Wasatch Dirt Thread

[Phall]

I guess the cattle company beef is heresay related, but I hunt up big mountain quite a bit, its well posted on the E side of the ridge that its 910, however there are a few slivers of public. I've heard stories of people shooting animals on public that have run on to 910, and the hunter has been flat out told NO in regards to recovering their animals. Between that and the fact that they go after trespassers HARD, its a tough call to try to do the right thing and get permission or trespass and risk the fine. Then you get into wanton waste laws with game, etc. I've also seen them and heard tell of them flying a private chopper to push animals back onto their property off the public.

[Boissal]

I guess the cattle company beef is heresay related, but I hunt up big mountain quite a bit, its well posted on the E side of the ridge that its 910, however there are a few slivers of public. I've heard stories of people shooting animals on public that have run on to 910, and the hunter has been flat out told NO in regards to recovering their animals. Between that and the fact that they go after trespassers HARD, its a tough call to try to do the right thing and get permission or trespass and risk the fine. Then you get into wanton waste laws with game, etc. I've also seen them and heard tell of them flying a private chopper to push animals back onto their property off the public.

Well posted is an understatement, I was shocked at the frequency of signs when I rode up there last week. It would be very hard to ignore the signs or pretend you didn't see them for sure...

[mar123]

West is the best

[Boissal]

Some glorious carpet dirt out there after a bit of rain.

[Dshack89]

Did a quick post-dinner recon mission tonight. Hit some snow patches at 8200' and turned around, but good to be back on my favorite trail in the wasatch (if you know, you know).

[mar123]

Loamy tack was amazing last Saturday evening. Trails are drying out quick. Some features were added to Moosehouse, and Mojave still has snow on the upper section.

[Dantheman]

Nice. That jump is not small.

This moist PC dirt has me drooling. Years ago when I rode Moosehouse for the first time, we get to the bottom and my friend says "I guess The Goonies moved to Park City and built a trail."

[Boissal]

Did a quick post-dinner recon mission tonight. Hit some snow patches at 8200' and turned around, but good to be back on my favorite trail in the wasatch (if you know, you know).

I don't know. But I wish I did.

[tBatt]

Mid mtn is clear from Armstrong to Spiro. I pedaled up Pinecone a ways, it's fairly clear of snow and definitely clear of trees for the first bit. For some reason I let another crew that showed up behind me convince me it was good to go up farther. I effectively ended up guiding them to Shadow lake and we parted ways.

[snowaddict91]

Mid mtn is clear from Armstrong to Spiro. I pedaled up Pinecone a ways, it's fairly clear of snow and definitely clear of trees for the first bit. For some reason I let another crew that showed up behind me convince me it was good to go up farther. I effectively ended up guiding them to Shadow lake and we parted ways.

Good to know. Looking forward to getting up out of the valley and beating the heat!

[Boissal]

Good to know. Looking forward to getting up out of the valley and beating the heat!

85 degrees in Jeremy Ranch on Sat around 10:30AM. I thought I was riding inside a sauna. Damn near melted on the Flying Dog switchbacks...
High Star was cooler on Sunday but this May heat is out of control!

[snowaddict91]

85 degrees in Jeremy Ranch on Sat around 10:30AM. I thought I was riding inside a sauna. Damn near melted on the Flying Dog switchbacks...
High Star was cooler on Sunday but this May heat is out of control!

Agreed. Rode Bob's basin with the wife Sunday morning. She wanted to bring the dogs but I was worried about the heat. Definitely would have been too hot. When does fall start? Lol

[Boissal]

Agreed. Rode Bob's basin with the wife Sunday morning. She wanted to bring the dogs but I was worried about the heat. Definitely would have been too hot. When does fall start? Lol

SIL brought her aging golden to High Start. He's a complete maniac and pretty good trail dog, probably ran 2x the distance we biked. Everyone we came across gave him water and he was still a dried out sponge when we got back to the car. It didn't help that she wouldn't hold him back and let him run in front of me for the whole downhill. She said he'd let me pass when he'd get tired and that never happened. The fucker blocked me the whole way, cutting switchbacks and cheating wherever he could. I didn't set a PR down WhipIt but rode it at a good clip and dog was holding his own, impressive beast!

Of note, High Star ranch does curbside food right now and they have a glorious $5 menu. I didn't believe the dude who works there when he said they had food for under $50 but their tacos were excellent and easily worth 3x the price. He also mentioned in passing that the FS had been contracted to build new trails out of Mirror Lake highway over the next 3 years with 10 to 15 miles coming by August then 15 to 20 miles a year for the following years. I'm psyched!

[dfinn]

That's awesome, always wondered why there was such a lack of bike trails out there. There's certainly no shortage of hiking trails.

[snowaddict91]

Solid info Boissal!

[Dantheman]

He also mentioned in passing that the FS had been contracted to build new trails out of Mirror Lake highway over the next 3 years with 10 to 15 miles coming by August then 15 to 20 miles a year for the following years. I'm psyched!

Color me optimistic but prepared to be disappointed. I've tried to like the High Star trails but other than RADke I'm not a big fan.

[dfinn]

Color me optimistic but prepared to be disappointed. I've tried to like the High Star trails but other than RADke I'm not a big fan.

Trying to follow your logic here but I am struggling. Are you suggesting that the terrain at HS is the same as all of mirror lake hwy? Or that the same person that built HS is going to build these hopefully-to-exist future trails? Or maybe those are just 2 unrelated sentences not tied to what you quoted.

[Boissal]

Color me optimistic but prepared to be disappointed. I've tried to like the High Star trails but other than RADke I'm not a big fan.

High Star is a bit of a dirt sidewalk but I think it's better than some of the recent work that's been done at PC or Corner Canyon. The trails are pretty well designed for a mellow day out, no leg breaker climbs, lots of directional stuff, and the dowhills aren't bermed-out sanitized boulevards. They did a good job keeping things a bit raw although I thought Radke was a bit too bouncy until you dropped in the gully feature. WhipIt if pretty damn good for a blue though, there's a solid bit of optional jank to plow through and it still flows really well...

At this point I'd happily take any new high elevation trails within an hour of the house, even if it's boring. The terrain in the lower Uintas has mad potential and will allow for a bit more spreading of the crowds. It will save me from riding Smith-Moorehouse or any of the other absolutely heinous HAB-monsters up there for the sake of getting out of the heat and looking at new terrain.

That being said I don't know how solid the info is. The guy who shared it seems to be some sort of trail warden at High Star? He rides around the parking lot in a razor chatting with people, warning about wet trails, etc... I asked if High Star was involved and if the new trails would connect to their network but apparently they're significantly higher up. I already had visions of long ridgeline rides from the Castle Lake area down through Paulsin Basin and into Kamas. The access roads are in place already, Upper Setting gets you all the way to 9400' on good dirt and there's a road starting not far from High Star that climbs all the way to the toe of Hoyt Peak at 9000'. The potential is HUGE for rad trails to drop back to the highway.

[Dantheman]

Or maybe those are just 2 unrelated sentences not tied to what you quoted.

This. I phrased that post poorly. I don't have much faith in the FS to build *good* trails, but we shall see and hopefully my pessimism is unwarranted. Unrelated, I've ridden High Star a few times and really want to like it, but still remain confused as to why people rave about it.

[Dantheman]

At this point I'd happily take any new high elevation trails within an hour of the house, even if it's boring. The terrain in the lower Uintas has mad potential and will allow for a bit more spreading of the crowds...

...I already had visions of long ridgeline rides from the Castle Lake area down through Paulsin Basin and into Kamas. The access roads are in place already, Upper Setting gets you all the way to 9400' on good dirt and there's a road starting not far from High Star that climbs all the way to the toe of Hoyt Peak at 9000'. The potential is HUGE for rad trails to drop back to the highway.

Fully agree there. A few years ago I took the kid on a 4x4 adventure up to the end of FR322 and was blown away by the untapped potential of that area. The roads that go up to and past Hoyt (FR080 and FR322) are pretty rugged. Not far past Camp Aerie I had to throw it in 4-Lo and stayed there for the duration. One-way it was about 6 miles and it took 2 hours.

[snowaddict91]

This guy told me the dirt was primo on mid mountain and above this morning and he wasn't wrong.

Honestly though, its pretty dry for early June. Temps were pleasant though. First time riding Spiro in a minute and was sad to see that any remnants of air-able features appear to be completely skidded into oblivion. Oh well, felt damn good to get into some higher elevation dirt!

[brutah]

This. I phrased that post poorly. I don't have much faith in the FS to build *good* trails, but we shall see and hopefully my pessimism is unwarranted. Unrelated, I've ridden High Star a few times and really want to like it, but still remain confused as to why people rave about it.

While it may be short, I think the new trail around afleck park and up to the little Dell parking lot was a nice addition to mor pi.

I also want to thank dfinn for the rad loop he posted about a few weeks back. Holy shit that's an instant spring classic in my books, what a great loop!

[zion zig zag]

At this point I'd happily take any new high elevation trails within an hour of the house, even if it's boring. The terrain in the lower Uintas has mad potential and will allow for a bit more spreading of the crowds. It will save me from riding Smith-Moorehouse or any of the other absolutely heinous HAB-monsters up there for the sake of getting out of the heat and looking at new terrain.

Agree with all of this. Especially the crowd spreading.

[Boissal]

While it may be short, I think the new trail around afleck park and up to the little Dell parking lot was a nice addition to mor pi.

I also want to thank dfinn for the rad loop he posted about a few weeks back. Holy shit that's an instant spring classic in my books, what a great loop!

Agree on all counts. I ran into the FS guys at the very end of last season when they had already done the new section by Little Dell and the one right after crossing the road before the campsite. They were working on the campground bypass and i was kinda bummed to see their big machine and the width of the new trail but it beats the old version by a lot.

Dfinn's loop is definitely a rad adventure. If anyone is motivated to attack the section between Parley's summit and Big Mountain pass with clippers, hit me up. I got clothelined by an angry stick and whipped/lashed a whole lot on my ride and I think I won't do that trail again until it's seen some TLC. It's a bit too much effort to trim solo though (although the entire middle section is brush free). Buddy of mine took the chainsaw to Little Emigration last week so that section is now clear.

[Dantheman]

While it may be short, I think the new trail around afleck park and up to the little Dell parking lot was a nice addition to mor pi.

I was not aware of those additions, good to know, thanks.

Especially the crowd spreading.

This isn't super helpful for you Ogden dwellers, but even on weekends Snowbird tends to be deserted late afternoon/evening. Granted, you have to pedal up the P-Gulch road, but while not exactly "fun" it's not that bad and a lot of it is in the shade at that time of day. Solitude as well, though Honeycomb is not everyone's cup of tea and the Summit lift road is definitely more hateful than P-Gulch.