Zion National Park

Vermilion Cliffs

Hurricane Cliffs

The Black Ridge

Hurricane Mesa

The Dixie National Forest with The Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness Area

Smithsonian Butte

Beaver Dam Mountains and Mojave Desert Joshua Tree Road

and the list just goes on and on! The area tends to get a bit rural and remote. Caution should always be used in these rural areas of the USA. Cell phone service may not be available and the use of guide service and rentals can be a lifesaver. Lots of water is required in this high desert area of the southwest.

This website at gooseberrymesautah.com is available and invite’s groups to forward us their news, trip reports, favorite rentals, accommodations and resturants to share here with our readers as well as at our outdoor recreation message board at

The website at AdventureZoneTOURS is encouraging people to post and share photos and information to try to interest visitors to visit this beautiful outdoor recreation area. In addition they are seeking rural small business owners who offer places to stay or provide activity services to list their offering too!

Travel Web site Focuses on Back Country, USA
Links up Adventure Travelers with Rural Suppliers

Cedar City, UT - Most travel Web sites focus on the large metro areas in the United States.  Get to rural Maine, Utah, etc. and sometimes you’re on your own.  Thousands of small business owners are located near wilderness areas and many of them either don’t have Web sites or are difficult to find in search engines.

Now,  a unique Web site lists rural travel suppliers, motels, camps, lodges, bike paths, ATV sites, fishing guides, tours, etc. all in one database. AdventureZoneTOURS is unique in that it offers posts about all the National Parks, State Parks, National Monuments and Wilderness Areas in one place. AdventureZoneTOURS allows adventure travelers to plan their entire trip all in one action. No more clicking and searching all around.

For Travelers: Outdoor Recreation Message Board

The site’s Outdoor Recreation Message Board lists the states, separated into travel region message boards where people can see the outdoor public land areas available with map, information, stories, photos and over 4,000 posts. There are park maps, webcams, directions and a search to located accommodations and activity providers in that state region.

Social Networking for Wilderness Areas, Parks, Monuments and Outdoors Recreation

Travel partners are invited to become part of the rural reservations booking engine that has just been launched. Its social networking message boards are geared towards all four seasons.

Accommodations and Activities suppliers need only to visit http://www.adventurezonetours.com and click on the link at the top that says Travel Partners.  The database is set up for most accommodations suppliers like motels, camps, lodges, campgrounds, etc. The activities database is set up for ATV, horses, hiking, tours, winter, water, rentals and more.

Author: Bob Therrien

http://www.adventurezonetours.com

Gooseberry Mesa Trail is rated as one of Utah’s best riding opportunity. It has been featured in magazines and sports videos. The tabletop mesa’s slick rock over Shinarump conglomerate stone and single trails interconnect to create just the adventure ride you’ll want. Featured vistas are Smithsonian Butte, The Pine Valley Mountains, Virgin Terraces, Saint George Basin, and Little Creek Mountain. It’s been said that the sunsets during the fall are wonderful. Zion National Park, Temples of The Virgins and Kolob Canyon shine in the distance.

South Rim, Hidden Canyon Trail, North Rim and Yellow Trail are some of the favorite rides. Much of the area is made up of mudstone on the Moenkopi Formation, which is about 240 million years old. You may see petrified wood, dinosaur tracks, fossils and other treasures.

This cycling haven is located about 2 ½ hours north of Las Vegas, Nevada in booming Southern Utah. Near Saint George which has an elevation of 2,880 feet above sea level. St. George has an average annual temperature of 59.9° F with summer temperatures well into the 100s. Palm trees and red rock cliffs are the norm in Saint George along with all the convenience of a city of 100 thousand.

Directions:

From St George, Utah, continue north on Interstate 15.  Exit on highway 9 and take it east into Hurricane, UT. Take a right turn onto highway 59. Monitor your mileage from this point. Follow highway 59 which turns left and heads uphill and out of town. After about 5-6 miles you will see The Point of Gooseberry Mesa on your left. Continue driving, and about 10 miles from town you will go by a gas station on the left. A few miles later watch for a highway Scenic Byway marker. Right after that sign there is a dirt road on the left that turns back sharply. You should be about 15 miles where you checked your mileage in Hurricane. Take this dirt road 2 miles and make a left hand turn. Follow this road for 3.6 miles then go left at a fork and continue for another mile until you come to the main parking lot.

Gooseberry Mesa is closed to motorized vehicles and is way too narrow and winding for horses. The area isn’t popular with hikers who sometimes find the trail very frustrating to follow.  This means, these trails are all ours!

You’ll also notice in your atlas that Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Vermilion Cliffs, The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, (GSENM), The Grand Canyon and so much more, are close enough to turn this trip into an outdoor adventure. You’ll enjoy your trip to gooseberrymesautah!

Research, read and share trip reports and pics here.

National Parks, State Parks, National Monuments, and Wilderness Areas, All in One Website!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT OUR NATIONAL PARKS –

On AdventureZoneTOURS.com

Cedar City, UT (February 27, 2007) The good news is that the United States of America has protected some of the most unique and incredible places to see on earth, and to encourage visitors, AdventureZoneTOURS.com brings all the parks, monuments, and wilderness areas into one online message board where people can share information about these fantastic outdoors resources.

The bad news is that the National Parks face a budget crisis. Struggling to protect the historic, cultural and natural resources, the parks are short of funds for operating facilities, repairs to roads, bridges, trails and buildings. In 2006, a $814 million shortfall was reported. With the National Park Service covering almost 400 protected areas, NPS has fewer employees to service the growing number of visitors per year. Over 273,000,000 people visited the National Parks in 2005, with reports of declining visitors.  AdventureZoneTOURS.com fills in the gap where information on locations and services are currently lacking. Instead of contacting a variety of parks or wilderness areas to compile your trip, now planning and previewing a vacation or adventure is just a click away on AdventureZoneTOURS.COM.

In a recent trend, volunteering has become very popular with more people willing to offer their time or vacation in assisting the parks and outdoor organizations with clean up, rebuilding trails and other important tasks.  AdventureZoneTOURS.com not only features a message board for each region of every state but under the category Special Interests members are invited to post messages for volunteer opportunities or find links to the volunteer opportunity just right for them.

Bob Therrien, President of TrainingPASS Sales, Inc., creator of AdventureZoneTOURS.com, outdoor writer, and constant traveler commented, “Over the years, the hardest part for me has been the research about which parks, hikes, climbs, guides I want to visit with my family and friends. Exploring site after site, then mapping the distance from each area of interest is inefficient and many times lacking in information. To solve that inefficiency we (AdventureZoneTOURS.com) have collected all the basic information about our parks, wilderness areas and national monuments into one website. We’re still working on the mapping solution right now, so that a visitor can visually see just a region of a state and distances between multiple areas of interest.  AdventureZoneTOURS.com is an outdoors recreation message board that now needs real trip reports from people who love these parks and are willing to share information on their special places.”

The Outdoor Adventure Message Board opens up to reveal historic park photos and a listing of U.S. States separated into travel regions. Click on search to find your park or any state region and there are sub forums for all the parks, monuments and wilderness areas in that region. You’ll find links to park maps, webcams and several interesting choices to pick from within a state region. Choose just the park to visit or check special interest message boards for posts on volunteer opportunities and travel for women only, men, training retreats, or shuttle posts.

For the activity-specific minded, AdventureZoneTOURS.com encourages users to share trip reports for a variety of outdoor activities from hiking, climbing, canyoneering, geo exploring, photography, ghost towns, mines, and cave to water sports such as boating, fishing, jet and water skiing, tubing, rafting, and scuba. Winter travel sports locations for snowmobiling, skiing and snowboarding are featured. Hunting locations, ATV and horseback trails as well as the most scenic areas for outdoor photography are also available as individual topic posts. To research or share your favorite adventure travel location, and for more information, log on to www.AdventureZoneTOURS.com.