Gooseberry Mesa is lousy with exceptional mountain biking trails. There are dozens of ways to make loop rides on any number of singletrack and slickrock sections to match your skill level. The Windmill Loop is one such popular ride that, while short, contains a little bit of everything you’d expect from biking on “The Goose.”
The Windmill Loop is an intermediate ride that’s almost 5-and-a-half miles long. In fact, it’s not really a loop at all, but a figure eight that samples all sorts of terrain, such as double track road, teeth-chattering slickrock, curvy singletrack, and even places where you ride your bike uncomfortably close to the rim’s edge.
The ride begins at the Windmill parking lot, just north of the outhouse. It’s worth taking a few minutes to explore the windmill and adjacent structures to get a sense of the historical past of the area. From the windmill, ride double track west for 1.3 miles when you reach a 3-way intersection marked on the slickrock with white, painted arrows. Go left onto the Connector Trail.
The Connector Trail will take you over more slickrock and short areas of packed dirt for two miles to Slickrock 101. Here, you you can get your technical biking legs under you over easy slickrock. Follow the painted dots on the rock that lead you to the next intersection where a right turn hooks up with Bowls and Ledges. As the name implies, Bowls and Ledges is a cool area where you can play on more slickrock, go up and down rock ledges, small hills, and steep ramps that end in curves bowls of rock that require bursts of speed and leg power to ride through.
After Bowls and Ledges, you’ll come back the to original three-way section. Take the Connector Trail again, back the way you came. But rather than heading back to the Windmill, head left on the Rim Trail. This is what the Windmill Loop is all about – riding your bike as close as possible to the cliff’s edge, sometimes at speed. It can be downright dangerous to pedal too fast here as flowing singletrack abruptly takes a right hand turn right on the rim, where a lack of brakes may just toss you over the edge. Take it easy, make sure your brakes are in working order, and don’t be tempted to check out the view while you’re riding.
Eventually, you’ll come to another fork after about four miles. Go right on more singletrack to return to the Windmill and your car.
Although it’s not the most well known or technical mountain bike ride on Gooseberry Mesa, it is totally worth riding as either a warm up loop or a cool down after killing yourself on more epic adventures on the full Gooseberry Rim Loop.
There are two ways to get to Gooseberry Mesa. From the north, drive from La Verkin to the small town of Rockville, just west of Springdale. In town, go south on Bridge Road, following the signs to Gooseberry Mesa. Around 6 miles from town, a road appears through a break in a fence on the right that goes to the top of Gooseberry.
From Hurricane, drive southeast on Highway 59. About 15 miles later, you’ll see a sign for Gooseberry Mesa. Turn left here onto a dirt road that heads north. A few miles later, turn left onto the dirt road that leads to the trailhead.