Plan on arriving in St. George, Utah the day before the start of your trip to ensure you are ready for the early trip start on day 1. Accommodations are not included on this night and will need to be arranged. Rim Tours recommends booking at the Red Lion Inn since you'll be meeting your guides here the morning of day 1. You can also receive a hotel discount if you let the hotel staff know you are with Rim Tours when you book your room.
Meet your guides at 8:00 am at the Red Lion Inn in St. George, Utah. It's recommended that you eat before meeting and if you choose to stay at the inn, a breakfast bar is included.
Look for Rim Tours' 15-passenger white van with a utility trailer in the parking lot the morning of the tour. Your guides will take care of any last-minute logistics, load the support vehicle, and you'll shuttle to your camp for the duration of the tour at Navajo Lake. After a brief orientation your ride begins on Navajo Lake Loop, a beautiful 9 mile ride on rolling moderate singletrack with options for additional distance and challenge.
Once back at camp and tents are set, your work is done! Your guides will take care of the rest of the details, from setting up lawn chairs with hors d'oeuvres and the drink cooler nearby, to cooking up a healthy, delicious meal. Washbasins are available for clean up and a solar shower is usually available for 1 or 2 nights during the trip. This is your time to relax, whether it's lounging around camp with Rim Tours' library of books or setting out for a hike to explore your surroundings.
Today you'll explore the Virgin River Rim Trail and its buffed singletrack with sweeping turns and sometimes challenging climbs. Ride from camp to Cascade Falls for lunch and you'll have the option of a short hike to view the falls. Riders can either catch a shuttle back to camp after lunch or ride back to camp or extend the ride further along the southern limits of this fantastic trail system.
Continue exploring the Virgin River Rim Trail which contours the edge of the Markagunt Plateau through aspen forests and across green meadows. The views to the wildly eroded Pink Cliffs below are spectacular, and watch for local residents of deer and wild turkey. Today’s ride may be done as an out and back or you may descend further and shuttle back to camp after a one-way ride to Deer Haven. Check out the Bristlecone pine trees along the route, some of the oldest living trees in the world!
Your final day’s ride, the Thunder Mountain Trail Loop, is a classic! This scenic ridge ride features 14 miles of superb singletrack with a rolling doubletrack approach on the Great Western Trail. The trail climbs and descends through evergreen forests surrounded by otherworldly outcroppings of red rock hoodoos and finishes with another fantastic descent back into Red Canyon. Shuttle back to St. George, arriving between 4:00 and 6:00 pm. You may not arrive in time to catch flights so please make lodging arrangements in advance for this night.