EYES WIDE OPEN
Cliffs are an inescapable part of your view on the Utah Cliffs Loop. You'll catch your first glimpse of the Hurricane Cliffs in the distance as you pedal northward out of St. George on a bike path winding through Snow Canyon State Park. This beautiful park encompasses white and red sandstone cliffs with an overlay of black lava rock. As you continue your journey in a clockwise direction, the Hurricane Cliffs loom to the east until just outside of Cedar City, where you'll begin to climb up and over them. Later, as you descend through the timber at the beginning of North Fork Road, be sure to take in the view of the Pink Cliffs to the east.
Use caution as you approach Zion National Park on Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway. Traffic will increase and the White Cliffs will tower over the road on your left. Just south of Zion National Park, you might consider a side trip to the nearby ghost town of Grafton, a filming site for the 1969 blockbuster, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Next up: Smithsonian Butte and Gooseberry Mesa, which lead into the Vermillion Cliffs that begin here and flirt with the Utah-Arizona border to the south. The approach to Hurricane runs along the edge of the Hurricane Cliffs on a rough four-wheel-drive road. You'll then enjoy a slightly downhill ride most of the way back to St. George.
Due to the high elevations of this route, be prepared to deal with extreme temperature differences between morning and mid-day and night. Also, the summer months can bring frequent afternoon thunderstorms. Fall weather is ever-changing and it is not uncommon to have snow flurries at 10,000' elevation as early as late August. However, these conditions typically pass within hours at that time of year. Wind can occasionally be a problem as weather fronts enter the state. In the summer and fall, most storms come from the south and southwest, and can kick up incredible amounts of dust.
Equipment and road surfaces
Because you'll be riding a combination of bike paths, paved roads, and rugged backcountry tracks, a good mountain bike – preferably one that's fully suspended – is the bicycle of choice (however, a hardtail or even a bike with no suspension will work fine, if that's what you're accustomed to riding). Road surfaces on the Utah Cliffs Loop Route are approximately fifty percent dirt and gravel roads and fifty percent paved roads.
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