Guacamole Trail

Guacamole Trail

The Guacamole trail is a fun addition to southern Utah's trail system. The riding is a mix of undulating open-rock riding plus singletrack through pinion, juniper, and brush. An intermediate rider should be able to do almost everything on this trail. For the techies, there are ledges and stunts just a few feet away from the trail.

This trail has a video.

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There is only about 100 feet of elevation change over the trail. It's constant up-and-down, very similar to nearby Gooseberry Mesa or Little Creek. Total riding distance is about 7.5 miles. You'll ride out about 2.2 miles, then fork onto a 2.7 mile loop. If you're guiding yourself, allow plenty of time to find your way (about 3 hours -- or more -- if you're riding this trail for the first time). In slickrock areas, the trail is marked with small rockpiles.

The rock is Shinarump conglomerate from the Triassic Era (about 240 million years ago). Mountains of metamorphic quartzite in the west of Utah were eroding, sending gravel and sand down into this area. Pebbles of quartzite and petrified wood are everywhere on the mesa. (PLEASE leave the petrified wood where it is!)

The trail is easy to follow in most areas, but we ran into a couple of problem spots where we had to circle out in all directions. The rider who found a valid continuing trail shouted for the others. The southeast tip of the loop is extremely hard to follow, but may be fixed up when you ride. For now (March 2006) unless you have a guide, I'd strongly recommend riding with the track file on the GPS receiver, so you can see the location of the continuing trail. The loop seems designed to ride counterclockwise from the fork at GPS N 37° 12.398' W 113° 07.234'.

OK, here's a fun spot. While standing scratching our heads trying to pick up the continuing trail, Chad found this tube through the rock. We think it's likely the impression of an old tree trunk in the stone. When you reach a high point on an almost-impossible up-and-down, around N 37° 12.246' W 113° 06.642'), look north about 50 feet. (See map.)

Getting there: From La Verkin, turn towards Zion National Park on Highway 9. Go 7 miles from the traffic light where you turned east in La Verkin, through the town of Virgin, and past the Kolob Reservoir Road on the left. At 7.3 miles, you'll see a dirt road on the north (left) side of the street (GPS N 37° 11.874' W 113° 09.876'). This is Dalton Wash Road. Drive north 1.9 miles. As the road turns east, you'll come to a fork (GPS N 37° 12.456' W 113° 08.268'). Turn left (north). Go 2.3 miles, climbing up to the top of the mesa. Immediately as you get to the top of the mesa, the road forks again. Go right (east) about 100 yards after the fork, there's an open slickrock area on your right (GPS N 37° 13.575' W 113° 06.852'). This is where the ride starts. You'll head straight south across the rock area to pick up the trail as it enters the trees.

Other resources for the Guacamole Trail:
Single-page riding guide
Satellite overview maps:
   B&W view of slickrock areas
   Area Overview with Trail plus Roads
Track files (to download, right-click and "Save target as..."):
   Garmin   NatGeo   GPX   Google
Lodging, camping, shops:
   Links to St. George area resources