Basic map

3-D view

Elevation profile

This is a fairly short (only around 11.5 miles) but fun little ride that is a great workout for a beginning rider.  Although probably 75% of the ride is on paved roads, by necessity this ride required a mountain bike (or at least a hybrid) because of the part on Saint Patrick's and the option of riding the gravel bike path on Sheep Creek Road.  There are two places to start this ride, either at the turnout by the trailhead near the west end of UAF (a stone's throw from the intersection of Sheep Creek Road and the connector to the Parks Highway) or (as is mapped) at the turnout just past Ann's Greenhouses on Sheep Creek Road.  This ride can easily be done inside an hour and could probably be done in 30 minutes by a determined rider or group of riders.  A beginning rider will probably take a little over an hour to do this ride.

Starting at the turnout on just west of Ann's Greenhouses, ride over to Ester Dome Road.  Follow it for a little over half a mile until the road forks.  Ester Dome Road continues on up the hill to the right and we will leave you to explore it and its many side branches at a later date.  Saint Patrick's Road (a dirt road) takes off to the left.  Follow it as it wends and winds along the base of Ester Dome for 3 miles or so, gradually gaining in elevation from the Ester Dome end to the Henderson Road end.  Once you climb up the last hill to Henderson Road, turn left.  You drop downhill for a mile and a half until you get to Goldhill Road.  Assuming you are on a mountain bike, you also have the option of turning left at the intertie just before Goldhill Road and following that as it parallels Goldhill Road for a mile and then it crosses Goldhill.  If you don't take the powerline, ride down to Goldhill and turn left again and follow it for about 2.75 miles or so until it intersects the Sheep Creek/Parks Highway connector.  Turn left again and go to Sheep Creek.  

Then you turn left at Sheep Creek and follow it for the next 3.3 miles until you get back to the turnout at Ann's Greenhouses.  Voila!  You are done.  An option toward the last mile on Sheep Creek is to take Line Drive off of Sheep Creek up to Black Sheep Lane (which essentially cuts off a chunk off of the gravel bike path on Sheep Creek, gives you a tad more total elevation gain, and adds a touch more total distance to the ride) and then back to Sheep Creek.