Mead's Rim Trail, Price

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Mead's Rim

Mead's Rim is a short singletrack along the eastern edge of a mesa north of Price. It's rarely ridden by itself -- most riders use it as an occasional return-trail after riding Luke's Trail. The singletrack on the mesa edge is nice enough, but intermediate riders will absolutely hate the hike-a-bike down from the mesa at the southern end.

View at the beginning of Mead's Rim trail, also used to reach Bomberella, an alternative singletrack. Photos June 30, 2005.

There's about 250 vertical feet of elevation loss as you proceed north-to-south over the first two miles. The trail is packed dirt with occasional rocky sections. The shoulders of the trail are very soft -- if your tire drifts to the trail edge on a turn, you WILL dig in and dump.

View south as the trail follows the edge of the mesa.

The riding is intermediate technical with occasional challenges. The trail follows the edge of the mesa, with frequent views to the south and east.

After two miles, the trail arrives at the end of the mesa. Ride it if you dare. First comes about 200 feet of 40% down-slope over big rocks, with a couple of drop-offs. Then the trail turns and continues to plunge down a clay spine to the valley floor. It's about 300 vertical feet of drop within 800 feet of riding.

Looking east. We're looking a bit backwards -- the trail we just rode is on the left edge of the photo.

On the bottom of the hill, find your way south to the dirt road and head back to Price. Right takes you up and over a hill, then connects to the Kenilworth gravel road (turn left) that connects to city streets about 1/2 mile north of Pioneer Park. If you go left, then take the next right, you can pick your way through 4-wheeler tracks directly south to the ball fields.

This is a view down the first part of the descent from the mesa. To the left of the big rock is a two-foot drop-off.

Ride description, Mead's Rim downhill:
0.0   Trailhead R side of road, DT
        N 39� 39.576 W 110� 47.943 alt=6400
0.06 Singletrack on L with rock in tree "Bomberella"
        Ignore, keep straight on DT
0.18 DT veers L, ends at meadow
        Cross to far end of meadow, find trail
        climbing up in trees, then turning to right
0.2   Top of ridge above meadow, heading S
        N 39� 39.430 W 110� 47.892
1.2   Through fence
1.5   Under wires on edge of mesa
        N 39� 38.511 W 110� 48.018 alt=6210
2.1   At end of mesa, STEEP plunge (caution!)
        N 39� 38.113 W 110� 48.106 alt=6130
2.25 Bottom of hill (280 feet down in 700 feet riding)
        N 39� 38.016 W 110� 48.160 alt=5840
        Trail may be hard to follow - head for dirt road

2.6   At road N 39� 37.812 W 110� 47.974
        To town:
            Left on road, then right, pick way southward
            Pass behind 1st baseball diamond, turn R between
            L (south) at paved road, follow streets south and west
            At 800 N, turn R and go W to 200 E, turn L on 200 E
            5.3   200 E ends at park (500 N)
        To Lukes TH:
            R on road, climb uphill, follow to Kenilworth road
            L (south) on road then R toward trailhead
                or
            Just after cresting hill heading west,
            find ST on L side of road, fork R and head west

Getting there: Eastbound on US 6, take the first Price exit. Turn left and enter town on 100 North. About a mile after leaving the freeway, turn left (north) onto 100 East. Go four city blocks to the far end of Pioneer Park, turn right onto 500 North and find a parking place. Now pick a route to the top of Mead's Rim:

Directly via Kenilworth Road:
   From north end of park, go to 200 E (across from the pool)
   Zero odometer!    Start north (away from the park) on 200 E
   Follow 200 E until it veers L and turns into gravel
   Go up mesa, follow road to mile 3.6, R at pump station
   Look for trailhead after road splits around junipers at mile 3.9

Ride up Luke's Trail, then proceed to Meads from Luke's top:
   0.0   At top of Luke's, turn L uphill on DT
   0.5   Keep R on smaller road (don't go to pump station)
   0.8   Just after road splits around junipers,
           spot opening in fence, with DT on R

Riding resources:
One-page riding guide to this trail.
GPS track files (right-click link, then save as a file):
       Meads Rim only
       Lukes-and-Meads.gpx
       Area, individual GPX files for all trails
Maps for printing:
       Large-format map from PASS
       Topo at right
Lodging, camping, shops:
   Links to Price area resources