The Lightning Switch trail is located just uphill from the Thunderbird Gardens trailhead one mile east of Cedar City. The trail forks off the Ghost Flats trail just 0.2 miles from the trailhead, then climbs to meet the Ghost Flats trail uphill just below the ridgeline. Lightning Switch itself is 2.4 miles, and with Ghost Flats as a downhill the overall ride will be 4.5 miles.

Lightning Switch is a relatively stiff climb, best done by strong experienced riders, but can be managed by intermediates with a few rest stops and short hike-a-bikes. As the name would imply, there are a lot of switchbacks in the trail.

A few bits of sage fill the open spots, but for the most part you're surrounded by rock and dirt. The soil color alternates between salmon and dirty-white.

(If you head to the left instead, you'll reach another fork in about 100 feet. Here the left -- uphill -- fork takes you over the ridge then down through thick pinion forest to the flats, a grassy sink area. The right fork continues east, but I haven't followed it to see where it winds up.)

As mentioned, the downhill starts as essentially a wash. After about 100 yards, it's more obvious that it's a viable trail. But it will, periodically, turn into a wash side-walling adventure as you dodge rocks.

After this first mile of descent, Ghost Flats flattens for a while before taking a quick drop down to the junction with the Thor's Hideout Trail.

A quick out-and-back to Thor's Hideout is an option here, as you're already done most of the climbing for that ride.