I'm thinking of taking a 2-week road trip in December for some camping and mountain biking in front of gorgeous scenery. Would Yellowstone be too snowy for mtn biking? Anywhere else in the west or mid-west I should consider? I'm also considering Arches N.P. and, well, most of Utah.

Thanks!
Tai

I'll be headed to Oregon-Nevada-Utah- and hopefully Arizona and New Mexico this week. My GF and I take a month (October) off each year. We load up the road bikes and MTB's and just go wherever we happen to feel like.

I'm not up to snuff on the weather in those areas in December, though. Seems like Arizona and New Mexico might be the best bet those months?

I CAN tell you where I have liked the riding a lot. Moab, Gooseberry Mesa, Bend Oregon, Bryce Canyon area, St. George, ElY Nevada area.

Moab, and many other Utah locations, have absolutely stunning scenery. Any direction you look, you can't believe what you are seeing. Especially when you're riding and have the good flow going on and the fantastic scenery, you know you have arrived in a very beautiful state of being. I know that's kinda poetic, but it really is a high feeling.

That's the perfect time of year for Big Bend.

That time of year you want to think Southwest, not northern states. Most of Yellowstone is closed during the winter months for good reason.

Utah is my all time favorite place on earth but it also gets down right cold during winter and Arches and the Moab area will get snow. Best time of year for Moab is around March - April and then Sept - Oct.

I agree that NM and AZ are probably best for winter riding - how about Sedona? Still cold but not snowy. And not that it is particularly a mountain bike destination but there is plenty of riding and you can't beat the weather in Southern California especially in December.

Been a long time since I hiked Big Bend, but isn't it mainly flat and boring except for the basin and south rim? OTOH, flat is probably good for me now.

Since we get very little snow in central Texas, I figured a little snow would be a novelty not to mention very photogenic. Also, I was thinking the trails will be cleared of snow from hiking and biking traffic. Bad assumption?

Bad assumption.

Can't speak for Yellowstone, but here in New Hampshire we get a fair ammount of snow. If the snow covers the trail and gets packed down it's slippery as heck and you'll want studs. If it's unpacked you should be able to ride it with knobbies but it takes a lot of work to get through. If it's too deep then you're SOL, it's torture to ride in that stuff, kinda like riding in really, really soft sand (only the sand is slippery). If the snow is light and the trail is clear then it'll also be wet and muddy (that water has to go somewhere). Depending on the soil this can lead to trail erosion and places around here frown on mountain biking during what we call "mud season" which is spring thaw.

I do bike in winter conditions, but I greatly prefer summer conditions. I certainly wouldn't travel TO somewhere specifically to ride in snow. I'd much rather escape it.