 | Little Creek Mountain - Small Sandstone (East) Loop Little Creek Mountain is a flat-top mesa 18 miles east of Hurricane, 10 miles south of its more famous twin Gooseberry Mesa. Like Gooseberry, Little Creek has technical singletrack mixed with areas of open rock. There are two well-traveled interconnected loops of around 9 miles each that can be linked together for 15 miles of advanced riding. At 5600 feet average elevation, there's little vertical change over the course of the trail. This guide is for the Sandstone Loop with optional out-and-back to The Point. NOTE: the side out-and-back to The Point is hard to navigate. We suggest you have (A) a guide, or (B) a GPS unit and lots of time. |
| Ride Notes, Slickrock Canyon Loop counterclockwise: 0.0 Continue south on doubletrack from parking area 0.2 Singletrack forks off right, uphill and into trees 0.6 Just after crossing doubletrack, open rock on left N 37° 03.821' W 113° 13.606', keep straight ( Left = singletrack to west edge of mesa) 1.1 Fork at end of rock area, keep left N 37° 04.157' W 113° 13.255' (Right = south end of alternate loop) 1.6 Fork in trail, go left and downhill N 37° 04.714' W 113° 13.019' (Right = north end of alternate loop) 1.7 Up into canyon (left) 1.8 Around slot canyon, follow opposite side northeast 2.0 Large open rock area, follow contour north (This area is poorly marked - Nov 2001) | 2.5 Turn left and drop into slickrock canyon N 37° 04.719' W 113° 12.754' Left and up = return loop Across wash then right = to Point 1.75 miles to Point, add 3.5 to mileage below Point GPS N 37° 05.240' W 113° 12.339' 3.1 At top of canyon, south over summit N 37° 04.714' W 113° 13.019' 3.7 At trail fork N 37° 04.488' W 113° 13.405' Left = return (Right = to West Mesa Loop in reverse) 4.7 Trail crosses open rock canyon to your left 5.0 Join doubletrack, straight downhill N 37° 03.797' W 113° 13.792' 5.1 Hard left in bottom of wash, onto rock 5.5 Back at first trail fork, right uphill into trees 6.1 At parking |
| Notes on alternate loop, counterclockwise: Riding north, trail forks 0.1 mile later at N 37° 04.154' W 113° 13.165', keep left (Right = trail heads east then north, fairly technical) Turns left at 0.8, N 37° 04.387' W 113° 12.882' to rejoin the other route at 0.9 (keep right) | Notes on alternate loop, clockwise: Going straight (left), trail turns right (south) at 0.1 N 37° 04.387' W 113° 12.882' At mile 0.8, critical fork N 37° 04.154' W 113° 13.165' (hard to see!) go right and up (left = trail to northeast) At 0.9, rejoins other route at N 37° 04.157' W 113° 13.255' |
 | Getting there: On Highway 9 at the east end of Hurricane, turn south on US-59 and zero your odometer. One block later, turn left (east) and begin climbing up out of the Hurricane Valley. 13.2 miles later, turn right on gravel road. 14.1 turn right; 14.9 keep right; 16.0 keep left; 16.4 keep left; 18.5 continue straight across cattleguard; 19.5 turn right (critical turn where corral is on your left, leave the main road); 20.1 bear left. At 21.0, cross 3rd cattle guard; 21.5 road reaches slickrock, park here (GPS N 37° 03.586' W 113° 13.528'). Begin the ride by heading down the road (the singletrack forks off on the right 0.2 miles later). Copyright 2002 Mad Scientist Software Inc |