Hilldale to Dammeron Valley

September 7, 2023

Utah!

From several sources that I could access, Highway 59 to Hurricane did not appear to be an ideal cycling route. Highway 9 looked great except for a tunnel where bicycles are prohibited. Since no other viable routes existed, I was resigned to riding 59.

I rested a little longer than usual on this morning, had a great breakfast at the inn, and headed out after the morning rush. As seems to be typical out this way, shoulders were minimal and intermittent speeding traffic seems mostly able to pass safely. There are always a few tight spots but c’est la vie.

From recent rain, red sand was all along and sometimes over the roads.

Before reaching the drop into the Hurricane Valley, there was a rest area where a trucker was locked in an embrace with a woman who had pulled in with her pickup truck. As I started down the long hill, his truck ended up behind me. Turned out, he was very considerate, perhaps due to having had a nice encounter up above.

Preparing to drop into Hurricane Valley.

In reality, the speed limit had been reduced to 40 mph and there were big warning signs about a stop sign at the bottom of the hill. Since I was able to reach 36 mph on the bike, the trucker behind me seemed not to need to go any faster. Everyone got down safely and I took a break in the town of Hurricane.

The next order of business was to get across the valley and over to St. George. The valley is close to 20 miles wide and Route 9 is busy. Thankfully, it has a wide shoulder. It’s also hotter down in the valley than it was up above.

I made my way over to an area called Coral Canyon, in Washington, Utah. This is an upscale community that has a bike/pedestrian trail. The trail would lead to Telegraph Road and the next phase of the ride. Along the way, there were some steep side trail hills. Fortunately for me, they were not on my path, so it was all downhill.

Significant descending had been occurring since my encounter with the romantic trucker on Highway 59. St. George was in a valley where temperatures felt much warmer than where I had been. My trek across the valley was a warm one. I made a short stop at an air conditioned McDonalds, mostly to get a break from the sun.

After my break, I needed to procure some nutritional items before heading out to my destination for the evening. Since there would be no place to stop for supplies once leaving the city, a couple of stops were made to get what was needed.

I then made my way over toward Red Cliffs Parkway. Before having to get onto the busy roadway, a trailhead appeared on my right, offering a timely escape from the beginning of the afternoon rush. A couple of bike trails would take me most of the way to my destination for the day. Although the trails were adjacent to Highway 18 and the traffic noise could be heard, I felt worlds away from it. The only problem was that after all that descending into the Hurricane Valley, it was now time to rise out of it.

My destination, Dammeron Valley is 2000 feet above St. George and the trails have no problem reminding you of it. The Red Cliffs Trail eventually gives way to the Route 18 Trail. Although it follows Route 18, it does not take full advantage of all of the grading that was done to build the highway. While the highway rolls more gently over some of the bluffs, the trail goes up and over them. The grades were steep with one of them at 20% or more. Let’s simply say it was a challenging ride on a hot afternoon to finish the day.

A few miles from my destination, the trail ended at Snow Canyon. From there, the highway (UT-18) had to be ridden to finish up. It had a wide shoulder. After approximately 16 miles of steady upgrade, I reached my destination.

Esther and her husband, Lindsay, have an Airstream Trailer on their property that they operate as an AirBNB. It was very nice and they are super people. Esther picked up some ice cream for me on her way home from work in St. George. Lindsay made sure everything was set up for me. He is an interesting fellow who mountain bikes and is training for the St. George half marathon. He has run full marathons in the past, including Boston. When the bombing occurred, he was there as a coach. He described feeling helpless as the bombs went off and not knowing which way to go, whether there were more, or where they might have been placed. A truly frightening experience.

My little corner of the world, for the evening.

I had an great night there. Temperatures abated and a cool breeze began. The stars in the night sky were tremendous. I slept very soundly.

Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 342 miles (550 km)

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