(Owen's Trail)
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For guide services, transportation, lodging, and connections to other activities, see the Mountain Bike Buddies web site. |
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Bluff Street Cliffs Trail (Owen's Trail) |
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The Bluff Street Cliffs trail has been renamed Owen's Trail.
This is a short but fun ride on the cliffs along
the north edge of St. George. This is a quick out-and-back ride of 3 miles
(1.5 miles
each way) that features some very nice rock, requiring good technical
skills. Because it's within a couple of
bicycle-minutes from most of St. George's motels, you can hit this trail during the
morning chill and be back before your roommates have shaken off the morning groggies. The view over the Doc's GPS unit as the singletrack climbs up towards the slickrock atop the cliffs. On the far left are the homes of St. George. On the left, the trail. May 4, 2000 |
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| The trail begins as a dirt single-track. At the wash, you can climb
straight up the wash, or wind left around the mountain. We recommend left. Continue up
onto the slickrock. You'll need to pack your bike up a rocky shute about 1/3 mile along
the trail. Once on the rock, the trail isn't too hard to follow if you keep your eyes open
for the rockpiles that mark the way. Bruce Argyle pilots
Banana Thunder over a smoother section of sandstone. |
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At GPS N 37° 07.206' W 113° 35.332', keep left at the fork (right
loops up to the ridgetop and the City Creek Trail, with links to the highway).
If you notice a second fork at GPS N 37° 07.353' W 113° 35.420', keep left.
(Forking hard right goes to the bottom of a wash 1/2 mile later. There
also used to be a route straight over the top here. If bikes start riding
it again, you might notice another route heading uphill.) The
slickrock becomes more technical, and much more fun. 1/4 mile later, you reach a spot with
some drop-offs where the trail seems to disappear. This isn't the end! Don't ramp off the smooth green bumps. This is a desert tortoise protection area. Here a mojave tortoise strolls right down the middle of the trail. May 4, 2000. |
| Follow a twisting course through the rocks, and watch for a
narrow 20-foot chute descending on the left. As you hit the bottom, veer
right again and climb toward the next hill. When you reach it, celebrate
by circling around the cliffs over the golf course. Take a while to enjoy the many unusual rock formations in the area along the trail. May 4, 2000.
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Most of the rock in the St. George area is from the late Triassic to early Jurassic Era (the early age of the dinosaurs, around 200 million years ago). This area was a flat plain near the seashore, so most of rock is layered from successive deposits of dirt and rock laid down by floods in river flood-plains and deltas. You'll climb from the valley bottom Chinle shale, through the red multi-layered Moenkopi formation, to the capping layer of Kayenta Sandstone that forms the broad bluff.
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If you have time, you may want to extend your ride on the Pioneer Park trail, located a short distance up Snow Canyon Parkway
from the trailhead, or connect to the City Creek
trail directly off Owen's Loop. In the spring, you'll enjoy blooming cactus and other wildflowers. Here, a cactus tree shows its yellow-green blossoms. May 4, 2000. |
| Getting there: From St. George Blvd (the main drag), head
north on Main Street (towards the "Dixie" painted on the big rock above the
cliffs). When you reach Hope Street, turn right, then immediately take the left fork and
climb Skyline Drive to the top of the cliffs. Turn left on Snow Canyon Parkway (labeled
Skyline Drive on some city maps, and called Turtle Road by many locals
before the "great widening"). 1/3 mile up from
the intersection, find a singletrack trail heading off to your left at GPS N 37°
07.150' W 113° 34.672'. Follow the trail left around the mountain. The ride gets more technical towards the end, with narrow ledges, drop-offs, and quick turns. |
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Pioneer Park trailhead: Park on the far west end of the
picnic loop in Pioneer Park. (To get on the loop, go east on Skyline Drive past the
Pioneer Park parking lot and take the next left.) Head straight west onto the slickrock,
keeping on the edge of the small cliffs that are to your right. You'll dump out onto a
singletrack that hits Snow Canyon Parkway right across the street from the Bluff Street
Cliffs trailhead. This adds about 1/3 mile of rock riding to your trip. And, the Pioneer
Park area is a good spot for non-riders to have a little fun while you skin your legs up.
(You can also park in one of the two gravel lots and ride west along the
road to the Owen's trailhead.) A yucca plant in full blossom clings to a crack in the sandstone above the trees and homes of St. George. Photo May 4, 2000 |
| Via City Creek trailhead: You can also get to Owen's Trail by parking in the big lot at the top of the hill, starting out on City Creek, then forking left on the connector as shown on the map. But you'll miss the fun technical rock-garden on Owen's at mile 0.3 to 0.5. |
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| Riding resources for this trail: Single-page riding guide GPS track files (right-click and "Save as..."): Garmin GPX High-res topo of trail system (500 KB): View |
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For lodging in the St. George
area, as well as travel guides and information on other activities, may we
suggest: |
