| Name: | Dark Hollow loop | 
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| Description: | Day one of trip to Cedar City for Southern Utah Supercomputing Conference. I left home a day earlier to get some more riding. Still, I was not overly ambitious since I did not want to fry myself before a day and a half of tutorials that I was to give a few days later. So, the plan was to ride the Dark Hollow trail, which is deemed as the best ride in Brian Head. It's a 6 mile singletrack downhill followed by another 5 miles of so dirt road, descending ca. 4000 ft. Since I am no friend of shuttles, I made this into a loop. As an added twist, I did not ride down Second Left Hand Fork, but, the First one, because there is a USFS campground there where I planned to stay. I started a bit before noon riding downhill from a temporary camp spot (which I left in the afternoon and found a better one). The road in the First fork is paved but fairly narrow and patchy, so, I was not flying too fast. Then followed a climb to Brian Head and beyond. I was not trying to kill myself so I took it easy, still, the last couple of miles before Brian Head are quite steep. I got some more water at Brian Head Sports and headed further up, to Mammoth Pass and then on dirt road towards Brian Head Peak. Since the peak is only about 350 vertical feet higher than Dark Hollow trailhead, I rode to the peak. Here I relaxed a bit, chanegd shirts (good idea - one was pretty soaked from the climb, but, there was a chilly wind at the peak). Then I headed down the peak and onto the singletrack. The first mile or so is on Sidney Peaks Trail, where I have some fond memories of looking for bushes two years ago during the Brian Head 100. The Dark Hollow trail starts with steep rocky descent off the ridge, then it mellows down a bit on some meadows and then alternates between rocky and smooth. There were a few sections that I walked mainly becuase I did not feel like risking a crash on a first day of the trip. Overall, the whole thing is rideable. But, I would not say that it was all that enjoyable. Just too much bone rattling rocky downhill. Before I realized, I hit the dirt road, and it seems like I ended up taking the Paradise Canyon trail for the last bit instead of Dark Hollow. Oh well, it was not too bad since that saved me a bit of climbing up the dirt road towards the First fork. The roads in this are are quite well signed for the ATVs, which was cool with me since I managed not to get dusted by any and the markings were good for orientation. I checked out some traditional Mormon families in their long dress outfits camping at Joes Valley reservoir, then headed to the USFS campground to refill on water and back to the car. Overall a pleasant loop although Dark Hollow seems to be overrated. Virgin Rim, or even Sidney Peaks would be a better pick from my standpoint. | |
| URL: | TopoFusion Home Page | |
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| Total Distance: | 31.40 miles (50.53 km) |
| Total Trip Time: | 4:29:49 (3:40:42 moving time) |
| Total Climbing: | 5201 feet (1585 m) |
| Total Descending: | 5207 feet (1587 m) |
| Average Speed: | 8.54 mph (13.74 kph) |
