Riding the J.E.M. Loop

After 24 hours of constant heavy rains, and three days of wind and rain, have come to realize why this place is called Hurricane....well suited from my experience out here.    There was about a two hour break in the rains, and made a break for it.  I was originally going to head out to Little Creek Mesa, but was thwarted by the mud bogged roads to get out there.  Nearly ever trail was inaccessible due to the bogs that use to be  roads out the trails interwoven in the mesas.  Maybe if I had a helicopter could have done some heli-biking; now that would have been a cool option!

Anyway, I opted for the J.E.M Loop just outside of town simply because it was readily accessible from the interstate.  The loop consists of three trails: J.E.M., Goulds and Hurricane Rim.  Surprisingly the trails were not soaked/flooded/bogged, and weathered the rains very well.  The builders out here know how to properly drain the trail, and have to give them props for the great work they have done.  Over the course of the three trails, there was another common theme around how trails are rated in Hurricane.  Trail difficulty (green, blue and black diamonds) is based on how close or how much exposure you encounter during the ride.  Green is anything greater than 15 feet from any exposures that could injure you; blue is anything from 5 to 15 feet from exposures that could cause severe bodily damage; black diamond is less than 5 feet with double black being less than 2 feet of anything that will kill you.

These trails follow the mesa  just east of town, Hurricane Rim, and circle out almost to Gooseberry Mesa and then back.  Anyone with intermediate skills can easily handle anything along the routes, and nothing technical popped up as I was hoping.  The difficulty comes with how fast, and scared, you rail along the exposures  The trails are fast, flowy, and don't contain any serious climbing.  For a perspective, Desert Classic is on par with doing this loop.

I enjoyed the trails, and was glad to not stuck indoors for the entire day.  The only option then would have been to go grab a bus to Zion, and take pictures of the incredible rock formations.   Hmmm, sounds like a motorized version of what I am doing anyway, right?

Tomorrow will be leaving the water logged town of Hurricane for Vegas baby!  It will be good to spend some time with my family, enjoy Bootleg and Cottonwood at my leisure, and perhaps make a video of playing craps (if the casino doesn't mind a guy in a full face helmet with a camera on his head walking around).

Hope you enjoy today's video.  The cloud cover seems to have counteracted the overexposure, and came out pretty decent.