From the car park I headed south and rode along singletrack which started to head west, the trail was a mix of singletrack in the scrub and on slick rock.

After God's skateboard Park, I rode along Rattle snake rim, the views off over the rim made for an interesting ride.

Dinosaur bones in the rock

Riding along Rattlesnake Rim (27 MB)

Keeping left I the trail I headed west towards the point, there were a couple of short steep slick rock climbs I got off and pushed my bike on, not trusting my legs to have enough power to motor up them, mindful of the skin loss that would happen if I did fall.

At Goosebury Mesa Point

I stopped and had some powerbars at the point and took in the views, so far I had not seen anyone else at all while riding the trails of Goosebury Mesa.

The Yellow trail then connected onto the North Rim Trail, which skirted along side the edge of the Mesa. The good thing about riding on your own is you can just bimble along at your own pace, although company is good all too often it means you have to push yourself to keep up with the local riders, and you cant stop to take as many pictures as you'd like to.

Riding the North Rim Trail

At the end of the North rim trail I headed around the practice loop and then back to the SUV.

The Goosebury Mesa car park

Looking up at Goosebury Mesa

As there was still plenty of day light I decided to go and ride a trail I hadn't ridden before and that was the Stucki Spring - Bear claw poppy loop. SO I drove back to St George and to the trail head at Bloomington. There were quite a few riders starting to do their rides at the trail head as they finished work. While unpacking my bike there was a weird mini sandstorm that blew through all of a sudden you could hardly see anything and my bike bag which had been on the roof of the suv went flying, after about 30 seconds it stopped and everything was normal again, asides from my bike bag no longer being black but dirt colored.

Riding up Bear claw Poppy Trail (25 MB)

At the end of the Bear claw poppy trail I connected onto the Stucki Connector which was a double track trail. I almost fell off my bike at one point as I heard a loud rattling noise to my right, looking back I saw a Rattle snake at the side of the trail, which had been less than 1/2 a foot from my leg.

Rattle Snake Video (14 MB)

This was the first time I had seen a Rattlesnake while riding my bike, it was pretty cool. I'm glad it hadn't bitten me as I didn't have a mobile phone and they didn't seem to be any one riding this section of trail.

Bear Claw Poppy

I stopped and had a chat with the riders, before heading off down the trail back towards Bloomington. The trail was good fast rolling singletrack.

While I was stopping to take photos the riders from the group I had met earlier went past me, my pictures have not caught exactly how the light was as the sun went down which was amazing. Also there was a damp smell of wet earth on the wind from the rain to north.

Riding back down Bear Claw Poppy (28 MB)

Back at the trail head the group of riders I kept on coming across kindly invited me to have a post ride dinner with them at Cafe Rio in St George, the food and company was good. I also got some contact details from them and arranged to meet one of them for a ride the following evening.