Lava Flow on the Markagunt Plateau is a high-country alternative to the desert trails that anchor Washington County. The 12-mile loop sits at about 9,000 feet on Cedar Mountain east of Cedar City, accessed via UT-14, and runs through aspen groves, sage flats, and across literal lava fields — basalt flows from relatively young volcanic activity that left the ground rough enough to give the trail its name.
A trail with a real season
Most 435 mountain bike trails have a winter season. Lava Flow has the opposite: it is unrideable from November through May most years because of snow on the plateau, and the dirt holds water through early June after a high-snow winter. The riding window is roughly mid-June through early October, with peak conditions in July and August when the desert below is unrideable in the heat.
What the volcanic rock means
The lava flow sections of trail are short stretches where the singletrack threads through and over basalt rocks left from old eruptions. The rock is sharp and cuts tires; locals run more sealant and check casings more often than they do on the desert trails. The flat grades between the rocky sections make the trail rideable for intermediate riders despite the surface variety.
The aspen and the alpine air
The trail passes through several large aspen groves, which makes it one of the most-photographed mountain bike rides in Iron County during the September aspen season. Riders who time a late-September trip catch yellow-leaf canopies above the singletrack; riders in July see green understory and wildflowers across the meadows. The 9,000-foot elevation also means cooler temperatures than the trailhead in Cedar suggests — a bring-a-jacket trail.
Where Lava Flow sits in the 435
Lava Flow is one of the few high-elevation summer mountain bike trails in the 435 and is functionally the local alternative to driving north for cooler riding. Together with Brian Head's lift-served downhill and the trails at Yankee Meadow, it gives Iron County riders a summer riding network at a time when Hurricane and St. George are off-limits to most of the day.