November. Dig, Ride, Paddle.

 

November 2021

A last minute road trip to eastern Nevada and southwest Utah. 

First, we drove out to dig for fossil trilobites at the Oak Springs trilobite site. Pretty much skunked on our first try we camped nearby and returned for another round. Eventually we hit a large patch of fossils. The sign at the trailhead stated "you will find mostly heads" which we did. The funny thing is we are walking around a month later and whatever we are doing we say, "you will find mostly heads." Doesn't sound that funny in writing but it always elicits a chuckle verbalized. BTW, it is legal to collect a "reasonable" amount of the trilobite fossils.
 

"You will find mostly heads"

From there we spent a couple days riding the emerging trail system in/around Caliente Nevada. They have a great start and there is huge potential throughout the area. We spent one day riding the Kershaw/Ryan State Park trail system, and the next day went out to the Barnes Canyon system. Fun fun!

 

 

A different kind of trailhead

The 'normal' trailhead

Alt line at Kershaw

Alt lines abound

Boar's Head trail

Of course we were just a few short miles from Cathedral Gorge State Park so after riding we went out and explored the fascinating terrain and incredible slots contained therein. There is a campground there but we were still out boondocking. If you find yourself in the area I highly recommend a visit.

 

From there we drove down to Hurricane Utah making camp on Gooseberry Mesa. Of course these mesa tops are well known by the mountain biking community but we still managed to find a great site with views into Zion National Park. We rode the Wire Mesa trail and then Gooseberry Mesa's South Rim Trail, Hidden Canyon, and Secret trails. Then we moved over to Guacamole Mesa with it's plentiful petrified wood and a camp with even better Zion views! I rode the trail system there that includes, Guacamole, Margarita, and Holy Guacamole. I only got lost once, but crashed twice.

South Rim trail

Wire Mesa trail

Views forever

Guacamole Mesa camp

Secret Trail

Sadly by now it was time to start making our way home. But happily we had brought our packrafts. So we drove to our favorite backcountry camp location below Hoover Dam and camped that night. The following day we made the short hike down the canyon with our rafts, lunch and a couple beers. Since we first discovered paddling the Black Canyon in 2015(?), we have been back I think at least once every year and have made several bikerafting loops through the canyon. It's that good!

Well it was a great spur of the moment trip. We spent one more night at another favorite spot west of Death Valley and made it home the following day.

But November wasn't over. I was going bikepacking with the Burrito Packers!