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Gooseberry Mesa Windmill Loop
Gooseberry Mesa has a lot of awesome riding. The Windmill Loop is a fairly short ride, with a sampler of the mesa's types of terrain. There's sage cruising on double-track, technical slickrock, undulating technical singletrack, and a cliffside cruise. |
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Photo above: Looking north from the rim on the Windmill Loop. The banded edges of the mesa to the north are in the Moenkopi Formation. A cap-rock of hard Shinarump conglomerate of the Chinle Formation resists erosion, letting the softer layers below erode steeply. Photos July 11, 2001 by Bruce Argyle. |
The trail is an intermediate aerobic because there's almost no altitude gain. On the slickrock sections, you'll need quick power for ledges and bowls, but there are no prolonged grunt climbs. Most of the trail is an intermediate technical, with some advanced technical on the "Ledges and Bowls" section.
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There is some very close cliff exposure, so you might want to reconsider before taking your stupid dog, reckless teenager, or clumsy neighbor on the "Rim Job" section. This section is only for those with good bike-handling skills and the common sense not to push beyond their ability level while on the edge of a cliff. In some areas, the trail seems more like a maze, as the Slickrock 101 alternate trails merge and branch off, so we're reporting lots of GPS coordinates. Typical riding surface for Gooseberry Mesa is white sandstone undulations, with patches of broken rock and hard-pack dirt between. |
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The loop is actually a figure-eight. You can reach the loop from the main parking area and trailhead via Slickrock 101, but the official trailhead is at the Windmill (GPS N 37° 09.090' W 113° 09.973', altitude 5140 ft). From the windmill, you ride west on doubletrack. At 0.9 miles, the track forks. Keep right. As you reach cliffs, watch carefully for the singletrack on your right at 1.1 miles (GPS N 37° 08.894' W 113° 10.938'). If you curve around until you rejoin the other fork of the road, you went too far. (There are tire tracks heading this way, because many riders take a short cut, catching the singletrack when it comes close to the road just before it turns back east.) The Windmill Loop trailhead. From here, you head west along doubletrack for the "boring" first mile of the ride.. |
When you reach a trail intersection at 1.35 miles marked by a 3-way arrow on the rock, GPS N 37° 08.811' W 113° 11.010', turn left (south). This is the Connector Trail. At 1.9 miles, GPS N 37° 08.669' W 113° 10.626', the Connector joins Slickrock 101. Just to your left, a signpost marks where Slickrock 101 forks again into advanced technical and easier branches. But you're going RIGHT (west) on Slickrock 101. At 2.5 miles, GPS N 37° 08.506' W 113° 11.077', the trail forks again. Keep right (left is a 0.1 mile bailout route back to the main mesa road).
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At 2.8 miles, another fork in the trail at GPS N 37° 08.550' W 113° 11.247'. Keep right again. You're now leaving Slickrock 101 for the Bowls and Ledges trail. |
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At 3.4 miles, you're back at the first 3-way trail intersection GPS N 37° 08.811' W 113° 11.010', where you turned onto the Connector Trail. Keep left to retrace your path up the Rim Trail. Just before the trail reaches the doubletrack at the rim around mile 3.65, watch for it to turn left to hug the edge of the cliffs. (If you get lost here, just head as close to the cliffs as possible until you pick up the trail.) Looking northeast on the Rim trail. Yes, that's the trail, going around the pinion tree just ahead. And yes, that's a 200 foot drop just 2 feet to the left of the trail. |
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At mile 4.2 the trail forks right at N37 09.346 W113 10.112. (A less-traveled
trail continues along the rim and will return via the overlook N 37 09.425 W 113
09.996 and main road.
Assuming you forked R on the Windmill Trail, at mile 5.3 you'll see the windmill. Turn to
the parking area, and you're done.
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| Getting there -- North: As you approach Zion National
Park in Rockville, turn south (right) on Bridge Road. After crossing the Virgin River, the
dirt road winds up the mesa. Keep left at the fork at 1.5 miles. Continue to a total of
6.2 miles, where you turn right at a sign "Gooseberry Mesa." Another 3.6 miles
after the turnoff, take the right fork as you pass the outhouse. One mile
later, you'll see a windmill on the left side of the road. Turn into the
parking area at the windmill GPS N 37° 09.090' W 113° 09.973'. Getting there -- South: As you pass through Hurricane heading east, turn right at the Highway 9 sign. (If you start exit town without making a right-turn, you went past it.) One block later, turn left and drive out of town. About 15 minutes later, you'll pass a gas station on the left-hand side, then some fields. Watch for a "Scenic Byway" sign, and turn left onto a dirt road. Two miles later, just as you reach the mountain, the Gooseberry Mesa road turns off on your left. Another 3.6 miles after the turnoff, take the right fork as you pass the outhouse. One mile later, you'll see a windmill on the left side of the road. Turn into the parking area at the windmill GPS N 37° 09.090' W 113° 09.973'. |
| Riding resources for this trail: Single-page trail guide GPS track files and waypoints (right-click and "Save as..."): "The Works" includes "Harris Secret Trail"and South Rim / North Rim trails. Garmin GPX Tracks for Windmill, Bowls & Ledges area only. Garmin GPX Interactive Gooseberry track map: Load High-res topo for printing: View Lodging, camping, shops: Links to St. George area resources |
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