trip that included stops in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. I came specifically to hike Angels Landing at Zion National Park. That remains to this day my favorite hike ever, and the view from the top was incredible!

I even returned later that year in July for a trip that was focused solely on southern Utah. But that was all before I was into mountain biking. I continued to hear so many great things about the trails in this area near Zion. So with another delay in the start date of my new job, I decided to make the trip!

Problems Along the Way!

Things didn’t go exactly as planned, however! I had just passed through Salt Lake City when my car started acting strange. It felt like it was lunging. Could it be the road? No, it definitely wasn’t the road. I turned off cruise control, and when I pushed on the gas pedal, the engine just revved, and the car did not speed up! My transmission was finished!

I got a second Honda Accord primarily for reliability, so I never expected to have the transmission fail at only 65,000 miles! Well luckily, this was a Certified used car, which extends the warranty from 60,000 up to 100,000 miles. So I did not have to pay for the new transmission! But after doing some research, I learned that the CVT transmission they use in the Accord now is not very reliable. In fact, one transmission shop’s website said they rarely see them last more than 100,000 miles! Needless to say, it won’t be long before I trade this car in and get something that doesn’t have the piece of junk CVT transmission in it!

So while that ordeal didn’t cost me thousands of dollars to fix, it did mean that I had to push my trip back a week. But that was okay, because I still had time. So once it was fixed, I picked my car back up, and went on to Hurricane, UT from there.

How I Made This Trip Really Cheap!

Traveling can get expensive, especially if you want to do it often. Transportation and lodging are the two most expensive things, so how can you cut down on these? Driving is typically less expensive than flying, especially if you’re going somewhere that isn’t too far away. It’s just a little over 7 hours for me to get to Hurricane. Flying would not make sense. Gas costs less than $100 for the entire round trip.

To save on lodging, I camped in my car for free on public lands! In the western US, there is a lot of public land, and on most of it you can camp for free. Of course, there are no services like showers or bathrooms, but if you’re willing to rough it a bit, it’s a great option for free lodging!

Sleeping in your car doesn’t sound comfortable, does it? To be honest, it wasn’t that bad! I got a backseat air mattress, which is far more comfortable than just sleeping in the backseat, or laying the front seat down all the way! Obviously I cannot lie flat on my back completely stretched out, however, I often sleep on my side with my legs curled up anyway, and there is plenty of room for that. To try to keep some heat in, as well as give myself some privacy, I covered my windows with Reflectix insulation. It doesn’t keep the car warm all night, but I do feel that it keeps the warmth quite a bit longer than if it were not there!

Gooseberry Mesa

I spent my first night on top of Gooseberry Mesa surrounded by an incredibly beautiful landscape! I woke up to this:

That day I rode the trails on Gooseberry Mesa, though I ended up cutting the ride fairly short due to the powerful winds! I was on the North Rim trail, and the winds just about blew me over on the exposed parts of the rim! The wind was out of the north, so it was at least not trying to blow me off the cliff, but I considered the risk of any fall there to not be worth it!

The trail was definitely unique, riding over rolling slickrock, similar to Moab, but with a different color. It’s like riding on the moon!

Overall, however, it’s pretty slow going and requires a lot of pedaling. It’s not the style of trail that I find to be the most fun, but it’s a unique experience, and worth a visit. I know a lot of people really love it! The views from the north rim were spectacular, too!

Guacamole Doesn’t Cost Extra

That night I drove up to the Whole Guacamole trailhead, where there are campsites in the immediate vicinity. I took a super cold shower outside in about mid-40’s temperatures with strong winds and cold water! Certainly not the hot shower I’m used to, but it was worth it to get cleaned up after the ride!

As the night wore on, the wind finally died down, and actually completely stopped. I remember waking up at one point when nature called, and noticing how completely silent it was outside! This is something I really love to experience, because our day-to-day lives in the city are filled with noise. We don’t always realize it, because we’re used to it. Which is what makes it even more amazing when you are in the middle of nowhere and experience true silence!

The ride on the Whole Guacamole was more fun than Gooseberry Mesa. Lots of technical challenges, more riding on the moon, as well as a little bit of flowy and faster downhill sections. This is also the closest trail to Zion National Park, so you’ve got great views on the entire ride! I would definitely recommend this one!

Hurricane Rim

My final night was spent closer to the town of Hurricane, and right next to the Hurricane Rim trail. I rode straight from my campsite to the JEM trail, which then connected to Hurricane Rim.

This was easily my favorite ride of the trip! The climbs are tough & technical, the descents are fast & rowdy! I did not ride the entire trail since I had a 7+ hour drive back home immediately following, and I did not want to be driving late into the night. I only skipped about 2 miles on the west end of the trail, however, this is part of the trail that overlooks the town, and has the most elevation change. So I do want to get back down there sometime and ride that section!

The Highlights

Below is the video that I put together highlighting this trip! In the coming weeks I’ll be putting out the regular POV style videos of each ride, so stay tuned for those if you want to see more riding footage on these trails!