Bogley

Sombeech · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 12654 Location: The Rubbish Bin

First of all, I've got to thank some of the boys over at UtahMountainBiking for this one. Thanks to tlbennion for the recommendation, and Bruce for the directions.

This was a quick little trail that I'll be hitting again. Let me quote Bruce on some notes:
Bruce Argyle wrote: This a fun ride with great slickrock, but it's little known. Chances are, you won't see another biker there, even on weekends.... Watch carefully for stacked rocks and old painted dashes on the rock. The trail can be a bit hard to follow the first time. In general, remember you're climbing to the top of the slickrock and heading east into the rising sun.

This trail was a little difficult to find at first. There has been quite a bit of new home construction in the past few years, so I was a little lost on where exactly to start. At first, I had a little trouble finding Heritage Park, and then I couldn't find the water tower, only to be later staring at it on top of the hill.

Here is UMB's map, which is still credible. If you want to skip some pavement pounding, you can try to find a place right near the water tower for parking. I would say from the water tower, out and back, it's around 5 miles. I can't give an accurate distance, because I goofed finding the right trail. (my wife dropped me off also, so parking wasn't an issue)

I made the mistake of going BETWEEN the tower and the freeway. This caused a nasty hang up on the barb wire fence! (that was a nice site for the motorists to see) :doh: Climb up to the tower, take a left, and go down the dirt road around it. This will lead you to the drain pipe.

Here's a cool little video on how long this drain pipe is:

OK, enough blabbin'! Let's get on with the pictures. Be sure to read the captions above each pic for more instructions.

accadacca · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 7870 Location: On Your Screen

Huh? Not a bad trail ehh? :popcorn:

Sombeech · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 12654 Location: The Rubbish Bin

accadacca wrote: Huh? Not a bad trail ehh? :popcorn:

Naw, not too bad at all. The worst part is just finding it. Once you find it, it's a quick, short little singletrack / slickrock trail.

Shan · Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 796 Location: Cache Valley

Very nice photos! Makes me want a trip to the desert. I did this trail but started on the Prospector Trail. We were camping at Red Cliffs so the TH was right there.

live2ride · Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: Riding my bike

I tried to find this trail last time I was down there and decided to go somewhere else. Looks like Somebeech took care of the nitty gritty once again!! Thanks

Sombeech · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 12654 Location: The Rubbish Bin

Shan wrote: I did this trail but started on the Prospector Trail. We were camping at Red Cliffs so the TH was right there.

I've heard that the Prospector Trail meets up with this. How is that trail? Mostly singletrack? Doesn't it start somewhere near Leeds?

live2ride wrote: I tried to find this trail last time I was down there and decided to go somewhere else.

That reminds me. I'd better throw up some Google Earth propaganda here.

The blue line shows where I got out of the wash. The red line is an earlier exit that I missed. Download the GE location, and you'll be able to see the trail leaving the wash. Somehow I missed it.

KanyonKris · Joined: 22 Jan 2006 Posts: 56

I rode Church Rocks for the 1st time last year. Like you, we had to "discover" the trail in a few places, even with Bruce's info. We found the park and the paved trail OK (go up the road then look for the paved trail on the right between two houses just before the road turns left), and made it to the water tank. (Sombeech: just nitpicking, but I feel water tank is a more apt name than water tower - not really a tower.) We found the dirt road down off Black Ridge but hunted around a while looking for the entrance to the tunnel culvert - Sombeech's picture shows the way. After crossing under I-15 the trail exits the wash on the left then crosses it (you can see this in Google Earth if you zoom in) after the map sign and climbs up onto the bluff on the right. We missed the left turn that heads northwest (we put a stack of rocks here, but kairns come and go). Some other riders happened by and showed us the turn. We made our way up the slickrock to the top of the rock band (bang your head! Oh, wrong kind of rock band :haha: ) - this was kinda hard to follow and we had to scout a few times. The trail heading east was pretty easy to follow. After a technical-ish descent the trail turns and heads west on the lower trail. This section was also pretty easy to follow. We came back to the place we missed the left turn and knew where we were so it was easy to go back.

Sombeech: great pictures!

Hopefully the attached Google Earth waypoints will be useful. If I go again I'll take my GPS to record the whole route.

We really enjoyed the Church Rocks trail. Lots of slickrock to ride and play on. We wanted to do the loop again, but we didn't have time - maybe go the reverse direction.

Sombeech · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 12654 Location: The Rubbish Bin

KanyonKris wrote: Sombeech: just nitpicking, but I feel water tank is a more apt name than water tower - not really a tower.)
You're right. In fact, I'm not even sure why I was calling it the tower.

KanyonKris wrote: Hopefully the attached Google Earth waypoints will be useful. If I go again I'll take my GPS to record the whole route.

That's some good stuff. Thanks!

greyhair biker · Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 3549 Location: GreenRiver, Wy

I'd love to get back down there again! Good Times :2thumbs:

mroy · Joined: 20 Jul 2005 Posts: 236 Location: North Ogden

I was told by a local the easy way to get to this trail -- head north on I-15, pull off when you see the water tank, right after you cross the tunnel and park in that dirt area well off the freeway. I'm not gonna condone that, but I'll throw that out there.

Sombeech · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 12654 Location: The Rubbish Bin

mroy wrote: I was told by a local the easy way to get to this trail -- head north on I-15, pull off when you see the water tank, right after you cross the tunnel and park in that dirt area well off the freeway. I'm not gonna condone that, but I'll throw that out there.

When I was confused on the path, I crawled through the barbed wire fence (while getting my camelback hung up on it, that was quite a site for the motorists). I biked to that dirt area, and there is a path leading down to the pipe from there. It looks well travelled.

Do you think it's legal to park there? Here's a picture of it, from the tower. This is where I thought I was lost, not seeing the dirt road down to it, so I went back down the paved path, hopped the fence, and looked for the pipe.

Shan · Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 796 Location: Cache Valley

Quote: I've heard that the Prospector Trail meets up with this. How is that trail? Mostly singletrack? Doesn't it start somewhere near Leeds?

We got on the trail just south of Red Cliffs (were we camp BLM $8/night). The trail is single track, really sandy in places, kind of hard to follow in some places due to muliple cow paths, but still fun. Not to hard, a few climbs here and there up onto the flats.