Monday, May 18, 2015

Southern swell goblin roundup ride.

While the moisture has been wonderful for the state the recreational choices are constantly being detoured to the drier portions of the state. Most recently noted the San Rafael swell area below I-70 and above Goblin valley was looking prime for some cool desert riding. If you ever get the chance to check this area out it is a landscape shooters dream as well as a desert canyon hiker or dirt bikers wonderland of visual diversity. We hadn't been here in a couple years but the weather was looking perfect, puffy clouds, cool temperatures and some possible light rain with dramatic clouds.

For a shorter arrival day ride we chose the Waterfall trail loaded with washes, scenics, tech and some fast singletrack.
This place has recently expanded the "free" camping zones throughout a few of the washes but we opted for the big flat firepit dirt parking area with pretty decent views of the Henry mountains.

We opted for Red on this trip instead of hauling the moto-trailer and Green just to get a little extra mileage out of Amy's trusty 93 pickem up.
This is one of the many cool washes you can camp in or travel through to get to the singletrack.
Sandy bottom, one car width goodness.
 We use Temple Mountain as our reference guide wherever we go in this range because it is always visible from most trails.
I love my 2 wheeled push-m-pedals bike, but this isn't the place for that motorless toy. The red trail is one step down from 5 MOH (miles of hell) but plenty of challenge for most riders that seek desert-tech riding.
GPS is nice but the fresh red paint from the Sage riders is very helpful for keeping the flow in an area where many people try alternate routes of escape when bailing a tough section.
Scenic-yeah, techy-yeah, Fun-yeah!
And there's our Temple Mountain marker again.
Best riding partner evah.

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