Our family spent last weekend yurt-ing and mountain biking at Gooseberry Mesa, UT. For those who aren’t familiar with Gooseberry, it is well known in the mountain bike community as a technical, must-ride trail system. It is not well known as a family-friendly destination, but as we discovered, it totally is.
We rented a yurt from Gooseberryyurts.com. The hybrid hut-tent was located right on the edge of the north rim of the mesa. This made my mom-heart panic a bit, but we had a long conversation about not getting close to the edge, and Little P seemed to understand the danger. We were careful never to let him out of eye-sight and someone was with him at all times when we were outside the yurt.
The benefit of being right on the rim was the amazing view. We could see Zion National Park and a number of other beautiful cliffs and mesas in the distance. The yurt had a lovely deck that we ate all our meals on it and watched the sunrises and sunsets.
My mom and sister were along on the trip which allowed Blair and I to get out some great rides just the two of us. Although there is little elevation gain, the technical nature of the trails made it tough (and fun!) riding.
I didn’t initially think Little P would have much fun riding the area, but I was wrong! He also had fun riding on some of the smooth slickrock sections. It was great for him to practice his biking handling and balance. He would ride up and down little ledgy areas, and had a blast.
In addition to biking, we had fun hiking, digging, building ramps for toy cars, collecting rocks, and all those things little boys love to do in the great outdoors. In this way, Gooseberry Mesa isn’t so different than any place you could go camping. The real draw is the gorgeous scenery, the feeling of adventure, and exploration of a new place.
For more information or to plan your own trip visit the links below, or read about some of our other family biking trips.
Gooseberry Mesa Resources:
Gooseberryyurts.com – Yurt rentals
Utahmountainbiking.com – Trail information