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.

Desert stoke and season shakedown ride.

In a seasonal lifestyle there are endless firsts, the first cast, first ride, first skin, first wave, first powder day, first big drop..... you get it! With all of our complex toys it comes down to how they were put away "last season". Fortunately with a little extra time this Winter we were able to prep the dirt bikes for their first ride and what better testing grounds then the desert of mid-west Utah near the San Rafael Swell known as Chimney Rock.

With a quick over nighter and only one good long day of riding, we lucked out on some great weather with my favorite lighting scenario, dark storm clouds off in the not so distance. With just a light dampening of the desert floor camping was going to be prime.

There was a micro-tornado on the drive in and then an awesome full rainbow just before we got to camp, and then the wind subsided and the moon came out.

A big Thank you to Cousin Kate for the Big Agnes tent loaner and BA for the Pine Island 4 shelter design.

Not a bad spot to wake up in for the seasons first "shakedown ride".

We actually got to play tour guide with 2 new riders and 2 vets from Salt Lake and I almost forgot to shoot a few images until we came to this gem of a scene.

All we needed was to get back to camp, load the bikes and get off the clay before this monster hit us.

Thanks to my amazing riding partner and wife for the smooth throttling and great patience for making a few fun images.