Utah Cliffs Loop
Explore Color Country's red-rock cliffs and cool subalpine forests on a loop that ranges from desert floor to high plateau and back.
- Distance
- 286 miles
- Surface
- 50% paved
- 1 week–3 weeks
- Route Type
- Loop
Ride the Utah Cliffs Loop
This loop starts and ends in St. George, Utah, and is described clockwise, with most of the climbing in the first half. It connects with the Western Express and the Grand Canyon Connector in Cedar City.
What to Expect
Southwestern Utah is known as Color Country, and this loop shows why, moving between rich red-rock cliffs and the cool greens of subalpine forest, with cliffs in view for nearly the entire ride. It’s a challenging loop, with more than 24,000 feet of climbing, high elevations near 10,000 feet, and about half the route on dirt and gravel, but one long, memorable descent makes the effort worth it. Towns are spread out but reachable, making it a good fit for fit riders who want a big adventure in a short trip.
Snow Canyon State Park sets the tone, with white and red sandstone cliffs topped by black lava rock, followed by historic Pine Valley, tucked into a bucolic basin in the Pine Valley Mountains. Riders climb the Hurricane Cliffs escarpment onto the Markagunt Plateau and pass alpine Navajo Lake before an unforgettable descent alongside the North Fork of the Virgin River toward Zion National Park.
Elevations range from about 2,500 to nearly 10,000 feet, with 24,150 feet of total climbing when riding clockwise. The route climbs from sandstone desert through juniper and pine to high plateau forest and meadows, then descends through river canyon back to the desert floor. The full route includes detailed riding conditions and field notes for every climb and descent.
This loop passes through a mix of small towns and more remote high-elevation stretches, including the climb through Dixie National Forest and past Navajo Lake, where services are sparse. Bike shops are found in St. George, Cedar City, and Springdale, so carry spare tubes and basic tools for the stretches in between. Cell coverage can drop out on the plateau and in the canyons, so download your Ride with GPS route for offline use.
Ride this route from late spring through fall, since the high-elevation stretch near Navajo Lake and the Markagunt Plateau can hold snow early and late in the season. Desert sections near St. George can top 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer, while the plateau stays much cooler. Late-summer monsoon storms bring afternoon lightning and flash flooding, so fall is often the most comfortable time to ride.
Route Sections
St. George, UT to St. George, UT, 286 miles
Riding clockwise from St. George, the route follows a bike path through Snow Canyon State Park before heading to historic Pine Valley and Cedar City. From Cedar City, it climbs the Hurricane Cliffs escarpment onto the Markagunt Plateau of Dixie National Forest, reaching Navajo Lake at high elevation. From there, a long descent follows the North Fork of the Virgin River down to State Route 9 near Zion National Park, and from Rockville, backroads lead through Hurricane and back to St. George on a gentle downhill finish. The full route includes turn-by-turn directions, service information, and field notes for the entire loop.
Utah Cliffs Loop Photos
Plan Your Ride
This loop suits a shorter multi-day trip well, and most riders complete it in about four days, staying in motels or campgrounds along the way.
Trip Planning & Logistics
St. George has a regional airport and sits about two hours from Las Vegas, a larger airport option. The route connects with the Western Express and the Grand Canyon Connector in Cedar City for riders looking to extend their trip. Most riders complete the loop in about four days, with the first two carrying the bulk of the climbing and the last two running easier back to St. George. This route is available as a digital route through Adventure Cycling’s shop and includes routing, detailed service information, riding conditions, and field notes for trip planning.
Since roughly half this route runs on dirt and gravel roads, a gravel or touring bike with wider tires suits it better than a narrow-tired road setup, and low gearing is essential for the long climbs. Pack warm layers for the elevation swing between the desert floor and the high plateau, rain gear for afternoon storms, and extra water capacity for the hot desert stretches.
Motels are available in St. George, Cedar City, and Springdale, making an indoor-lodging trip easy to plan, and camping options exist near Pine Valley and in the higher-elevation forest. Campgrounds near Zion National Park fill quickly and often require reservations. Some campgrounds charge solo cyclists the same as a full tent or RV site, and Warmshowers hosts are an option in St. George and Cedar City.
Resupply towns are spaced at workable intervals, including Pine Valley, Cedar City, and Springdale, though water and services thin out at the higher elevations near Navajo Lake and the Markagunt Plateau, so stock up in Cedar City before the climb. Carry extra water through the desert sections in warm weather. Check your digital route in Ride with GPS for service phone numbers, and call ahead for anything outside peak season.
The stretch out of Rockville toward Smithsonian Butte is extremely steep and can turn slick and muddy when wet, so avoid it in the rain. Take the long descents at a controlled speed, and expect heavy tourist traffic on the roads near Zion National Park. In the desert, ride early to avoid the heat and carry plenty of water, and stay out of canyons and washes when storms threaten, since flash floods can develop quickly.
Always check Adventure Cycling Route Updates and Corrections before you go.
Routes change. Bridges wash out, businesses close, and construction pops up overnight. We strive to keep routes updated as those things happen. When we learn about a change, we reroute around sections that have become dangerous or are temporarily closed for road work, bridge outages, or construction, and we update service information as businesses open, close, or move. Digital routes are updated as soon as we’ve reviewed a reported issue.
You’re often the first to spot these changes out on the road. Help us keep this route accurate for the next rider by reporting anything you notice with our Route Feedback Form.
This Route Is Part of Something Bigger
It’s one piece of the Adventure Cycling Route Network, began in 1976 and built on a simple mission: to empower people to travel by bike. Our team maps and maintains it; our members and donors make it possible.
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Frequently Asked Questions
It’s our flagship, staff-built route network. The one that started it all 50 years ago with the TransAmerica Trail, the route that launched bicycle touring and bikepacking in America. Every route in it is designed and researched by our own team of cyclists and cartographers: months of research and on-the-ground testing go into each one, so what you get is more than a line on a map. Each Adventure Cycling route has detailed logistics, terrain and elevation info, points of interest, camping and lodging, safety alerts, and history, all in one place. It’s the most in-depth of our three networks, available as digital routes and most as paper maps too. It’s the route network we update most regularly as conditions change.
They’re related, but not the same thing. The Adventure Cycling Route Network is made up of routes we’ve researched, ridden, and mapped ourselves, chosen specifically for a great touring or bikepacking experience. The U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS) is a state-by-state national system that we serve as technical experts for, made official through each state’s department of transportation. The two overlap in a lot of places, but an ACRN route carries our own on-the-ground vetting; a USBRS route carries official state recognition.
It depends! If you want a route we’ve personally scouted end to end, with services, camping, and terrain notes built in, start with the Route Network. The ACA Route Network has routes of many different lengths and can be a much easier starting place for someone new to bicycle travel. If you’re an experienced cyclist piecing together an officially designated corridor, or riding somewhere the two systems converge, the interactive USBRS map is a good resource to use.
The Adventure Cycling Route Network is a premium network because of everything that goes into it. Unlike the U.S. Bicycle Route System (built by state DOTs) or Short Routes (submittedby cyclists in their own communities), every Adventure Cycling route is researched, ridden, and vetted end-to-end by our own team. Unlike other routes, Adventure Cycling routes come with extensive information on riding conditions, terrain notes, camping and lodging info, logistics, safety alerts, and points of interest. We also keep it current as roads and services change. The price supports that ongoing research and maintenance work, done by a nonprofit whose whole mission is making sure the route in your hands is one you can trust.
Turn-by-turn directions with a bike icon aren’t the same as a route built for specifically touring or bikepacking. Every mile in the Adventure Cycling Route Network has been researched and ridden by our staff and researchers, chosen to avoid dangerous traffic, and mapped with what a touring cyclist actually needs — food, water, camping, hotels, bike shops — spaced out along the way. The Adventure Cycling Route Network was built for cyclists by cyclists, is regularly updated, and comes with the resources and information needed to plan your ride.
No. The network includes routes for a wide range of experience and difficulty levels, from a first multi-day trip to a cross-country expedition. What every route has in common is that it was chosen with a touring cyclist’s needs in mind, whatever kind of trip you’re planning.
Not at all. Alongside iconic long-distance routes like the TransAmerica Trail, the network includes shorter regional routes, so it works for a weeklong vacation or a two-month journey.
For many years, we focused on paved routes, but today the network includes plenty of unpaved gravel riding for bikepacking. In fact, Adventure Cycling mapped the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in 1998, arguably the most impactful bikepacking route in the world. The Adventure Cycling Route Network also includes the Golden Gravel Trail, Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route, Arkansas High Country Route, and more. Some routes are a 50/50 mix of pavement and gravel. Some routes follow paved and unpaved bike paths and rail trails. The Adventure Cycling Route Network has terrain for every cyclist.
We revisit our printed maps every three to five years, and push corrections to our digital route data as we learn about changes on the ground. If you have an Adventure Cycling Route in Ride with GPS that we’ve updated, you’ll get a notification when you open the route to update to the newest version of the route. Updating will ensure you have the latest data, information, and points of interest vital to being on route. For cyclists who have Adventure Cycling paper maps, we keep a list of route- and section-specific updates current on our Map Updates and Corrections page.
Change comes from two directions: our own staff research and reports from the cyclists actually out there riding them. If a bridge washes out, a shoulder disappears, a campground closes for repairs, or a town loses its only grocery store, that’s the kind of thing that triggers an update. You can help us keep our routes accurate; fill out our Route Feedback Form.
Most of our Adventure Cycling Routes come as waterproof print maps and digital Ride with GPS navigational data. Our print maps are the #1 longstanding popular resource for traveling cyclists. They are waterproof, highly detailed and always work. For long trips, many cyclists use a combination of print maps and digital routes.
If you’re already comfortable and familiar with a GPS navigational aid such as Ride with GPS or a Garmin, our digital data packages are an excellent choice. We do not recommend GPX data for beginners since there are a few extra steps to installing and troubleshooting.
Once you purchase a digital route, you’ll get an email with a link to unlock it in the free Ride with GPS app — no separate subscription required for basic navigation. From there you get turn-by-turn voice directions, curated points of interest like campgrounds and bike shops, and field notes on the history, geography, and climate along your route, all available 100% offline. If you’drather use a dedicated GPS device, you can export the route as a GPX file to load onto a Garmin, Wahoo, or similar device.
To export GPX files of your Adventure Cycling digital route, use your laptop or desktop to open the email you received after purchasing your digital route. Click on the link that allows you to access your Digital Route. Finally, click on EXPORT ALL at the bottom of the screen. This is the only way to export files that include the route line, points of interest, and services. Files will be exported as one ZIP file.
Adventure Cycling uses abbreviations across its paper and digital routes to indicate particular services, land or road types, route names, direction of travel, and route type. Please see our key to abbreviations.
If you have questions on how to purchase a digital route or about the route content, please contact Adventure Cycling: cartography@adventurecycling.org or 406-721-1776.
If you have questions on how to use your Digital Route in Ride with GPS, please check the Ride with GPS support page or email them at info@ridewithgps.com.
If you’re new to Ride with GPS, please check out the following resources:
Our print map panels aren’t always oriented northwards for space and layout reasons. Refer to the north arrows to help orient yourself if you’re not sure.
No. The Routes and Mapping Department does not do custom routes for individuals. Check out the routes we’ve already mapped, and use the interactive map to piece our route networks together, forming a route that gets you from a point A to point B of your choice.
It started with a single route. In 1976, we mapped the TransAmerica Trail, and more than 4,000 cyclists crossed the country together for Bikecentennial — the nation’s bicentennial cycling celebration our founders organized. That one route became the seed of a network we’ve spent the decades since expanding. Today it’s more than 58,000 miles of mapped routes across the U.S. and Canada, from classic epics like the TransAmerica Trail, Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, and Pacific Coast, to shorter regional routes.