Paintrock Creek Trail, Big Horns, any good?

Do they have internet access in northern Wyoming? Just Kidding! I had a good time and rode Paint Rock Creek Trail and the Bench Trail. Here's a bit of a trip report.

Paint Rock Creek Trail. The trail started off terrible, and warmed up to okay through the majority of the canyon, but the scenery was A+++. This would be a national park in some states, in Wyoming it's BLM land.

This trail is on an old 4X4 road that looks like it still gets some smaller 4-wheeler traffic.



The creek was juicin for this late in the year.



This is where I turned around, maybe 5 miles in.

Bench Trail. Last year I rode the obvious trail right at the mouth of Shell Canyon, don't do it! It sucks! Very loose, steep, and as soon as you get on top of the gorge rim the trail disappears. This year I took the time to figure out where the Bench Trail was, and it is infinitely better! The first day I started from the bottom and rode it as an out and back. I made it about 5 miles before giving up. If you're a dedicated XC weenie this is the way to do it, if you like more pleasure than pain you'll want to shuttle it.

The Lower 1/3 of the trail is far and away the best part. Very, very fast, non technical, fast, fast, did I mention fast?



Above the bottom third there's a big chunk that got burned, a big chunk of beetle kill, and another chunk has been clear cut. The vegetation has taken over the trail in a lot of places, but surprisingly all of the fallen logs have been cut out.