Carne Asada

Looking west down toward the Virgin River Gorge from Carne Asada. Photos and review by Bruce on November 11, 2022.

Carne Asada

Carne Asada is a climbing-only trail in the JEM riding area east of Hurricane. It replaces lower JEM (which is now a one-way DH-only for the bottom mile) as a climbing route. The trail is new in 2022, with some route-finding confusion at the top -- which I expect will get better soon.

The Carne Asada trail begins along the Virgin River Gorge on JEM, just west of the trailhead. It's either 1.6 miles long, or 2.5 miles long, depending on what the "official" trail will be once everything is built and signs are installed. For now, follow the ride directions below to avoid dirt-road riding when connecting uphill.

Descending JEM along the Virgin River Gorge. The drone is flying directly over the trail fork to Carne Asada from JEM.

Trailheads and access

Trail fork from JEM to Carne Asada (one-way climbing route), just 100 feet from the trailhead at the end of the doubletrack.

Sheep Bridge Road Lower JEM trailhead
In La Verkin, turn east onto Highway 9 toward Zion National Park. Drive 4 miles uphill. Just after you reach the first homes approaching Virgin, find the cindered Sheep Bridge Road on your right. Descend toward the bridge across the Virgin River and find a parking spot along the road. Start pedaling. Just past the bridge, but before the cattle guard, there's a dirt road to the right. This will take you to the bottom of JEM and Carne Asada. (The parking directly at the bottom of JEM is reserved for the nature conservancy.) Trail fork from JEM to Carne Asada (one-way climbing route), just 100 feet from the trailhead at the end of the doubletrack.

View northwest toward the Pine Valley Mountains as we turn into the camping and trailhead area.

Quarry JEM trailhead and race staging area

From Highway 9 in Virgin, turn south onto Sheep Bridge Road. Drive 1.7 miles. As the gravel road drops into a dip, there are two paths on your right. The ridgeline road is the race staging area. There's a connector to Carne Asada in about 100 feet on your right. The second dirt road, around 50 feet downhill, is the primitive camping and trailhead area. JEM crosses this road at the bottom of the camping zone, and Carne Asada is found to your right on JEM downhill from the road.

Looking northeast in the upper JEM Highway 59 trailhe

Highway 9 Upper JEM trailhead
In Hurricane, turn south on US-59 (towards the Grand Canyon). Drive exactly 5 miles uphill. Turn left on cindered doubletrack right as you approach the base of Gooseberry Mesa. Drive another 0.3 miles to the parking area. Cross the cattle guard at the gate, then immediately turn right on singletrack. Descend JEM. Near the bottom of JEM at mile 6.7, just before JEM hits the trailhead in the Gorge, you can veer to the right to begin the climb back uphill on Carne Asada. Looking northeast in the upper JEM Highway 59 trailhead.

Looking southeast as Cryptobionic approaches the Sheep Bridge Road and the trailhead.

Sheep Bridge trailhead

This trailhead with bathroom and bike stand is found half-way along the gravel Sheep Bridge Road, which connects US-9 to US-59. Drive toward the upper JEM trailhead on Highway 59 as above. But at mile 3.3 (while still on the flat area), turn left on gravel Sheep Bridge road. Drive 2.9 miles on Sheep Bridge road to a fenced parking area with a bathroom. Cryptobionic and northern Dead Ringer can be found here.
Option, roadside parking off US-59: If you turned onto Sheep Bridge Road from Highway 59, immediately park on the right, just inside the fence. Pedal 0.4 miles northeast to where the JEM singletrack crosses.

Bruce pedals out of a mostly-empty trailhead on Hurricane Hill.

Hurricane Hill

This trailhead serves the Hurricane Rim and Gould's trails. Other trails in the system are reached via these trails. In Hurricane, turn south on US-59 (towards the Grand Canyon). Follow the road uphill 0.9 miles, then turn left into the trailhead parking near the cell phone towers. The dirt road 0.2 miles back down U-59 is the trail's start.
Option, Gould's Wash corral: As you head uphill on Highway 59, pass gravel Sheep Bridge road on your left (about half-way between Hurricane Hill and the JEM trailhead). Now watch for a dirt road on your right. It will take you to the corral. If you're heading for the rim, go directly west from the corral for 1/2 mile.

Carne Asada Trail

A group of riders climb Carne Asada with Hurricane Mesa (right), and the Pine Valley Mountains (left) in the background.

First, get onto the bottom of Carne Asada from JEM, just west of the Gorge trailhead. See the instructions above. The trail will wind around as it climbs up a low hill above the gorge.

You'll do around 250 vertical feet of climbing overall, as the trail undulates up and down a bit. There will be views across the flats, plus occasional views down toward the gorge where you'll see the JEM trail above the Virgin River.

Following the trail southbound, we see the Moenkopi clay slopes of Gooseberry Mesa ahead.

Desending in the bottom of the wash on the Carne Asada to JEM connector trail.

At mile 1.1 from JEM, there's a connector trail to the right as you cross a shallow wash. This connector descends 0.2 miles alongside the wash -- and in the washbottom -- to hit JEM as it also crosses the wash.
For this first section of Carne Asada, the trail is well-signed and the correct route is obvious.

At mile 1.6, you'll have some options, and things get confusing. Carne Asada hits another singletrack trail at a T intersection. My suggestion is to go right and follow the singletrack down through the camping area and up to the Hurricane Rim trail fork as shown on my map.

We've turned to the right at the T intersection and are heading north toward Hurricane Mesa again.

From Sheep Bridge Road just outside the race-staging parking strip, this is the entry to the Quarry trailhead and the camping zone. Both the climbing trail and the JEM trail are 1/10th mile down this doubletrack.

To the left, the trail dumps into a race staging area. Sheep Bridge Road is 100 feet away to the left, where you'll find the entrance to the Quarry trailhead and camping area. The doubletrack here descends to JEM and the climbing trail (which may or may not be "Carne Asada" at this point). So that's a second riding option. A third is to take Sheep Bridge Road to the Sheep Bridge trailhead, where you can pick up Dead Ringer to climb to the top of JEM.

Assuming you forked to the right on the singletrack before the race staging/parking zone, the trail goes north a bit, then drops downhill through the northern edge of the camping zone. You'll reach the doubletrack at mile 2.1 from JEM. Look for the continuing singletrack climbing the hill to the west.

Descending away from the race-day parking strip on the bluff. We'll pass through the camping/trailhead zone ahead.

Once you find yourself on this rock ramp in the wash, you're almost there. Keep going and the trail exits the slickrock to the left.

If you're well-aquainted with JEM from past rides, you'll probably spot the JEM trail ahead and to your right as you work your way across the doubletrack and through the camping/trailhead zone. But follow the main trail across the north-south wash -- without turning downhill in the wash -- and you'll find yourself climbing singletrack again. You'll climb on the left side of a shallow east-west wash. The JEM DH route is on the northern side of this wash.

If you succeeded in staying on-trail past the camping zone, the singletrack will reach the JEM trail at mile 2.5. This trail junction occurs at the spot where Hurricane Rim forks away westbound. Keep straight to begin climbing the two-way section of JEM.

With the addition of new trails in the area, most riders now incorporate Dead Ringer , Goosebumps or Cryptobionic into a ride on the JEM trail. See our area page for a quick description and links to various trails.

Joining JEM for the two-way section.

The lower part of JEM is very scenic. This is the way back down to the bottom of Carne Asada.

Bottom Line!
Carne Asada is not as fun as the old climb up JEM along the Virgin Gorge, but it's easy to see why a separate climbing trail was necessary for safety. Riding traffic has increased dramatically along the narrow path hugging the edge of the cliffs.
For less-fit riders, a ride up Carne Asada and down lower JEM makes a nice quick loop.

Map of the lower JEM area

Highway 9 Upper JEM trailhead
From I-15 north, take the La Verkin exit on UT-17. From the south, take the Hurricane exit on US-9 and go through Hurricane towards Zion National Park. At the junction of US-9 with UT-17, turn east towards Zion. 4.8 miles after the turnoff, turn right (south) on a gravel road signed "Sheep Bridge Rd."Descend toward the bridge across the Virgin River and find a parking spot along the road. Start pedaling. Just past the bridge, but before the cattle guard, there's a dirt road to the right. This will take you to the bottom of JEM and Carne Asada. (The parking at the bottom of JEM is reserved for the nature conservancy.)

Sheep Bridge Road trailhead: Found half-way along gravel Sheep Bridge Road, which connects US-9 to US-59. Drive toward the upper JEM trailhead on Highway 59 as above. But at mile 3.3 (while still on the flat area), turn left on gravel road. Option 1, roadside parking off US-59: If you turned onto Sheep Bridge Road from Highway 59, immediately park on the right, just inside the fence. Pedal 0.4 miles northeast to where the JEM singletrack crosses. Option 2, formal trailhead: From US-59 drive the gravel road for 2 miles and turn right into a fenced parking lot. Or, from US-9 drive 2.9 miles on Sheep Bridge road. Cryptobionic and northern Dead Ringer can be found here.

Upper JEM trailhead: In Hurricane, turn south on US-59 (towards the Grand Canyon). Drive exactly 5 miles uphill. Turn left on cindered doubletrack right as you approach the base of Gooseberry Mesa. Drive another 0.3 miles to the parking area. N 37 08.329' W 113 14.527'