With summer coming to an end, I tried to rally some friends to join me for a short bike tour (Adventure Cycling’s Utah Cliffs Loop). Erik was up for it, while everyone else came up with lame excuses. Do you really need more than 3-weeks notice? No! So, this blog post is purely out of spite.
The weather was perfect, the scenery was awesome, and the people of Utah were very friendly and chatty. They even have a 3-foot passing law. And, I walked out of Vegas up $60 and 5 lbs from blackjack and the buffet, respectively.
To those who missed it: yeah, you should have been there. Careful, the pics below might make you jealous.
Logistics for the Utah Cliffs Loop
We completed the loop over 4 days, staying in a motel each night. The first 2 days were long and had a lot of climbing, but the last 2 days were pretty easy and relaxed. This was our daily mileage and elevation gain:
- St George to Cedar City: 95 miles, 9,250 ft
- Cedar City to Duck Creek: 79 miles, 9,460 ft
- Duck Creek to Springdale: 57 miles, 3,780 ft
- Springdate to St George: 63 miles, 3,350 ft
For those who are interested in doing this ride, here are 5 easy steps to get you out the door:
- Download my GPX file from the Utah Cliffs Tour Loop (our actual route)
- Two things to note about my GPS track
- After Pine Valley, when you descend the dirt road into the river valley, stay on the maintained dirt road (stay left at the fork). Don’t follow our tracks that lead into the brush next to the stream. We stuck to the ACA waypoints and ended up hiking/riding cow trails until it rejoined the road about 2 miles later. Avoid that mess and just stay on the dirt road.
- Just south of Cedar City, we skipped the dirt section that went up and over a hill and, instead, stayed on the paved frontage road.
- Two things to note about my GPS track
- Go to GPSFileDepot and upload a Utah topo map to your GPS.
- Buy the official map of the route from Adventure Cycling Association ($15 for non-members)
- Park your car in Saint George (we stayed at Motel 6 and left it in their parking lot)
- Bike the ~300-mile loop that is half pavement and half gravel/dirt
Equipment
We planned on staying in a hotel room every night, so we packed light. You can see our bikes and setups in the pics below and my complete gear list at GearListed.com.
I was really happy with my hardtail mountain bike and bikepacking bags. Erik was happy with his Vaya and rack with panniers, but he was envious of my bigger tires that allowed me to bomb the downhills faster. Based on our experience, we think a rigid bike is fine, but put on the biggest, knobby tires you can in order to have better handling on the dirt sections. Erik used 700×40.
Photo Diary
- We started every morning with 5-star dining.
- Massive sendoff party as we headed out of St George.
- The scenic town of Pine Valley mowed their lawns in anticipation of our arrival.
- Being Sunday, the cafe was closed in Pine Valley, so we had delicious Cokes and energy bars for lunch instead. They pair well!
- We stuck to the ACA’s GPS waypoints even when it put us on cattle trails. Bovine life is so interesting!
- Well placed!
- So much downhill!
- More fine dining and hydrating.
- Red cliffs adorned our climb out of Cedar City.
- Short break during our leisurely 4,000 ft climb.
- First sign of fantastic fall colors.
- Amazing views of Zion from the top of the climb.
- The route dished up plenty of peaceful solitude.
- My slick setup! Motelling it every night allowed us to travel light.
- Burrito lunch in the aspens.
- Erik laughs his way through rocky downhills.
- Erik contemplates the meaning of life.
- Erik contemplates the government shutdown.
- All downhill to the town of Hatch.
- In Duck Creek, we had an entire lodge to ourselves and the local cafe dished up tasty calorie bombs.
- More fall colors near Navajo Lake.
- Erik resting his hands from all the downhill.
- We crossed paths with Dan and Laura, tourists from San Diego. They started 5 days before us and got snowed on.
- Gov Shutdown…Since we were on bikes, we were told that we were “recreating”. And, since the park was closed to recreation, we had to hitch a ride in a car through the park. The logic escaped us.
- We enjoyed Utah beer and Zion cliffs.
- Packing up in one of our 5-star accommodations.
- Another easy climb.
- Utah Cliffs Loop: The tailwind and views were just too much.
- Dropping into Hurricane for another 5-star lunch.
- Clouds kept things cool on our last stretch back to St George.
- Erik hand, dinosaur footprint.
- We got a few sprinkles and there must have been rainbows somewhere out there.
- A few, short sections felt like we were at the beach.
- Reunited with our car in St George.
- Bike, buffet, and blackjack. You should have been there!
Sweeeeet!