Little Creek Mesa
Scenic landmarks
A quiet flat-topped mesa east of Hurricane with cairn-marked slickrock riding, harder and emptier than neighboring Gooseberry Mesa.
Gooseberry's quieter twin
Little Creek Mesa is a flat-top mountain about 18 miles east of Hurricane, a few miles south of Gooseberry Mesa. It offers much the same slickrock riding and a fraction of the traffic, which is the trade riders make when they come here.
The riding
The big loop runs about 13.5 miles through technical slickrock with singletrack linking the open rock, and views over the Hurricane Valley, Zion and Gooseberry. The riding is not laid out the way most trail systems are — much of it is rolling bedrock with no worn path at all.
Navigation is the real difficulty. Routes are marked by cairns, and the cairns are not always easy to spot. Riders who are comfortable reading terrain do well here; riders who expect signage do not. It is generally rated for experts and strong upper-intermediates.
Season
April through November. The mesa is high enough to be pleasant when the valley is too hot, and cold and exposed in midwinter.
Practical
There is no water, no facilities and limited mobile signal. Carry a map or a downloaded track, and do not count on following someone else's line.
See also mountain biking around St. George.
Frequently asked questions
How hard is Little Creek Mesa?
It is generally rated for expert and strong upper-intermediate riders — technical slickrock with cairn-marked routes and no worn trail across much of the bedrock.
How is it different from Gooseberry Mesa?
It sits a few miles south, rides similarly, and carries far less traffic. The trade-off is navigation: Gooseberry is better marked and better known.