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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.
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..
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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 4.1 the trail approaches a fence GPS N 37° 09.189' W 113° 10.591'.
Go left of the fence to continue riding along the rim. When the trail reaches
the road at the overlook at mile 4.9, GPS N 37° 09.425' W 113° 09.996', turn
right on the doubletrack. At mile 5.3, you'll see the windmill. Turn right to
the parking area, and you're done.
For a condensed (one-page, printable) trail
guide designed for on-the-bike use, click here!
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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'.
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| 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'. |
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