Better Than Moab

STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY K.M. CANNON

Top's down on the Jeep. Stereo's cranked. We're flying down a dirt road, hydroplaning the washboard, a huge cloud of dust in our wake. I know the bikes aren't on the rack anymore. "Keep going!" shouts Rick Gunn.

We're just dying to get to Gooseberry.

We finally get to the gravel parking lot at the Gooseberry Mesa trailhead, about six miles southwest of Zion National Park in Southern Utah. No worries about disturbing anyone else. There is no one else. Seems we're the only ones who know about the best mountain biking in the West.

Rick's bike is hanging by a bungee cord. No matter. We're on the slickrock in seconds and from that point till lunch, never speak below a scream. I scream as I fly over my handlebars 20 yards into the ride, a tumble my body takes in stride. We scream like schoolboys discovering an excellent new playground. We scream in awe of the beauty around every technical turn.

Who'd have thought I'd find the best mountain biking in my back yard AFTER moving from Lake Tahoe to Las Vegas? Rick, my mountain-biking guru from South Lake Tahoe, says it's the best trail he's ever ridden, and others I've talked to echo his sentiments.

It takes just a few minutes of experience to convince me. It's not as good as the famed Slickrock Bike Trail near Moab, Utah. Pound for pound it's BETTER than Moab. Though Moab is a massive mecca of slickrock, Gooseberry has slickrock mixed with single-track trail. The single-track slaloms through slot canyons, pinyon and juniper forests, and along the edge of 300-foot cliffs. And, of course, it's better because we're the only ones there.

"At Slickrock you're literally waiting to get in the trail," says Las Vegas mountain biker Bill Boshelto. ...

SEE THE WHOLE STORY AND PHOTOS IN THE Winter 2002 CERCA

The March/April 2003 Issue is out. Find it at Las Vegas bookstores today.