Goulds is the connector trail that links Hurricane Rim's top to JEM's top, three miles of plateau-top singletrack along the rim of the Hurricane Cliffs. It is rarely the trail you came for and almost always the trail you're on for ten minutes between the climb and the descent. That said, it has one feature that earns it a name: the Goulds drop-in to JEM, where the singletrack tips off the rim and starts JEM's nine-mile descent with a short, exposed slab that takes commitment.
The plateau-top reset
After the climb up Hurricane Rim, riders need a few miles of rolling terrain to recover before JEM starts. Goulds delivers that. The trail crosses sage flats and short slickrock benches, runs along the cliff edge with intermittent overlooks of the Virgin River basin, and connects west to the More Cowbell and Dead Ringer systems for riders extending the day. The grade is gentle; the navigation is straightforward; the views to the west toward Pine Valley Mountain on a clear day are the bonus.
The drop-in
Goulds ends at the JEM upper trailhead with a short technical move — a slab roll-in that drops eight or ten feet onto JEM's first berms. It is not exposed in the dangerous sense, but it is the first commit-or-walk feature most riders meet on the day. Walking it loses no honor; running it sets the tone for a clean JEM descent below.
When Goulds gets ridden alone
Almost never. A few local riders use the dirt road parallel to Goulds to climb up, then ride Goulds back down to the parked truck — a quick after-work loop on a long-summer-evening schedule. For visitors, Goulds is just the trail in the middle of the JEM loop.
Inside the Hurricane Cliffs network
Goulds is the spine connector for the entire upper Hurricane Cliffs system. Adding More Cowbell and Dead Ringer to a JEM day means traveling Goulds at least once in each direction. Over the Edge Sports in Hurricane treats it as part of the JEM-Rim package and posts conditions for the whole network rather than for individual trails.