actually, we started at the Thunder Mountain trail and descended the 11-ish mile singletrack through some rad hoo-doos and crazy switchbacks to the western end of the GVT. from there it's ~70 miles of supposedly nonmotorized trail that tours the Sunset Cliffs, wraps around the Paunsaugunt Plateau, skirting along it's base on some pretty damn remote trail, climbing to the the crest of the plateau on gravel roads, dropping crazy fast on sandy trails probably once used by stockmen and hunters, and terminates at the Sheep Ck TH east of the "fish hook" of Bryce C. National Park.
it wasn't all fun and games though. a fair bit of the trail gets very little use and is just plain hard to find. trail crews hadn't been through in ages, so rock slides and down trees were a constant presence.
obtaining drinking water was also a reality of the trip, since it was generally only present in major drainages. that kinda limited where we camped and how much riding we'd committ to in a day. 
after the 3+ days of riding, slogging, and carrying our loaded touring bikes we took a "bail out" UP Mill Ck to the rim of the plateau, then rode 30 miles of gravel roads back to our vehicle at the Thunder Mtn TH.
it was a bit of a shock emerging from one of the gnarliest and remote trail bike tours i'd tried to a beautiful plateau, completely infested with RV's parked all over meadows (probably 60 different trailers or vehicles along 20 miles of dirt road), OHV galore (the only person we saw on foot was one fella fishing) and dusty roads. oh well, next time, we'll make sure we finish at a trailhead.
the Grand View Trail is completely open to nonmotorized travel and is an EPIC of a trail bike tour. go light, allow 4 days to ride the trail and arrange a car shuttle or a day to ride the roads back and spread the word. this route is awesome and entirely underused - by nonmoto folks. anyone game for another attempt next spring? contact the USFS and search out some info if you like, but here's the beta i travelled with... water and trailheads are indicated.
special thanks got to Greg G. for motivating me to explore this route, and apologies for not actually riding it with him. i'd like to make another attempt this spring and would welcome anyone that want's to go on a vision quest. any takers out there???
3 comments:
I'll go.
Smella and I want to do a bike tour this spring. I'm thinking either a crossing of the blackrock with an ascent of Mt. Julius Caesar or a supported trip across the Old Mojave Road.
Went for a fixie road ride to Verdi Sunday with the RenoFixed.com crew. Really nice ride!
-M
right on. ah, it's completely gnarly. V-Quest stuff with lots of heavy lifting. you've got what it takes, but you have to want to be completely challenged (ie- not a bonding moment that lasts at least 4 days, stuck in the middle of no where). ie- do not do this with your spouse... unless your spouse is totally rad.
I, of course, a newcomer to this blog, but the author does not agree
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