A Closer Look: Our Spring 2025 Trips
In the first installment of our annual “Closer Look” series (for 2025), we’re breaking down two trip locations that are quite popular with Chasing Epic riders: high desert locations of Hurricane, UT and Fruita/Moab, both of which are on the spring calendar for next year. Read on to get the scoop on what to expect, which bike is recommended, expected weather, and much much more!
Technical Level: Intermediate+
Physcial Level: Intermediate
The word that best describes the riding in St. George is “fun”. Technically, there aren’t too many impossible lines or challenges, and everything here is just plain fun to attempt. From the slickrock riding of Gooseberry to the rocky ledges on the Zen Trail, you’ll be in heaven. Accompanying that is the fact that there aren’t a ton of steep, long climbs… which means we can put in more miles before you’re worn down and begging for the hot tub.
Don’t be fooled into sitting around on the couch before your trip- you’ll still want to train hard to enjoy all the area has to offer as we plan on packing a bunch into three days of riding next spring. This place is deceivingly difficult- at the end of the day everyone feels the day’s ride in their entire body!
Expected Itinerary
Ride Day 1: Gooseberry Mesa and JEM Shuttle. We’re going to kick things off with the world-famous Gooseberry Mesa trail, which is unlike anything you’ve ever ridden before. Expect crazy slickrock terrain, lots of up and down, views that go on forever, and some of the most unique MTB’ing you’ll experience. After ~15 miles on the mesa, we’ll head over to the JEM trails for an 8-mile point to point of uber-flow!
Day 2: Little Creek Mesa and Grafton Mesa Shuttle. If Gooseberry Mesa is a roller coaster, then Little Creek is the entire amusement park! We’ll take what you learned from Gooseberry yesterday and add to it, with more technical features and a slightly different style of riding today. Expect 12-15 miles on Little Creek before we do another shuttle drop in the afternoon, this time on Grafton Mesa which is some of the most fun tech you can ride!
Day 3: Barrel and Zen Loops. On our last day of riding, we’ll head over to the west side of St. George to Santa Clara, for an incredible session of tech and chunk on the two trails Barrel and Zen. Barrel has lots of freeride options with jumps and drops (but always a ride-around), while Zen is the king of high-speed tech! Today’s ride will be about 12-13 miles and 2000′ of climbing/descending before we wrap things up for the trip.
Expected Weather: Early spring in Hurricane is typically perfect with temps in the 60-70’s and little chance of rain. Up on the mesas it’s always a bit cooler, so plan on bringing a couple of light layers to make sure you’re comfortable in the morning or if a storm moves through. Otherwise, it’s quite ideal!
The Final Word: We’re huge fans of the high desert to kick off the spring, which is why we’re bringing Hurricane back as a regularly scheduled trip! These rides have it all from slickrock to flow, chunk to tech, world class views and so much more. The rides here will likely be unlike anything you’ve ridden before (unless you’ve done this trip with us already!), so expect a little bit of a learning curve. Otherwise, we can’t wait to visit southern UT in late March!
Technical Level: Intermediate+
Fitness Level: Intermediate
Summary: Our trip to Fruita and Moab combines the best of both worlds when it comes to high-desert riding in the American Southwest. We’ve put together two of our customers’ favorite locations on the same trip, since we think Moab’s The Whole Enchilada fits perfectly with three days of riding in Fruita, just over an hour across the UT/CO state line. For this trip, we’ll be based in Fruita and will make the pilgrimage to Moab on Day 4.
What should you expect on this trip? The best desert technical riding in the country. Between Fruita and Moab the riding is rocky, technical, tight, rowdy, and quite rugged. We’ll spend the first three days riding technical trails that will challenge even the best Chasing Epic riders… and on the fourth day, we’ll reward you with super fun, flowy trails on 18 Road. Don’t be mistaken, those first three days will leave you tired and sore at the end of the day!
Expected Itinerary
Ride Day 1: Kokopelli Loops Point to Point. A great warmup/intro day, the Kokopelli loops have a good amount of tech but also add in an element of flow on trails like Horsethief and Steve’s. Today we’ll combine those with tech-testers Moore Fun and Mack Ridge to give you around 20 miles and 2500′ of climbing and descending, with options to add more if you’re up for it!
Day 2: Lunch Loops with Double Shuttle. We’ll start today with a 2000-foot “bump” to the top of the Ribbon, which is one of the most unique slickrock riding experiences this side of… well, anywhere. After picking our way down through the trail system and stopping for lunch, we’ll shuttle back up for some super fun tech on trails like Gunny Loop and Holy Cross. Expect 18-20 miles, 2000′ of climbing and around 5000′ of descending.
Day 3: The Whole Enchilada in Moab. We’ll head southwest from Fruita to experience one of the most unique, fun, and rowdy trails in the world. In the spring, we can expect to be dropped off by our shuttle around Kokopelli or Hazard County (ie., not at the top of Geysir Pass), which means we’ll likely get about 3/4 of the Whole Enchilada. Don’t worry, we’ll add in a couple of side options to still give you 25 miles (or more) of riding with about 1000′ of climbing and 6000′ of descent.
Day 4: 18 Road Laps. Finally, time for some flow… and so flowy it is. Trails like PBR and Kessel Run will have you grinning from ear to ear, and Zippity and Joe’s Ridge add in a bit of pucker factor with their steep drop-ins. Today is a “choose your own adventure” when it comes to distance and climbing, but you can expect around 15-18 miles and 2500′ of climbing before we call it good.
Expected weather: Spring in Fruita is absolutely ideal, with highs in the 60-70’s during the day with very little chance of rain.
The Final Word: For most mountain bikers, their progression isn’t complete without a trip to the high desert of Colorado and Utah… and that’s why we’ve combined these two locations into one in order to offer the best of both worlds, and what we think are the best and most fun rides in each location. Be prepared, however- this terrain IS different, and it will be challenging. Everything in the desert is out to get you, and it’s an inhospitable environment. But you know what? That’s what makes the riding so incredible- when you conquer a tech section, or when you ride a line you never thought possible, it’s so much damn fun.
