The Church Rocks Loop is a popular trail just north of
Washington (about 10 miles north of St. George). The loop itself is 3.1 miles of
80% slickrock. It's a fairly rapid ride, with little elevation change (about 150 feet), so you
may want to do the loop section a couple of times. Because of some steep and
rough spots, Church Rocks ranks upper-intermediate overall in skill level,
but less-skilled riders manage by walking the tricky spots.
View
south towards the wash where you rolled underneath the freeway, with the town of
Washington in the distance. May 6, 2000 by Bruce Argyle.
Latest update of this page October 2018.
Your overall ride will be longer. Church Rocks doesn't have its own
trailhead, so you'll have to plan to ride there via Prospector, Grapevine,
or The Tunnel. Most riders
now connect to Church Rocks via the Prospector
Trail through the Cottonwood Trailhead. More on that later.
Heading up into the sandstone on a clockwise ride of
the Church Rocks loop.
First up: the old "classic" Tunnel Route!
This is how we got there 20 years ago. Now the first part is paved trail
from the Coral Canyon subdivision. With the connector road and the spooky
ride through the "haunted I-15 pipe", you'll do about 8.2 miles if you ride the
loop only once.
The rolling slickrock on the top of the cliffs is why
riders come here again and again.
The ride starts at Heritage Park in Coral Canyon. First, you
head up the road toward the freeway, then find the cement bike trail
between two homes at the end of Grasslands Parkway. Ride straight uphill,
then along the freeway to the southwest. Go up the hill (Black Ridge).
After the main trail veers left, find your way to the right, around the
water tank. Finding the descending road 200 yards east of the water tank
and head straight towards the freeway.
Bruce
takes air on the lower side of Church Rocks in 2017.
Right at the western corner
of the ridge as it bumps against the freeway is the drainpipe that's the underground path to
the slickrock. (Don't descend further along the freeway! The drainpipe may
be hard to see due to willows, but it's right there.) Drop into the wash and head straight into the round drainpipe that goes under the freeway.
Insane? You bet. After exiting the drainpipe (hopefully, with all your skin intact), walk
your bike through deep sand and volcanic rock until the trail climbs out of the wash on
your left.
Bruce cruises above the sandstone
cliffs on the bike known as Banana Thunder.
Photo by Diane Argyle, May 6, 2000.
When the trail crosses over to the right side of the wash, immediately fork
left and follow the trail up onto the slickrock. Watch carefully for stacked rocks and old
painted dashes on the rock. Once you've found the trail, decide which
direction you want to ride. I like to go clockwise.
Climbing on domes of Navajo sandstone
on the westernmost edge of the loop.
Church Rocks from Prospector!
This is the most popular way to get there. Start at the Cottonwood
trailhead (see below). Follow the Cottonwood Trail 0.5 miles then veer left at two forks
that are about 50 feet apart. The Prospector Trail will parallel the freeway
heading south 3 miles. Turn left when it intersects the Church Rocks Loop and
ride the loop clockwise. The ride will be about 11 miles.
Most
of the slickrock is fairly smooth and flat. Bruce is riding a custom-build
Rocky Mountain Element from the UtahMountainBiking store in Lehi.
From Grapevine!
From the Grapevine trailhead, take Grapevine (the continuation of
Prospector) east. At the top of the hill, there are two options. Straight
ahead takes you down some ugly switchbacks. If you fork to the left for
about 100 yards, you'll find another route descending through the ravine
that's much more mellow. It ties into the western corner of the Church
Rocks loop.
Some riders will come in via Dino Cliffs. From the north end of Dino,
jog east on the doubletrack to pick up the Grapevine trail. See the Dino
Cliffs trail page.
There are a couple of climbs that will
challenge intermediates, but they're short and very walk-able.
On the loop...
Church Rocks' northern side is the "upper side" of the loop. The trail follows the break between the sagebrush of the mesa and the
slickrock cliffs. This area isn't hard to navigate -- follow the tire marks
on the slickrock. If you're riding clockwise (my favorite) you just aim your bike east and
follow the edge of the rock. The trail descends to the bottom of the cliffs near Church Rocks -- the
domes you see rising up to the east.
View to the north of the actual Church
Rock in this year 1998 photo.
The southern (lower) side of the loop is a combination of high-speed
smooth desert singletrack and slickrock. After descending bumpily from the
rock on the clockwise ride, the trail turns immediately back west and winds
through exposed rock and singletrack.
The drop off the north
end of the cliffs has a lot of ledges, then the trail smooths out to nice
ribbon.
The Prospector Trail ties into the middle of this singletrack area (a
right fork when riding clockwise). The next trail fork as you go west is
the continuation of Prospector. As you turn and drop into a
small canyon, you'll see a fork in the trail. If you keep right, more level,
and straight, you're headed to Church Rocks. If you go left and climb
slickrock, that's Prospector. In 2017, there's a carsonite post on the
Prospector side.
Heading back to the south under the
cliffs to close the loop on a clockwise ride.
Church Rocks from the
Cottonwood Trailhead...
If the above video does not appear on your
browser/device, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking
here.
Bottom Line:
Very fun ride, quick and scenic. Popular, so expect company.
Desert Marigold bloom in the "oasis" in
the bottom of the wash.
Getting there:
Prospector Trail from the Cottonwood Trailhead:
This is a great ride! Take the UT-9 exit from I-15
(highway 9 goes to Hurricane, Zion Canyon, Grand Canyon) about 15 miles north of St.
George. Turn towards Hurricane and pass Coral Canyon. Instead, drive to
the traffic light in 0.7 miles. Turn left on Old Highway 91. Now go exactly 2
miles north. Watch on your left for a gravel road that enters a tiny single-lane
slot under the freeway, with a sign that says "Cottonwood Trailhead".
It will be between a beer warehouse labeled Winkel Distributing and a Rocky Mountain Power
office. Turn left and drive 0.25 miles under both lanes of the freeway to reach the
trailhead.
For a bigger ride, start at the northern Prospector Trailhead on the road to Red
Cliffs. See the Prospector
Trail page. The trailhead is just across the freeway from Harrisville (use
the Leeds exit and go south, or follow Old 91 north from Highway 9). This makes the
ride just over 16
miles.
Via Coral Canyon Trail: Take the UT-9 exit from I-15
(highway 9 goes to Hurricane, Zion Canyon, Grand Canyon) about 15 miles north of St.
George. Turn towards Hurricane, but immediately turn right in 0.2 miles onto Coral
Canyon Blvd. (If you pass the golf course, you missed it.) Go south
through the roundabout and continue 0.6 miles, then right on Territory
Canyon Drive. Immediately turn left on Grasslands Parkway. Heritage Park
is 0.1 miles. Find a spot to park. On your bike,
head north uphill on Grasslands (toward the freeway). Find the cement
trail on your right, just before the road turns left and becomes North
Bend Drive. Keep straight as you pass two paved trails that fork off. The
paved trail will take you to the top of the water tank hill.
Slick Rock Road in Coral
Canyon: Go to Heritage Park as above, but as you climb up
Grasslands Parkway, turn left on Slick Rock Road. Keep going south until
the road turns north toward the freeway. Watch for the cement trail
between two homes just before Slick Rock Road turns back east and becomes
Sprint Canyon Drive. Once on the trail, fork right uphill, then take the
next fork left to climb up Black Ridge toward the water tank. Grapevine via Washington Parkway: Go to
the north end of Washington Parkway (at the new exit 13 off I-15). Keep
straight into the dirt road through a two fences, then park. Head east (to
your right as you drive through the second fence). Follow the Grapevine
Trail to the Prospector connector, then grab Bracken's for 0.1 mile, then
fork R to head for Church Rocks. See the Dino
Cliffs trail page for specific instructions.
