More Cowbell (JEM area)

View to the east as the trail runs on flat terrain above the limestone ledge. Gooseberry Mesa forms a picturesque backdrop. Photos and ride review by Bruce on January 9, 2015.

More Cowbell

The More Cowbell trail creates one of the few beginner-level singletrack rides in the Hurricane area . So it deserves its own page. The More Cowbell trail is 2.5 miles in length, but you'll have to take JEM or Dead Ringer to get to it.

The trail is open year round, but lies on clay that can be damaged if ridden while wet. If there have been recent storms, check conditions with the local bike shop before going.

More Cowbell makes a nice ride for kids and beginners. It runs atop white ledges of Virgin Limestone, circling along the edge of a small mesa. This little lariat loop is 3.4 miles in length, with less than 100 vertical feet of climbing (all very gradual).

When deciding about young children, realize there are cliffs nearby plus a couple of short sections where the trail sits on side-slope. The trailbuilders want More Cowbell to remain narrow singletrack, and trailers mess that up. (The JEM Doubletrack going northeast along the mesa from the upper JEM trailhead is actually a nice ride and is recommended for trailers and side-by-side riding.)

Looking north from the entry road at the second parking lot. The trail entry is just to the right of the photo.

Trailheads and access

Looking northeast in the upper JEM Highway 59 trailhead.

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 left downhill on singletrack. At the trail fork around 1/2 mile later, go left again for a clockwise loop or fork right for the counterclockwise ride.

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.

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.

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.

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

East Sheep Bridge Road via Carne Asada

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.)

More Cowbell

First trail fork. The trail to the right takes you on the counterclockwise loop. The left fork takes you to the clockwise entry, or down off the ledges to Goosebumps.

Start from parking at the Highway 59 JEM trailhead (see below). As you cross the ride-over cow-extruder, turn left (downhill) on the Dead Ringer singletrack trail.

Coast gently downhill as the singletrack meanders 0.4 miles north. At the trail fork, go to the right on More Cowbell for a counter-clockwise ride. You are now on the loop portion of White Ledges. The left fork will be your return path (and also connects to other riding options).

The right fork takes you along the top of the upper ledges. The yellow-white rock is the Virgin Limestone, a hard cliff-forming layer between the clays of the Lower Red Member and the Middle Red Member of the Moenkopi Formation.

As seen from the lower trail, a rider heads out on the counterclockwise route. The rock slabs are layers within the Virgin Limestone.

Looking to the west. Below us is the return path of the loop. On the skyline are the Pine Valley Mountains, formed of granite under an ancient volcano. (Bet you can't wait to take your kids here and act like you're the world's biggest geology expert. Don't deny it. You know you want to.)

The Virgin Limestone formed when the tidal flats that formed the Moenkopi were submerged in a shallow sea for a few million years. This was during the early Triassic Period, about 240 million years ago.

A ride on More Cowbell...

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When the trail turns towards Gooseberry Mesa, note the bands of clay and mudstone within the Moenkopi Formation. The lower reds are the Middle Red Member. The gray is the Shnabkaib. The red band with the ledges is the Upper Red Member. At the top is the Shinarump Conglomerate, which begins the Chinle Formation.

The trail coasts east and slightly downhill towards the JEM intersection and the lower return path.

On the flats to the west, the Moenkopi thins before the world drops away at the Kaibab Limestone of the cliffs above Hurricane. In the distance are the Navajo Sandstone Red Cliffs, with the Pine Valley Mountains above.

At the easternmost part of the loop, a trail fork joins More Cowbell to JEM, about 50 feet away to your right. Here JEM takes a plunge off the limestone down to the valley floor. To stay on the easy stuff, keep to the left.

The trail now follows the lower ledges of the limestone. It stays close to the edge, but just far enough away that you don't need to worry about the kids. Although it's narrow singletrack, the brush has been cleared back to create a fairly wide riding lane so you can bobble without scratching yourself on the brush. (The broad clearance also helps the trail dry quickly during the winter.)

Looking back east, with the Navajo Sandstone spires of Zion National Park peeking around the edge of Gooseberry Mesa.

Alex pedals away from a viewpoint on the cliff edge. Here the Pine Valley Mountains are to the left, and the mesa at the entrance to Zion National Park is to the right in the photo.

On the south side (if you care to), you can sneak up to the edge and look at the valley below. Highway 59 has descended to the lower level of the Moenkopi silt. Between the highway and the slope, you'll spot the new Dead Ringer trail that connects upper JEM to Goosebumps .

As you come to a trail fork, keep straight ahead. You are leaving More Cowbell to start uphill on Dead Ringer. The route 150 degrees to your right takes you down Dead Ringer to the Goosebumps/JEM intersection. After about 200 yards, keep straight again as you pass your original trail fork. Head uphill to the JEM parking.

View down into the valley to the south. Want to go try the trail below you? The trail fork is coming up soon.

On the connecting trail between the two ends of White Ledges.

More advanced riders: As you reach the doubletrack at the top, go straight across onto JEM. Take JEM downhill, passing through the Goosebumps intersection. Just before Sheep Bridge Road, turn left on Dead Ringer and climb the back to the top. Do More Cowbell clockwise on your way up. Great riding!

Update, April 2015:

The upper portion of JEM (from the Highway 59 trailhead down to the Goosebumps intersection) is now one-way, downhill only. When climbing to the Highway 59 trailhead, you must use either Dead Ringer on the west or the JEM Doubletrack from the east.

Alex Argyle rings the cowbell as he rides by. Hitting the Cowbell is "a thing" for riders coming through the junction of Dead Ringer at More cowbell.

Riding summary, beginner More Cowbell:
0.0   Upper JEM TH, cross cattleguard
        Immediate left on ST downhill
        N37 08.358 W113 14.515
0.4   Keep R for counterclockwise loop
        N37 08.481 W113 14.632

1.3   Fork L (R = to JEM)
        N37 08.859 W113 14.692
2.9   Keep straight N37 08.411 W113 14.717
        (hard L = down to Goosebumps)
3.0   Keep straight N37 08.481 W113 14.632
3.4   Back at top

Map of the More Cowbell area

Getting there, upper JEM (59) 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'

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. Pedal uphill on Dead Ringer to More Cowbell.

NOTE: Do not damage these trails by riding when wet. For current conditions, contact Over the Edge Sports, 76 E. 100 S. in Hurricane, 435-635-5455.