Saint George: Nothing to See Here!

Posted by on Feb 14, 2012 in Bike, St. George | 5 Comments

 

Saint George Utah

In 1861 the Mormon church sent 309 families to southern Utah to establish what was called then the “cotton mission”. Many of the families sent south had had experience growing cotton in the South, and with the outbreak of the Civil War, Brigham Young felt it necessary to grow cotton. The Southerners in the newly settled Saint George—named after George A. Smith—called the low desert Dixie, after their former home. The nickname stuck. The cotton on the other hand, did not.

The region is as unique geologically as it is culturally. Tabled mesas, finned ridges, and labyrinthed canyons surround the Virgin River, which flows from Navajo Lake in the highlands of the Markagunt Plateau. The river tumbles through Zion National Park, and eventually cuts dramatically through the Virgin River Gorge and into the badlands of Nevada and the Colorado River.

The cotton didn’t grow. But the city did. Rapidly. Today, the Saint George area is home to 137,000 people.

It’s also home to some of the best singletrack in the world.

Saint George Utah

The trails in Dixie are a classic hybrid of Moab-style slickrock and snaking desert singletrack. Hundreds of miles of redrock ecstasy surround the city. Trails with names like Zen, Jem, Rim Rock, and Church Rocks spaghetti across the mesas and the tables. They sneak through the weather-worn washes and the hidden canyons, and disappear behind clumps of blackbrush and tamarisk and sandy, crumbling grottos. The trails in Saint George are fast and flowy, unless they are technical and slow. Always interesting and challenging, never boring or exhausted. Saint George has quietly become the best Mountain bike destination in Utah.

Sadly, Saint George, Utah does not have anything to offer a mountain biker. It’s a crowded town, full of Canadian oldsters, quirky Mormons, and an obscure, overrated National Park. It’s a city best left alone. In fact, there are much better places to visit in the area. Like Las Vegas.

Zen Trail Utah

 

5 Comments

  1. Brad
    February 14, 2012

    Very funny. It’s reading you and your friends’ blogs that hooked me on travelling 2200 miles to St. George. I’m actually heading back out there again this year. It’s a wonderful mountain bike destination…er…wait… Everybody that read that last bit…I was kidding it really sucks… Stick with Adam’s advice and head for Vegas…

  2. Nate
    February 14, 2012

    Cool shot of Shammy!

  3. Eric
    February 15, 2012

    I think I’ll head down this weekend and check out what those Canadian oldsters have to offer.

    • Grizzly Adam
      February 15, 2012

      I was walking up a flight of stairs after the ride. A snowbird from British Columbia was coming up the stairs as well. He says, “You look as stiff as me!” I said, “Oh, I feel pretty stiff.” That’s when his wife chimed in, and said to him, “Nobody is stiff as you are, don’t be silly!”

  4. M
    March 17, 2012

    You need to stop your proselyting, it seems I can’t swing a dead cat these days without hitting someone from out of town.

    Here’s to summer, when I ride solo with no one on the trails for about 4 months.

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