Black Brush Trail

Black Brush Trail
(Santa Clara River Preserve)

This trail starts at the Barrel Roll trailhead. It's marked for horses and foot traffic (not for bikes). But I saw massive bike tire-treads on this trail, so obviously somebody is riding it, which is why I checked it out. My suggestion is, have a nice 80-minute hike (or 30-minute run) and enjoy some nice views into the Santa Clara gorge. But if you're determined to ride it, here's the report.

We're at the lowest elevation of the ride, in the loop over the Santa Clara River gorge. It's January 10 and it's 50 degrees. Perfect weather for a bike ride. Gotta love St. George!

The Black Brush trail is 4.2 miles in length, with a lariat configuration. It's a bit more technical than the Barrel Roll trail, although it won't feel that way for the first little bit. There are more ledges and hard-to-clean spots. There's a fair amount of up-and-down that makes the ride seem like more work. The loop at the end has fairly steep grades, more horse-friendly than bike-friendly, and the surface is a bit more grainy-soft than Barrel Roll.

Total climbing will be about 900 feet, even though the ride's high point is only 200 feet higher than the trailhead. The small loop at the end has 400 feet of climbing (and 400 feet of descending). Whereas Barrel Roll climbs at an easy grade through switchbacks, Black Brush has more of a horseman's "let's just get there" approach to its climbing.

Typical trail section, with grainy dirt alternating with small rock steps. At age 10, Jackie's old enough for doggie social security, but running with the bicycle is still her favorite thing. In 4 days, we'll explore over 60 miles of trail in southern Utah.

UtahMountainBiking.com is your source for bike trail info, repair instructions, feature articles, first aid, fitness, and goodies.

When you hit the loop, I suggest you go left. Clockwise seems to work best, because it breaks the climbing into two sections, separated by over a mile of downhill and flat riding. And the other way (counterclockwise) there's more ugly hard-to-clean stuff on the climb.

Did I mention that the trail is not signed for bicycles? But I didn't see a single horse hoof-print, nor a fresh shoe-mark. Just bike tracks. Snow caps the Pine Valley Mountains in the background, with the red and white sandstone of Snow Canyon in the foreground.

The trail starts at 3100 feet altitude and rolls up and down for the first mile. When you reach the loop 1 mile from the start, you'll swear you've climbed a lot, but you'll actually be about 150 feet lower than you started. Clockwise around the loop, you'll climb 350 feet to 3300. The last 0.3 mile is an 11% grade. After reaching the top at mile 1.9, you'll descend at about that same grade for 1/2 mile.

A rare flat smooth spot.

At mile 2.7, the ride reaches its lowest point at 2900 feet as you flirt with the cliffs over the gorge. Now it's time to close the loop. The climbing gets steeper as you approach the junction. If the surface is loose here, you're likely to lose traction and hike a little.

Clockwise lariat loop:
0.0 Start up Black Brush trail
1.0 At fence, fork L uphill
1.9 Crest of hill
Start switchback descent
2.7 Views over Santa Clara river
3.2 Back at loop
4.2 Parking

Down in the gorge, I think that's Thelma and Louise's car. On top of the cliff, the Anasazi trail lies north of the river within the Preserve.

Getting there: In St. George, head north on Bluff Street and turn left on Sunset Blvd. Drive 3 miles west on Sunset through Santa Clara. As you're reaching the end of Santa Clara, look for a road crossing the river on your left. It's about 200 feet before the Jacob Hamblin Home (which will be on your right if you pass the turn). Turn and cross the river and follow the road as it turns right. About 0.4 miles from Hwy 191, turn left onto the dirt Stucki Springs road. At mile 0.7, turn right at the sign "Santa Clara Preserve." Pass the water tank, and at mile 1.3, turn right again through the fence. This road will veer left, then arrive at a parking area at mile 1.5, N37 07.253 W113 40.508.

Riding resources for this trail:
Single-page riding guide
GPS track files (right-click and "Save as..."):
Garmin GPX
High-res topo (300 KB): View

For lodging in the St. George area, as well as travel guides and information on other activities, may we suggest:
Things to do, lodging links: http://www.utah.com/stgeorge/ http://www.go-utah.com/St-George
Snow Canyon: http://www.utah.com/stateparks/snow_canyon.htm
Red Cliffs Recreation Area - Camping: http://www.ut.blm.gov/stgeorge_fo/sgfored_cliffs.html
Quail Creek State Park: http://www.utah.com/stateparks/quail_creek.htm
St. George BLM info: http://www.ut.blm.gov/stgeorge_fo/
Zion National Park: http://www.nps.gov/zion/ http://www.zion.national-park.com/ http://www.zioncanyon.com/
Utah National Forest Camping and Picnic sites: http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/maps/brochures/camp_picnick_utah.pdf