| Name: | Gould - JEM - Hurricane Rim and beyond | 
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| Description: | A pretty successful attempt to elongate the best loop in SW Utah, which is unfortunately too short for whole day. The plan was to ride the loop and explore dirt roads between Gooseberry Mesa and Virgin River. Started at the Hurricane trailhead and rode Gould Rim and JEM all the way to the river, checked out a relatively trashy Virgin River Falls park - not much of a falls either. Then crossed the Sheep Bridge and rode on Hwy 9 for several miles (also checking out an ostrich farm) till a small farm community which offers a bridge across the river. Braved my way on a dirt road between farmhouses with large unfriendly dogs. Then rode up towards Gooseberry, there was an ATV track that seems to lead to a dugway that goes all the way to the top of the mesa. Then followed another good ATV track paralleling the mesa north rim towards another dirt road. This one leads to a T junction, I rode down, the other one goes to the JEM top trailhead. The ride down the road was peppered with several singletrack sections - this road is part of access to JEM if one wants to ride just JEM as a loop. Hit the main dirt road, and went back on JEM and from there onto Hurricane Rim and back to the car. Bottom line, a good 5-6 hour loop, I did it as a figure 8, but can be done other ways. Next time I may attempt to find a way to eliminate the road and farm sections. | |
| URL: | TopoFusion Home Page | |
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| Total Distance: | 40.01 miles (64.39 km) |
| Total Trip Time: | 5:06:19 (4:39:36 moving time) |
| Total Climbing: | 4748 feet (1447 m) |
| Total Descending: | 4679 feet (1426 m) |
| Average Speed: | 8.59 mph (13.82 kph) |
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