You’ve been waiting for this moment, and it’s nearly here! Phase 1 of the new Revenant Trails will officially open on April 13th. And you’re invited to the party!
From 10 AM to 2 PM, we’ll celebrate tailgate-style. So bring food, drink, (and some to share). Don’t forget bikes, helmets and pads.
We’ll have the green, blue, and black trails open for riding. Remember the key to safe riding: Preride, Reride, Freeride. Meet at the trailhead, located off Old Highway 91 at Mile Marker 7, about 30 minutes west of downtown St. George.
The Pine Valley Mountains tower over the iconic red rock of Southwest Utah
The Pine Valley Mountains offer a dramatic visual backdrop to the red rocks and blue skies of Southwest Utah. Visible from every trail in our region, they’re our Northern Star if you will, always present to help orient you in the right direction as you explore our boundless trail system.
And now, thanks to the tireless efforts of TASU President Kevin Christopherson these majestic monoliths are getting some trails of their own. We’re thrilled to announce that trail construction has restarted on the Spring Hollow trail network on Pine Valley Mountains.
The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Mechanical Music!
The Spring Hollow trails were originally planned and funded in 2021, and 6 miles of trail were completed before the project was put on hold. Fast forward to 2024, and construction has resumed, with a target of adding 12 more miles of trail to this unique and beautiful area.
Stay tuned for more information as work progresses!
Get Ready for the newest (and maybe best!) trail center in Southwest Utah: Revenant Trails!
TASU is partnering with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation, to create 18-20 miles of purpose-built mountain bike trails in the scenic West Mountain area, 30 minutes west of Downtown St. George on BLM-managed land.
Neither Rain nor Sleet nor Snow will slow our roll out of these new trails!
The Revenant Trail Center will feature one-way dedicated downhill and bike park trails with tabletops, rollers, berms, and technical rock features. It’s the first trail center of its kind in Southwest Utah, and it’s coming to St. George! The Revenant Gravity Trails promise fun for riders and families of all abilities.
The West Mountain area offers ideal topography for fun, sustainable gravity trails.
These bike-optimized gravity trails are designed to appeal to riders and families of all abilities. Thanks to higher elevation and ideal topography, Revenant Trails will provide local residents and visitors with a backcountry bike park experience unlike any other in the Southwest Utah region.
TASU and these partners have secured funding for 90% of the project. We have also committed to $45,000 in volunteer time.
We need to raise an additional $48,000 to complete the project.
Click here to contribute to this exciting new recreational resource.
Have you heard of West Mountain? If not, you’ve almost certainly seen it from a distance. This rugged and remote area lies just North of Highway 91, about 30 minutes west of St. George. Today it’s wild and empty. Soon, it’ll be home to a new trail network unlike any other in Southwest Utah.
West Mountain viewed from Gunlock FallsThe West Mountain area is a trail builder’s blank canvas
Here’s what TASU President Kevin Chrispoherson has to say about the project:
“Several years ago, we sort of polled our community, if you will, and sort of informally and formally, it’s like, what do people want? And what we heard didn’t really surprise me.
What people wanted were things on the extremes. And I think we have a lot of cross-country trails that are kind of kind of intermediate. I heard that people wanted more beginner trails, green trails, and I heard people want more downhill trails and and black trails.
For the last several years we’ve been moving that way. And since that time we’ve added added kind of a beginner loop out there at More Cowbell. And then we helped with the construction of the trails out through Desert Canyons.
But what we haven’t had is the downhill trails and the really expert downhill trails. We’ve got kind of slow tech, but not really the downhill stuff. And so we’ve been kind of working towards that. And it’s hard here because we don’t have a lot of mountains around here if we want something close.
So we’ve been working on that for you know, we started looking at West Mountain really pretty hard in 2017. And that kind of serves two purposes. One is it gets us to a higher elevation.
So it extends the biking season locally close. You don’t have to drive all the way to Brian Head or somewhere if you don’t want to. And it gives us that elevation drop that provides that other option for trails.
And it’s not really a bike park, but there are some of the same kinds of features that you would see in a bike park.
Our motivation was to create a downhill trail that everybody could ride. It’d be kind of, you know, have some A-B lines where, you know, the experts have a line on some features and beginners or intermediates have a ride-around kind of thing.
Thank you again to all who commented on our posts as well as provided comments to the Environmental Assessment. The final EA will approve over 20 miles of trail. Phase one will be 10-12 miles with a 6-mile expert DH line, and 5-6 miles of all levels of jump/flow lines etc. It will be like nothing else we have here.”
In what may be a first in Southern Utah history, over 50 local mountain bikers, NICA teams, government agencies and local bike shops gathered at Bearclaw Poppy to celebrate National Trails Day.
National Trails Day® is an annual event hosted by the American Hiking Society that encourages support of our nation’s public trails. Trails are an important part of urban and rural communities and have a positive impact on our mental and physical health. National Trails Day® “…is a day of public events aimed at advocacy and trail service. Thousands of hikers, bikers, rowers, horseback riders, trail clubs, federal and local agencies, land trusts, and businesses come together in partnership to advocate for, maintain, and clean up public lands and trails.”
Local riders, NICA teams, bike shops and government agencies unite to protect the beloved trails at BCP
A Worthy Cause
Selecting Bearclaw Poppy (BCP) as the event site was a no-brainer. One could argue there’s no trail system in Southern Utah more vulnerable and fragile than BCP. The area sees heavy year-round use from locals and visitors and is a favorite training ground for NICA teams.
Trail signage is either lacking, vandalized or confusing, making navigation a challenge. This is exacerbated by online trail apps like TrailForks that include illegal trails. Visitors and first-time riders are faced with a confusing array of trails, many of which are unsanctioned ‘social’ trails.
A number of agencies have oversight and/or input into the area, making cohesive planning and control challenging.
Endangered Trails
Perhaps the greatest threat to BCP is the proliferation of illegal trails, many of which cut through cryptobiotic soils and threaten the habitat of two protected species in the area. The Dwarf Bear Poppy is endemic to Washington County, while the Desert Tortoise is an endangered species. As a result, the area is closely monitored by the US Fish and Wildlife Agency, which is empowered to close some or all of the area due to overuse and/or abuse.
Education First
A key challenge in protecting BCP is the lack of awareness among users about the fragile and protected environment in and around BCP. Education is the natural first step in promoting responsible recreational use. Representatives from the BLM and the Red Cliffs Desert Preserve presented information about area management and planning. Attendees received a refresher course on trail etiquette and received tips on DIY trail maintenance.
Riders young and old learned something new about BCP’s VIP residents: the Dwarf Bear Poppy and Desert Tortoise
On the lighter side, local bike shops exhibited their wares and donated gift cards and shop gear to a huge raffle. There was even an official t-shirt printed and sold on-site, with 100% of the proceeds donated to preserving and protecting BCP.
Thanks to Rapid Cycling, Hyperthreads and Rayco Designs for the awesome shirts!Thanks to the local bike shops for their generous donations of shop gear and gift cards for the event giveaways!There’s no better way to appreciate the work required to create, enhance and protect trails than picking up a shovel and digging in.
What’s Next?
As successful as the event was, it’s only the first step in a long journey. The ultimate goal? To ensure Bearclaw Poppy remains open for responsible recreational use today, tomorrow, next week and next year. This gathering demonstrated that our community is committed to the cause. It was so encouraging to have representation from every local bike shop, government agencies, NICA teams, and local mountain bikers all united in their desire to protect these beloved trails.
Join Friends of the Claw!
Friends of the Claw is a group of concerned and engaged trail users committed to helping keep the Bear Claw Poppy trail system open for all to enjoy responsibly.
The BCP history, location, management and environment create a unique set of challenges, requiring a multi-faceted approach to protection, including:
Education
Signage
Ambassadorship
Maintenance
TASU is actively working with the BLM and Red Cliffs Desert Preserve to ensure that mountain bikers are represented in the decisions affecting BCP trails. We MUST be active in the fight. Boots on the ground, shovels in hand, and voices educating trail users are our weapons.
If you’d like to assist us in protecting the legacy of Bearclaw Poppy for current and future generations, consider becoming a Friend of the Claw!
On May 2, 2019, the DMBTA Cedar Chapter held the first of four Trail Building Courses in hopes of getting more people certified in trail work. So many people showed up, we were scrounging around for more chairs and room to learn. Kevin Christopherson was our presenter and gave a powerful introduction of both the science and the art of good trail building. All who attended came away with knowledge and inspiration to make the most of every trail.
On April 30th the DMBTA Cedar Chapter began the 2019 building season with a very successful day building the new 13th Hole Trail. Many people showed up to start the building season off right. By the end of the evening, we had built well over 200 feet of quality trail.
We ended the 2018 build year finishing Iron Giants Trail
The Iron Giants Trail is the latest edition to the Southview Trail system in Cedar City’s Iron Hills Trails program. Iron Giants is rated as a beginner downhill trail, but it is a fast-flowing, fun trail for all riders. It was machine built by Trail Solutions and finished by DMBTA members. It has been cleaned, hand-raked, and with all the winter snow and moisture it will be hardened up and ready for spring 2019!
Near the bottom of Iron GiantsDMBTA Cedar Chapter Board Member – Mac Urie – Looking proud of the new trail work!One of the many trail building volunteers that make trails like this possible.
If you’re like
me, your favorite trail around here is the last one. I love the diversity here. Sometimes I want to go fast and flowing, and
sometimes slow and techy. Based on BLM electronic
counters the top five favorite trails are:
Bearclaw Poppy – with
23,162 riders per year
Gooseberry Mesa – with
19,618
Hurricane Cliffs – with
15,831
Wire Mesa – with 14,240
Santa Clara – with
13,680
These numbers are amazing and would be hard to believe except they
are based on actual electronic counts.
When you do that math Bearclaw Poppy averaged 63 bikers a day for the
year. Crazy.
We only have counts on BLM trails. I suspect the Desert Canyon trails would make the top five if we counted next year, and the South View trails in Cedar City are blowing up. We are fortunate to have so many great trails in our area, but it wasn’t luck. A lot of people including volunteers, the BLM, and National Forest Service people, have all worked very hard to make these trails happen.
Lately our
trails have been getting quite a bit of publicity, which has been focused
mainly on the mesas. This is a brief
history of the JEM trail specifically and the Hurricane/Virgin area more
broadly.
In the early
90s, when mountain biking was still young, there were few riders and even fewer
trails on the East side of Washington County.
The riding was mainly fire roads, though there were a few renegades who
were dreaming and building trails on Gooseberry, Dalton Wash (where Guacamole
currently is), Rockville Bench, and on the land that ultimately became the site
of the JEM. It seemed crazy at the time
to be building trails; crazier now that it was thought they would never gain
much traction. JEM is a combination of
initials of the original designer and a couple of the people who were convinced
to work hard building it. Though only three initials were used, there were
quite a few participants. It was
originally designed and built as a downhill singletrack with a climb up fire
roads for access. It was planned that eventually
more singletrack would be built for the climb, making a complete singletrack
loop. The climb part was not completed, but
a bit of it was built by one of the renegade trail dreamers, and it is still in
use today. There are still many who
dream of completion of the uphill singletrack, perhaps someday those dreams
will come to fruition. Toward the end of
the 90s, the trail was finally adopted as a legally sanctioned trail. At that time, parts of it were moved,
rebuilt, and rehabbed for various reasons.
So many people have contributed to this trail over the years, making it
one of the best cross-country trails in the county.
In more modern history, due to collaborative efforts of DMBTA, BLM, local bike shops, and numerous volunteers, JEM has become the ‘anchor’ for an extensive trail system that includes Hurricane Rim, Goulds, Gould Rim, Cryptobionic, Dead Ringer, Goosebumps, and More Cowbell. The system is now referred to as the Hurricane Cliffs recreation system.
