Video: Grafton Mesa Downhill Featuring Logan Whitehead
Here’s a great new video from photographer and videographer Steven Lloyd, featuring the mountain bike stylings of Logan Whitehead. It was filmed in and around Grafton, Utah, a ghost town located just outside of Zion National Park. Grafton also happens to be right in the middle of classic Southern Utah mountain bike country, just below Gooseberry Mesa, a couple of miles as the crow flies from the Red Bull Rampage site, and right at the bottom of a steep, exposed DH trail fittingly named “Grafton Mesa.” It’s a seriously rugged location with amazing scenery. The Grafton cemetery is right at the bottom of the trail and it’s rumored the remains of Butch Cassidy are buried there. The town of Grafton was even used as a location for the movie, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
Click here to view the embedded video.
Video: ENVE rider Logan Whitehead explores the ruins of the Grafton wood road; a lifeline built by pioneers in the 1860s to provide them with supplies and wood. This road was built up an incredibly steep mesa, and was eventually abandoned by the town due to hardships endured by the settlers. Logan puts his ENVE carbon wheels to the test on this brutal trail that was resurrected by riders in the 90s, and experiences firsthand the legacy that was left behind by those brave pioneers.Steven Lloyd has been riding Grafton Mesa for years. When he discovered the trail was actually a wagon road built in the 1860s so the original Mormon pioneers could get wood down from the mesa above, he was inspired to make a video honoring the history of the area and showing off a world-class downhill trail. “Legacy of Grafton” is a whole lot more than your average DH / hucker video, though. It’s got that jaw-dropping Zion backdrop, technical camera work, great riding by Logan Whitehead, and it clearly shows Steve’s passion for mountain biking, photography and the Southern Utah landscape. The cool aerial clips were shot by Todd Sheridan of //www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLMfzwAsJMI
target=_blank>Birds Eye Videos, who also helped with Steve’s last video (see it, here). “Legacy of Grafton” is a huge step forward for Steve’s video work. It shows a lot more depth, planning and vision. I’m really looking forward to seeing what he does next.
If you haven’t heard of Logan Whitehead, it’s because he’s a responsible young man who spends most of his time studying engineering at the University of Utah. That may change soon though, after he graduates. He’s done a lot of photo and video work with Steve and he’s considering hitting the road as a pro rider when he’s done with school.
Steven Lloyd is a respected ski and mountain bike photographer (that’s him, in action, in the photo below). His photos have graced the covers of all the leading mountain bike and ski magazines. You can check out more of his work at his Web site, SteveLloydPhoto.com, or on his Vimeo account. If you want to see more videos of Grafton Mesa, there’s tons of POV camera footage on YouTube. Check it out, here. If you want to know more about the history of the area, the Grafton, Utah Wikipedia page is a good place to start.
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