Southwest Utah: Dual Sport Riding from St. George

You have all the fun.

I just ran across your post while daydreaming about my next trip out UT12 in a few weeks and I owe you a response





-B@man

Recent ride with Dad. Here's the man!




And the map.




One of our favorite rides. Start out the Motoqua Road. Turn south on Indian Springs Trail. Follow the contours around the backside of West Mountain Peak. Stop at the water tank. Hit the Eardley Road. Back to pavement at Old Highway 91. Up over the hill and back to St. George. Makes for a great afternoon ride.

Exact same ride is Post #144, Page 10 (except no side trip to the Jackson Well this time). In general lots of great riding out both the Motoqua and Eardley Road. Good dirt all the way to Caliente, NV with lots of variations.


Near the start of the Motoqua Road. Good to get the obligatory mirror pic out of the way early.




Leaving the Shivwits Indian Reservation. Once past the reservation there are lots of open camping and exploring opportunities.




Fast stretch of open dirt / gravel as we get close the Indian Springs cut-off.




Our bikes. Not fast, but super fun!




The turn south. 15 miles to the Indian Spring Tank, 20 miles to the Eardley Road. This road has lots of variation and is a good ride the whole way! Go check it out! Equally good in either direction.




Look-out! A cattle gate with no warning sign for bicyclists. Major lawsuit waiting to happen. Someone's gonna get their butt kicked. :eek1




Great Joshua Tree forest near Jackson Wash. Excellent specimens.




Joshua Tree seed pods.




Flowering Joshua Trees.




RRR with the bikes. Always fun to take a break with Dad and generally BS about life. Often spend time talking about what rides we should do next.




The mighty TW. Everyone should have a bike this fun -- underpowered, poor suspension, modest clearance, cramped riding position, 100% old-school technology . . . and a great way to spend the afternoon! Highly recommended!




Large fire came through this area about 10-15 years ago. Killed lots of Joshua trees. Subsequently they have blown down. A couple of areas look like Joshua Tree graveyards. Circle of life.




Dad up ahead on the crest of the hill. Lots of leapfrog on these rides although we are always relatively close.




Another cattle guard with no bicycle warning sign. :huh The Arizona Strip lawyers are going to go crazy when they see this.




Dad coming up the hill.




At the Indian Springs Tank. Lots of clear water. Great day for riding even though we didn't get a clear blue sky until the later part of the afternoon.




Sign is starting to see some wear and tear. I really like these older signs. Hope they can hang in there as long as possible.




The trough.




With the plunger-style on-off valve. Seems to work well. As my kid would say "just like a toilet."




Starting to get blue sky. From the tank you can also go up Indian Canyon and over Hell Hole Pass and hit Old 91 just on the east side of the summit. The Indian Canyon road is steeper and can be rutted and prone to wash-outs. See Post #121 on top of Page 9 for Hell Hole Pass and West Mountain Peak.




Roadside flowers.




Springtime in the desert. Haven't seen any awesome displays of desert flowers, but there is color out there.




Stop the bike. Smell the flowers.




Friendly inmate salute to all you lurkers who couldn't make our recent Toroweap ride. Maybe next time.




Pic of me and Dad.




Desert scenery near the junction with the Eardley Road.




Another fast stretch brings us back to Old 91.




One pavement shot as we head back to St. George. Pic taken on Old Highway 91 as we descend towards the red cliffs of Ivins. Always like these views in late afternoon light.




Thanks for ridin' along! And thanks for all the views and comments. Over 125,000 views and going strong!

Very nice RR, R3. I can't wait to get up there in July.

Just came across your ride reports, I like your approach to riding and family. Subscribed.

Thanks for a cool RR.....Such nifty photos that give me goose bumps and I just wanna go there soon. Very nice!

Gary "Oldone"

RRR Nice pics of your latest adventures!

RRR classic comments on the most recent post about the bicycle warning signs on the cattle guards...........seeing those out in the Dez, middle of nowhere, on the way to Toroweap made me laugh every time we passed one...

Hope to be down in a few weeks....I need my riding fix!

We're visiting St George and then SE Utah for 6 weeks. You're posts have been fun to read and provided info for rides for us out-o-towners. So thanks! Have you done any od the roads south of Hanksville and west of Utah 95. We're hoping to go from Halls Crossing to Hwy 24 minimizing travel on paved roads.

Whoa -- markbgardner! Thanks. Another 1st post for "Dual Sport Riding from St. George with RRR" -- quite the honor. Always good to de-lurk someone. Full-fledged welcome to the asylum.

Haven't been on any of the roads south of Hanksville and west of 95 on a moto. From Halls Crossing to Hwy 24 near Capitol Reef National Park the obvious choice for (good) dirt road travel is the Notom-Bullfrog Road. If you are going south to north it would be the Bullfrog-Notom Road. It consistently gets high marks from many inmates. Should be easy travel unless there has been recent rain. Perhaps some sandy patches. This road is on my "to do" list. Good luck and thanks again for the post.

Went backpacking (one overnight) with family over the past weekend. Destination was LaVerkin Creek in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park.

Wife and son heading out. The scenery gets better the further you go into the backcountry.




The Park Service has a reservation system for established campsites along LaVerkin Creek. All good. Stong spring run-off in LaVerkin Creek.




Chillin' in camp. Do what we do best.




Home for the night.




Can you feel the love? Or is it two peas in a pod?




The next morning we leave our backpacks in camp and hike up the side creek to view Kolob Arch.




It's a big arch, but anti-climactic. The arches in Arches National Park are much more dramatic. So is the "Great Arch" in Zion near the tunnel, even though it is not really an arch. The highlights of the LaVerkin Creek trail are the towering red cliffs and the overall setting of the creek with the rocks and desert plants.




The happy family, heading back to camp for lunch and to pick up the backpacks and hike out.




Thanks to all the inmates and riding partners for checking in. Keep riding out there. Stay safe. Throw a pic up of your moto adventures in Southwest Utardia. More group rides to follow.

Heading out with Dad for an overnight at Toroweap. Weather looks good. I'll see if I can steal a pic or two from Dad. He knows his way around behind a camera.

Hey we're headed down to your neighborhood this weekend for a few days on the new bike. Smoky Mtn Rd, House Rock Rd, Toroweap, hike to Shamans Gallery in Tuckup Cyn one day. Does the Tuweep R. S. have potable water? Al

Our Guide Red Rock Rider @ Toroweap

No water, no services at "Greater" Tuweep. More of an outpost, not a ranger station. Perhaps some emergency help, but nothing to count on. Bring all water from the time you leave pavement.

Roger. -al

Nice Family trip RRR, thanks for the pics and of course the rest of this great and informational thread!

It's nice to see you and your family getting out and enjoying each others company. That's the way families should be.

Two day trip, one overnight at Toroweap with Dad last week. Good times. We'll try and do more camping off the bikes this summer.

Here we are on the open road heading towards Mount Trumbull Schoolhouse. I chose to ride the TW. It's a bit more of a workhorse for carry gear.




Easy to get a mirror pic of Dad. We tend to play a lot of "leapfrog" on these rides. We're usually in sight of each other but not always. The key is to make sure you remember if you are in front or behind. That way you don't go tearing off to catch up if the other guy is behind you. Also good to not stray to far off the road (taking a pic) if you are in the lead. Other guy can pass you and nobody knows it.




Welcome to Mt. Trumbull Arizona! Nice sign. Off the left hand side of the road several hundred yards before the schoolhouse.




Classic pic! Everyone's got one. Let's see 'um.




As we're hanging out this friendly German dude rolls up from Whitmore Canyon on TW with a flat tire. His wife was left walking a few miles down the road. I go retrieve her, then give the guy a ride up to his truck parked 10 miles north.




Here's Dad hanging out with the German wife while I run the taxi service. Dad's fluent in German and her English is only ok, so this all works out well. We left the happy couple in good shape. They were having quite the trip - truck and moto exploring off the beaten path in the American West for two months.




Our good deed done, we head up over the shoulder of Mount Trumbull. Impressive sign, relatively new.




Stopped for a drink at the old sawmill site.




Lots of Eagle Scout projects similar to this. Historical markers. Often direct family histories involved.




I like the sign with the old photographs. Nothing is left of the actual sawmill. Even this photo is just of a similar sawmill.




More fun riding with Dad and on to the National Park entrance and the Tuweep area.




All the Wolfman gear on the bike performed well. Easily carried enough gas, water, food, and gear for two days. Nothing at Tuweep except perhaps help in an emergency. Friendly volunteer ranger came out to ask about our bikes and the trip. Suggested we try the group campsite since was almost 5 pm (past reservation time) and it is the most isolated. Good call.




The last bit of road is the most interesting.




After quickly ditching our stuff in the campground we headed for the overlook even though the light wasn't great. One of the best parts about camping at Toroweap is you get at least 2-3 chances for different lighting conditions. We were back at the overlook at sunrise then noon the following day before leaving for the ride out.




I grab a pic of myself looking downstream. Remembered to bring binoculars. Easy to spot rafts below. A group camped directly below the overlook, about 3,000 feet straight down. Also saw rafters run Lava Falls the following day.




Dad with the camera gear in late afternoon light. I'll get a few of his pics shortly.




Back at camp. Home for the night. Day Two shortly.




Thanks inmates for all the positive comments. Nice to see so many of the same names. Keep riding out there. Stay safe.

I like you and your Dad's style, no standing up on the bikes going through crazy terrain at 70. Nice and relaxed is what I envisioned when I got into this.

Another nice ride with Pop's and great scenery. I love the "cowboy camping" style. Replace the horse, saddle, saddle pad, saddle bags and blanket with the more modern day Iron Horse, tarp, air mattress, backpack and sleeping bag. The experience is almost the same. Love it!