Klondike Bluffs Mountain Biking

True story:  I'm a wimp in the winter.  Despite my best intentions, when the temperatures drop, the adventure momentum starts to wane.  It's a combinations of things:  the cold, the lack of light, and the holiday distractions.  It also doesn't help that we had no snow last year, which meant that all my good intentions to ski and snowshoe fell through.  And seriously, if it's going to be cold and dark, it might as well snow.

Unfortunately, so far this late fall/early winter has been just as dry as last year.  It's sunny and warm, with only a handful of half-assed flurries.  Don't get me wrong, I love the unseasonably warm weather as it's happening, but two mild winters in a row is going to turn southern Utah into a dry, dusty, drought-ridden mess.  Yikes.

So if we can't whip out the skis quite yet, it's time for Plan B:  keep biking.  It felt weird loading up the bikes with the sun at such a low, slanty angle, but we had a great time riding around the Klondike Bluffs mountain bike trails.

This was our first time riding around Klondike Bluffs, so we started on the Agate and Jasper loops.  These were super fun, easy trails.  I wish I would have learned to mountain bike here -- the trails are smooth and the hills are tame, but you still get some great views of the LaSals and surrounding desert.  On the Jasper Loop, you'll run into fields of the eponymous red stone, which is supercool.  Okay -- I've never been able to write this before -- but the trail was a little too easy.  Definitely check it out if you're with kids or true beginners, but I'm itching to head back and try some of the tougher trails.

To get to the Klondike Bluffs Trail System, drive on Highway 191 8.5 miles south of I-70.  Watch for the "North Klondike" sign, and turn east (left.)  Keep to the right as the road winds south around a small hill.  Follow the signs to the trailhead.

riding through red jasper

map credit:  http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/agate-jasper.htm

Sego Canyon

In the spirit of finding cool places near Green River, we drove a couple miles down the road to check out Sego Canyon.  Sego is a dense hub of cultural history with three distinct rock art styles (Fremont, Ute, and Barrier) and a well-preserved ghost town.  It's really easy to find -- you only have to drive a couple miles off I-70 and you can see everything from a good dirt road.

This is some seriously cool rock art.  The canyon walls are coated with images created by people who lived thousands of years apart.  The alien-eyed Barrier Canyon anthropomorphs are up to 8,000 years old, while the historic Ute drawings date to the 1800s.  Somewhere in the middle, the triangular Fremont figures show off their snazzy necklaces.  It's amazing to see so much diversity in such a condensed area, and it really makes me wonder.  What about this place drew all these people here?  Sometimes it's really easy to image the lives of ancient people, but in some ways it's always going to be perplexing.  I guess that's what keeps it interesting!

Barrier Canyon rock art

Fremont rock art

After checking out the rock art, we drove a little further up the road to see the ghost town.  On the way, you'll see the little Boot Hill cemetery on the right.   The simple graves have some intriguing headstones, and it's fun to imagine the lives of the people who lived out here.  A little further down the road, you'll see Sego ghost town.  The company store and boarding house are still in great shape.  They were built in the early 1900s to support a coal mine, but the town ran into trouble when the water supply started to dry up.  In 1947 the mine was closed and the property sold at auction.

old company store

 

 
To get to Sego Canyon from Green River drive 25 miles east on I-70. Take exit 187 and drive north on the main road through the town of Thompson. Take a paved road 3.5 miles north of Thompson to reach the three rock art panels.  To find the Sego Ghost Town, drive 0.5 miles further up canyon on a good gravel road.  You'll reach a fork, where you turn right (east.)  The cemetery is immediately to the right.  Keep heading up the road 0.8 miles, and you'll see the ghost town.