My folks moved to a Sun River, a 55+ neighborhood in St. George, UT. We spent a week with them over Easter and did a ton of biking. Some pictures and comments.

IMG_20180328_135552999 by jnjadcock, on Flickr

Dad recently bought a couple of e-bikes, one for him and one for mom. Mom can ride only 5 miles or so before tiring, so he bought these so they could ride together for as long as they want. She borrowed a neighbor's e-bike and rode 25 miles one day, so she was sold on it. This is the first time I'd ridden one, and it's a complete game-changer in my opinion. One is no longer limited to where or how long they can ride due to physical strength or fatigue, etc. I didn't use it for most of the trip, but the times I did were 110% fun. This is a Magnum Peak 27.5" tire model (also comes in 29er).

IMG_20180330_125627122 by jnjadcock, on Flickr

We spent a day biking in Zion National Park. This was simply an epic bike ride. We biked about 15 miles this day, about 7.5 from the visitor's center up the scenic road towards the Narrows, and then turned around when we got tired and rode back. This is one of the vistas along the way. The vastness of the American west simply cannot be captured in photographs.

IMG_20180330_120445282 by jnjadcock, on Flickr

My 12 year old daughter, riding my dad's Trek 8.4 DS (2014 model I think). It's a 17.5" frame and fit her perfectly.

IMG_20180331_101406657 by jnjadcock, on Flickr

This was my ride for the week, a mid-90s Trek ZX8500, which is actually an excellent mountain bike. It has a Manitou Answer front fork, and all Shimano Deore LX otherwise, including hubs, cranks, derailleurs, and brakes. It has the old Deore parallelogram linear pull brakes, which are interesting. This is the bike in Snow Canyon, just north of St. George.

IMG_20180331_111204925 by jnjadcock, on Flickr

More of the 8.4 DS, in Snow Canyon.

IMG_20180331_111214633 by jnjadcock, on Flickr

Same.

I don't have photos of it, but we ran the Bear Claw Poppy trail a few times. Check out more of that here. That is a deliriously fun loop trail. I got some pretty good air in parts on that Trek 8500. It's a pretty light and nimble bike that was easy to move around the trail.

There's a ton of great biking in the St. George, UT, area. If you're ever in town, bring, rent, or borrow a bike. You'll have a blast.

Thank you for posting this!

My wife and I would love to take a vacation which includes a few days of biking on this type of terrain -- rolling hills with vast views. I enjoy my mountain bike, but I don't really enjoy the typical downhill trails which I find here in central PA. But I like something more than flat rail trails through trees and towns. It looks like the trip you've shown here might be just the type of thing we're looking for. Plus, southern Utah is already close to the top of my want-to-visit list.

I share your lack of enjoyment of typical eastern "downhill trails". I really prefer to use my bikes for sight-seeing. General transportation (like going to and from the playground at the park) is fun, but getting out on the open road (literally) and traveling my bike is super enjoyable to me.

You would not regret a trip out there. There is a ton to see (as far as natural resources), and the desert has its own beauty. The openness of the desert alone is something to behold.

Flights to Vegas are probably as inexpensive as anywhere else, and Vegas is just 1.5 hours from the St. George area. We actually flew in to St. George, connecting through Denver (from Washington Dulles). That flight was remarkably cheap for four of us ($1400 round trip, TOTAL, through United). We also flew on a 787-8 on the way back from Denver, which was a real treat.

Cool!