Tim S. and I drove out there together, and met up with a huge group of riding buddies (like Mr. @ Mrs. Chollaball) at the Black Canyon Rd parking area, just inside the park at 7:30. It was already kinda warm, but luckily we had a breeze that kept us from overheating.
From there we pedaled the road, White Tanks Mountain Rd. to the Mesquite Canyon Trailhead.
Our group was made up of half downhillers and half out-n-back cross country riders, and we all just went at our own pace getting up there. Other than the 1/4 mile hike-a-bike at the beginning of Mesquite Canyon, the climb up is pretty easy. Except that every bend in the trail you come around, you see a whole new hill that you gotta climb. That kinda gets a little demoralizing. I believe the total elevation gain was something like 2,700 VF.
The return down was as dreaming as I thought it was gonna be. Really fast, buff trail, but you do need to check your speed, cuz the loose ground up granite/cinder inhibits stopping. Our mileage was about 17 and the total trip was a little over 4 hours of easy pedaling.
Tim S has a post of some the metrics and video here.
And here is a vid of the day (w. Google Earth Tour):
A Quicktime High Res version can be found here: Goat Camp XC 041909 w/ Google Earth Tour
