return to horsethief

On Friday Sunday, when we did our Jewel Tibbetts Arch/Hellroaring Rim hike, we ended up at the Horsethief trailhead.  After perusing the map, we thought that we should maybe give the Chisholm trail, picking it up along Route 313 where the Big Lonely trail (from the Navajo Rocks system) crosses the highway.  We parked at the large-ish scenic overlook at the bend in the road and rode up 313 a bit, looking for the intersection.  We didn't go far enough, however, turning around before we got there (because we were sure it wasn't that far down the hill!  As H said, we know just enough to be dangerous.) and riding down the Dubinky Wells road to the Big Lonely trail.  This got us to the intersection with Chisholm that we wanted, but it also added 3+ challenging miles to our ride; for the record, the Big Lonely is much easier to ride going clockwise.

Sandy

When we finally got on Chisholm, the first section was not technical but pretty sandy; the middle was pretty technical (for us), requiring a lot of hopping off and on the MTBs; and the last part was pretty rideable.  The ledge-y middle section was quite pretty, as it followed the rim of a short canyon.  We saw one snake and only six other riders - this can't be a very popular trail since it is a cross-country-type point-to-point, too technical for beginners but not nearly exciting enough for expert MTBers.

Scenic

It was getting fairly hot by the time we got to the Horsethief trailhead.  We had planned to ride back along the same trail but we had gotten a late start due to some brake issues with my bike, and neither of us had eaten very well/enough before starting out.  To make things simple, we just hopped onto Route 313 which, as it was both paved and downhill with a slight tailwind, helped our average speed a bit.  We drove down to the Navajo Rocks trailhead for quick snacks and beers, then headed home to get out of the heat.  It wasn't our best day but it was good to see some new terrain.  And really, any day on the trail is a good day.

Ride stats: 13.95 miles; 1:58; 7.1 m.p.h. average speed (so slow - there was rather a lot of hike-a-bike); H's top speed 38.9 m.p.h.