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Grafton Mesa Singletrack
Grafton Mesa has some nice non-official singletrack with multiple
riding options. Because these are "social trails" the
connections will change. Trails may fade away from disuse. Expect to get
lost, even with a map. GPS tracks are highly recommended.
This page has information for adventurous off-the-map riders.
For the official ride, see the Grafton Mesa
page. You can also connect to these
trails via Grafton Wash from Gooseberry
NE Rim.
Get onto the rock, work around the
cleft (it's possible to roll it if you've got the perfect line, but I had
to use a little hop of the back end) then head along the "balance
beam." Near the top of the 1st segment, west singletrack. Photos by Bruce on
April 1st and 22nd, 2011.
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West Side Mesa Singletrack
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West of the mesa road are three named sections of singletrack. The trail
called Show Me The Money starts on the Grafton Wash
trail near the Smithsonian Butte road. It connects back to the mesa DT
(and the northern trail More Money) after 1.4 miles. In the middle of this
trail is a fun 0.8 mile alternate route called Lazy Money. (Lazy Money
sends a connector to the mesa road just south of the South Wash trail.)
Much of the upper-mesa singletrack
hugs a steep side-slope just below the crest of the mesa. There are
smoother spots like this, but plenty of rock-drops and tight spots. We're
looking south in the middle of the first section of west-side singletrack. |
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At the north end of Show Me the Money, about 150 feet
before the mesa road, a fainter less-developed ST forks north. More
Money arcs
around to the viewpoint at the cliffs (start of the coach road) after 1.6
miles. Most riders combine Show Me the Money with More Money for a single
north-south path to the edge of the mesa.
View to the north, early in the second
section of the west-side singletrack. |
| Northbound navigation: Stay on the ridgetop though the
first 1/3 mile, ignoring small branching trails. (The trail that heads
downhill to the left dips through Grafton Wash
to Gooseberry NE Rim.) The Show Me The Money drops about 200 feet over 1.5
miles. It hugs the west side of Grafton Mesa. On the Tech Meter, it's a few notches up from Gooseberry Mesa.
After cruising along the edge of the mesa, the singletrack
turns east, drops through a small wash, and joins the mesa road.
Quirky up-and-over. A rockpile on each
side of this pinion branch form the ramps. |
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One
spot on Show Me The Money deserves mention: The first time the singletrack reaches DT, the
continuing trail is straight ahead. About 100 feet after that crossing,
there's a spot where an obvious trail heads downhill. This is Lazy Money.
To stay on Show Me The Money turn
left and ride along a rock ledge to find the continuing trail northbound
on the ridge.
A drop down a sharp rock face on Show
Me The Money -- and
it's hard to spot the tire traps in the shadows. |
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Lazy Money is fairly straightforward rock-and-singletrack riding. The
rock challenges weren't particularly hairy. When you reach a trail fork
about 0.3 miles into Lazy Money, keep left. The right fork drops down to
the mesa road about 1/10th mile south of the South Wash trail.
Riding the fatty in this 2016 photo as
I run the length of Lazy Money. |
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The second section of west-side singletrack, More Money has some very
technical spots. A few of them were way beyond my comfort level. Even good
trials riders may first need to scout the lines. But More Money also has long sections of
mellow cruising (interrupted by the really tricky stuff).
Once you reach the cliff viewpoint, the northbound route across the
doubletrack will take you on the east-side mesa singletrack for your
return trip.
In the middle of a very long section
of balance and bike control challenge. I stopped to take this photo after
the, oh, 10th time I'd fallen off the rocks. |
East Side Mesa Singletrack |
| East of the mesa road are five named sections of trail. From
south to north these are South Wash, Dig It, Reach Around, Grafton, and
Meanderthon. These form a corridor from the Smithsonian Butte road to
the cliffs over the Grafton DH trail.
If you thought navigation on the west side singletrack was tricky,
well, the east side is extremely hard. A GPS track is highly recommended.
See my multi-track area file.
Looking east on the DH option of the east-side
singletrack. We're almost through climbing around the hill. That's
Smithsonian Butte on the right. |
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As with the west-side trails, I'll start south to north.
The trails seem to be designed to ride that way. If you're doing a loop,
then reverse the trail order, but realize that navigation will be VERY
much harder in the north-to-south direction. The South Wash trail
drops from the Smithsonian Butte road through south wash, then back up to
the Grafton Mesa road over 1.9 miles, with about 250 vertical feet of
climbing coming out of the wash. The eastern entry to the trail is marked
by a cairn at the side of the road, 0.4 miles from the Grafton Mesa Road. Little
Snowflake climbs through sandstone slabs on South Wash. |
| Just 1/10th mile before South Wash ends on the Grafton Mesa
road (1.8 miles from the scenic byway road), fork to the right on Dig
It. Dig It is a fairly flat cruiser of a trail, losing about 50 feet
elevation as it heads 0.8 miles north. Rock
ramp on Dig It, riding north to south. In the south-to-north navigation,
you'd be descending this ramp. |
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Dig It ends on Reach Around. When you hit a broad open sandstone
area with a hill straight ahead of you, you're there. Usually there's a
tall cairn here.
Here you make a decision on your riding path. You can veer a bit left
going northbound and take Grafton ST over the the hill. Or you can
turn 120 degrees to the south (right) and descend the rock ramp on Reach
Around to circle the mountain for a less-tricky route. Looking
south on the slickrock area where Dig It meets Reach Around.
This spot is a critical navigation landmark. |
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Grafton ST (to the left) climbs up the hill and becomes a DH
challenge. It will rejoin Reach Around after about 3/4 mile and continue
as a single trail north. After making your choice, keep to the right at
the next two forks, because the left forks take you to the mesa road. (The
second left hits the road sorta-across from the spur to the west-side
singletrack.)
Rolling over Grafton's amazing slickrock. |
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Now here's the tricky part! Finding the trails from the mesa road.
If you're trying to find this spot from the west-side singletrack
connector, go a little bit south on the mesa doubletrack. The first trail, about 50 feet south on your left, is the push-a-bike
route uphill on the Grafton ST (western) limb of the trail. The second trail, about 300 feet south on your
left is a flatter option. At the trail fork, left takes you up to the hill
while right will send you toward the slickrock ramp where you can select
between Reach Around and Dig It.
Zippy high-speed turn on the DH route.
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| Northbound on the Grafton Mesa ST option, the trail levels out
where the north push-a-bike trail and the lower trail flatter from Dig It
combine.) After cresting the hill,
you'll begin a swooping tech descent with many jump opportunities. There
are ride-arounds for most of the tech challenges.
After 0.6 miles, you'll be joined by the alternate trail,
but you probably won't notice. The trails join in a slickrock area, and
the cairns are arranged so you don't accidentally enter the alternate
trail and go the wrong way.
One of the steeper ramps. The trail
enters at the arrow and drops this 60-degree ramp. Near the end of the DH
route.
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Reach Around (longer, easier eastern) option: From the
northern end of Dig It, turn 120 degrees on the slickrock and descend to
the south. The trail will veer east (left) at the bottom of the rock and
head toward the edge of South Wash.
(If you're coming from the spur to Show Me The Money and More Money --
the the western singletrack
section, turn right and ride about 300 feet south on the DT. Fork L on DT that becomes ST. About
300 feet later, you'll come to a trail fork. On the left, a trail heads
uphill to join the DH route on the hill. Go right and follow the cairns
through a slickrock area as you generally descend to the east.)
Another little ledge drop.
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| The trail will turn north and follow the cliffs on the
eastern edge of the mesa. This option is moderately technical. It doesn't
offer the big jumps of the DH route, but there's plenty of fun stuff. The
Reach Around trail will turn west and enter a slickrock area. It will join the
Grafton ST route as it drops off the mountain at mile 0.9 (1.1 from the mesa
road if you came from the west side). The Grafton ST trail now continues north. It
will cross a small doubletrack.
View into South Wash from the eastern
side of Grafton Mesa on the eastern trail option.
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As you ride north, there's a hard-to-spot fork 0.6 miles from where the trails
rejoin. This is the final section of singletrack, Meanderthon. Here's how you find it: First, miss the fork
and arrive at doubletrack heading north. If you don't see a cliff in front
of you, you're not there yet. Turn around and ride back on the singletrack
exactly 250 feet. Find the trail.
Meanderthon will
circle back a bit to the south and east before dumping onto the cliff face
at the end of the mesa road in 0.7 miles. More Money is just across the
mesa road. Or, drop over the edge on the Grafton
DH.
A really fun section. Rock bridge to
marshmallow, wheelie across cleft to pillow, turn and catch next rock
bridge to slickrock.
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Sample ride: Mesa-top Figure 8
This is a very fun option that avoids the steep plunge off the
end of the mesa down to Grafton (and the grind back uphill to your car).
This ride is 6.8 miles. Assuming you take the flatter (eastern) option
when the trail splits, total climbing will be about 500 feet. Consider
doing it twice, once on the eastern limb and once using the DH route on
the west. (See the map.)
The figure 8 ride starts at the top of the singletrack and
heads north. When you hit the mesa road 2 miles later, jog back south
about 200 feet and find the continuing singletrack. Stay low and eastbound
on the flatter trail option. When you arrive at the viewpoint, find the
singletrack across the mesa road, just to the left of an old doubletrack.
When you arrive back at the trail fork, continue to the mesa road and ride
back on the doubletrack. |
Sample ride, shuttled downhill plunge!
0.0 Start as DT N37 07.569 W113 06.174
0.05 Stay R (L descends into Grafton Wash)
N37 07.662 W113 06.158
0.2 Cross DT at angle, find continuing ST
N37 07.828 W113 06.059
0.25 Critical fork, keep L uphill
N37 07.846 W113 06.043
(R down = goes to mesa road)
0.4 Trail splits, R = easier N37 07.972 W113 06.025
0.45 Trails rejoin N37 07.996 W113 06.029
1.5 ST ends on DT, go R (south) on DT
N37 08.629 W113 05.700
1.5 330 feet from turn onto DT, fork L
N37 08.583 W113 05.671
Keep L at next fork 200 feet |
1.6 Fork R downhill (L = up to
DT route)
N37 08.603 W113 05.621
2.6 Rejoins DH route
N37 08.850 W113 05.500
2.8 Cross DT N37 08.964 W113 05.466
3.2 Fork R (easy to miss) N37 09.284 W113 05.409
If you hit DT northbound,
backtrack 250 ft
4.0 Viewpoint on cliff N37 09.432 W113 05.319
ST on L on side of cliff, go
steep downhill
5.3 L on DT near wash bottom
N37 09.456 W113 04.977
5.7 Pass cemetery, arrive Grafton Road
N37 09.817 W113 04.826
Note: see Grafton Mesa page for coach road
description. |
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Getting there, from Rockville: In La Verkin, turn
toward Zion National Park on Highway 9. When you get to Rockville, drive
until you're seeing the end of town then turn south (right) on Bridge
Road. Cross the Virgin River on the old bridge. Follow the road as it
veers right (west). At the fork in the road 1.5 miles later, turn left and
park near the wash. Start riding south uphill on the Smithsonian Butte
Scenic Byway (may or may not have a sign). If you're shuttling to the top,
it's the last doubletrack (on your right) before the top of the mountain,
4.4 miles up, just after the road has turned south again. N37 07.683 W113 06.131.
Parking areas: Just to the northeast of the intersection of the mesa road
with the Smithsonian Butte road, plus right along the trail on the next
doubletrack.
Camping: Primitive along ridge
Parking, trail kiosks, etc: None. These are not official trails.
Water: none
Bathrooms: none
Bike services: Hurricane, Springdale
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| Getting there, from Gooseberry: From the spot where the
Gooseberry road leaves the Scenic Byway, proceed north 1/2 mile. Just
after you start more steeply downhill, watch for the first doubletrack on
your left. |
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