The Green Valley Raceway Trail is southwest of St. George in Green
Valley. You cross the assembly area for the racecourse as you drive to the Bearclaw Poppy Trail
northern trailhead. The racecourse interconnects with the Barrel
Trail. It's also a (less-popular) path to the Stucki Springs Trail.
The race loop is used by the high school race league, the Intermountain
Cup, and the Senior Games.
Dominic Bria fights up a
ledge and into a turn on the uphill. Here we're headed UP the downhill race
track.
August 4, 2000.
Note 2022: Construction of homes has begun on
the northern end of the bottom of the
valley. The master plan preserves the main trails on the BLM land of the upper
slope, connected through
the homes by a paved trail. A ride-around has been created to preserve a dirt
loop at this time, but the situation will change as construction progresses.
The map at bottom shows the border of BLM land. Anything below the line is
subject to change. Although the developers are trying to preserve access to
all trails on the upper mountain, there may be temporary closures as
construction progresses.
If you follow the route we describe below, you'll do 6.5 miles and about
1100
vertical. (Absolute altitude change is only 650 feet, but you'll drop
practically back to the bottom again in the middle of the loop. But there
are many different ways you can ride. Note that the official race loop can
be hard to follow if it's not marked -- and you haven't regularly ridden
the loop before.
To the north are the red cliffs near
Snow Canyon.
The loop is strenuous aerobic, intermediate technical with a smattering of advanced technical.
This trail is the site of a popular Intermountain Cup spring race and of the
Huntsman World Senior Games mountain bike race. This is a great trail to play
on, anytime. However, because brainless ATV-jockeys have started following some
of the singletrack, the trail is a shadow of its former self. If you're looking
for pristine narrow desert singletrack, use the DH portion of this trail
to connect to the Barrel
Trail, which is right next door.
Navigating the narrow passage through
Keyhole Wash.
Green Valley Race Loop
If the above video does not appear on your
browser/device, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking
here.
The trail starts north from the huge parking area on a
boring dirt road. After 3/4 mile, you hit singletrack (on the left side of
the DT, just before the road ends) and the fun begins. Roll up and down.
Yes, much of the trail's been widened to a big fat road by ATVs, but if you can
get past that, it's still good riding.
Almost to the top, we see the Pine
Valley Mountains in the distance.
Things can get a little confusing among the ATV trails and
roads. Keep heading generally north until you find yourself on singletrack
dropping into
Keyhole Wash. There are two rock-bottom washes on this loop, and they're a
riot to ride.
While most of the trail is hardpack
dirt, you'll be contending with rock and ledges.
Exiting Keyhole Wash, you'll climb a winding course up to
touch the DT near the top of the cliffs. Here you turn left and head over
to the ridgeline downhill. (At the ridgeline, there's a fork. Right takes
you up to the DT along the cliff edge. Turn left and start downhill!)
Attacking a ledge series in Rock Wash,
as we climb back uphill after the ridgeline descent.
After
dropping to the bottom of the hill, the trail turns 180 degrees into Rock
Wash (also called Cowpond Wash). As you drop down toward the cow pond, fork right uphill into the wash bottom. Climb up the
wash and enjoy attacking the ledges.
When the trail reaches doubletrack and
climbs to the saddle, continue uphill
and ride to the viewpoint at the top. It's worth the climb. GPS N 37° 05.355'
W 113° 39.947'.
The big downhill on the south side of
the loop defines this race course -- and it's good to ride uphill, too.
Right at the saddle, there's a 4-way intersection of
doubletrack. Cross the DT intersection (uphill) to the downhill
singletrack. Note: If you went up to the viewpoint, there's a second trail about 150 yards uphill that connects to the DH
raceway (on
your left when going uphill, on the right heading down).
Head downhill
for high-speed fun. Just after
the BIG PLUNGE -- you'll know it when you ride it -- select a route back
to your car. Singletrack and techy to your right, or left on doubletrack
up and over the rise.
Bruce
rolls down the rock ramp on the DH portion of the
raceway. Photo March 2006.
And here's another video! This one is from 2003.
If the above video does not appear on your
browser/device, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking
here.
Getting there: Take the Bluff Street I-15
exit in St. George and turn west. Immediately turn south (left) at the first
light. Go over the hill and turn right when you reach Dixie Drive. Drive
about two miles. Turn left at the sign for Green
Valley Spa. (If you reach a "Green Valley Market" with gas pumps,
you just passed it. Turn around and backtrack to the second road on your
right.) Drive past the spa onto dirt at the end of the road. Turn right
at the top of the mesa, then immediately left to drive down into the deep
valley. Park in the open area in the valley bottom and pick your route
west uphill. (Note: the staging area is private property with a plan for
development into homes. This area may change, making these directions
invalid.)
