Wasatch Dirt Thread

[Boissal]

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

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.

I landed myself in the middle of the mid-week MTB races twice last week, once at the Bird and once at Solitude. Took me a while to go back after that but when I did (after checking the calendar like any smart person should have done) I had a grand old time. Lots of brutal grinding and super janky riding but getting back to the car and needing to don a jacket for the after-ride beer in the middle of July is priceless.

[dfinn]

Glad you guys liked it. We should really be thanking springsproject. He no longer lives around here but was the king of adventure rides and always showed me cool shit.

I'm itching to get out and do some more big/weird loops up high but I came back from tahoe with a giant hole in my shin from a stupid crash. If you ever get the chance to ride in south lake, definitely check out Van Sickle. Great trail, just keep your shins away from the granite.

[Boissal]

Glad you guys liked it. We should really be thanking springsproject. He no longer lives around here but was the king of adventure rides and always showed me cool shit.

I'm itching to get out and do some more big/weird loops up high but I came back from tahoe with a giant hole in my shin from a stupid crash. If you ever get the chance to ride in south lake, definitely check out Van Sickle. Great trail, just keep your shins away from the granite.

Heal up, the snow is finally gone from Great Western, I'm having deadly visions of going from Glenwild all the way to Bountiful for endless miles of jank!

No I won't poach City Creek unless I'm absolutely dying. Probably not

[altabird92]

Has anyone tried the Parrish Creek dh that starts on skyline drive way above the Bountiful B?

[Dantheman]

Has anyone tried the Parrish Creek dh that starts on skyline drive way above the Bountiful B?

I hadn't heard of this one, but found it in the hiking layer on TF and if I could ride right now I'd be checking it out for sure. Definitely looks promising.

[dfinn]

Never ridden it but remember hearing about it back in the day from Scott from GoRide. He said it was fun but this was a while ago, no clue if it still sees any traffic. Let us know.

[mar123]

I think High Star is a HUGE step in the right direction and is far better then anything built in the PC/Wasatch area by a contractor in like forever. Directional trails, natural features etc. ...but quite a few sections of the descending trails need to be steeper and would make the area better. Radke and Whip it are good trails IMO. Would love to see a steep DH trail just of to the riders right of Short Fuse and connect down to Radke....anyways think they did a great job there, better then all the other brown sidewalk bs thats getting built. worth a visit.

Uintas has tons of potential...but, I also have little faith in most contractors or the FS for that matter to build a trail other then a brown sidewalk...considering most of them are outta touch and from outta state...and the City basically slaps the handcuffs on all contractors to only build 3% grade brown sidewalks.

Did an adventure ride towards Hoytt peak from Kamas(2700 north) years ago...turned into mostly hike a bike due to all the downed trees but that place/zone has massive potential...the trail I went up would be a great descent but needed some major chainsaw work...ended up riding the forest service road back down....this was probably 6 years ago?

We rode Parrish Creek a few years ago, thought it was fun(worth to check it out) but a little overgrown and could tell that it doesn't get much traffic. The last 800 feet or so gets a bit "switchbacky" ... it could be a really great trail but it needs work, probably why we never went back....dont venture up there too often but usually its only for B laps....Id say if you haven't and are up for an adventure ride do it! Report back

[One (+) Sentence]

I think High Star is a HUGE step in the right direction and is far better then anything built in the PC/Wasatch area by a contractor in like forever. Directional trails, natural features etc. ...but quite a few sections of the descending trails need to be steeper and would make the area better. Radke and Whip it are good trails IMO. Would love to see a steep DH trail just of to the riders right of Short Fuse and connect down to Radke....anyways think they did a great job there, better then all the other brown sidewalk bs thats getting built. worth a visit.

Uintas has tons of potential...but, I also have little faith in most contractors or the FS for that matter to build a trail other then a brown sidewalk...considering most of them are outta touch and from outta state...and the City basically slaps the handcuffs on all contractors to only build 3% grade brown sidewalks.

Did an adventure ride towards Hoytt peak from Kamas(2700 north) years ago...turned into mostly hike a bike due to all the downed trees but that place/zone has massive potential...the trail I went up would be a great descent but needed some major chainsaw work...ended up riding the forest service road back down....this was probably 6 years ago?

We rode Parrish Creek a few years ago, thought it was fun(worth to check it out) but a little overgrown and could tell that it doesn't get much traffic. The last 800 feet or so gets a bit "switchbacky" ... it could be a really great trail but it needs work, probably why we never went back....dont venture up there too often but usually its only for B laps....Id say if you haven't and are up for an adventure ride do it! Report back

Make sure I have this straight:

- Most of the purpose built 400+ miles of singletrack in PC sucks
- You went on a hike-a-bike adventure ride a few years ago up a trail that seemed like it would be pretty fun to descend, but decided to go down the forest road instead
- Parrish Creek is ok, but 800 ft of switchbacks (about 1/6 of a mile) detracted from the experience. It needs some maintenance, so you haven’t been back.

[mar123]

Make sure I have this straight:

- Most of the purpose built 400+ miles of singletrack in PC sucks
- You went on a hike-a-bike adventure ride a few years ago up a trail that seemed like it would be pretty fun to descend, but decided to go down the forest road instead
- Parrish Creek is ok, but 800 ft of switchbacks (about 1/6 of a mile) detracted from the experience. It needs some maintenance, so you haven’t been back.

close but outta context...

-Lots of good stuff in PC...Every new trail is the same multi directional brown sidewalk xc stuff...look to High Star design and trails like Radke or the new Hardlick out in Herriman for more interesting directional descending trails.
-Hoytt peak has amazing potential, descended the forest road due to downed trees over the trail.
-Parish Creek is fun, but needs work...Go check it out.

lemme know if you need any more clarification, im here for you.

[One (+) Sentence]

close but outta context...

-Lots of good stuff in PC...Every new trail is the same multi directional brown sidewalk xc stuff...look to High Star design and trails like Radke or the new Hardlick out in Herriman for more interesting directional descending trails.
-Hoytt peak has amazing potential, descended the forest road due to downed trees over the trail.
-Parish Creek is fun, but needs work...Go check it out.

lemme know if you need any more clarification, im here for you.

Thanks. Figured I had to be missing something.

I have ridden Parrish Creek but it’s been a long time. I thought it was fun, but to be fair, I’m not overly critical of any dirt trail I get to ride my bicycle on for free.

[mar123]

Thanks. Figured I had to be missing something.

I have ridden Parrish Creek but it’s been a long time. I thought it was fun, but to be fair, I’m not overly critical of any dirt trail I get to ride my bicycle on for free.

Someone is paying for those trails ...donations, go fund me, government grants, taxpayer dollars etc...the Contractors DO get paid major coin to develop trail networks. I have no problem with offering some constructive criticism if its going to get us better trails.

[Boissal]

Since we're talking about rarely ridden trails that are probably more fun of foot, anyone been on this North Holbrook trail (dashed black)? Drops off the Great Western trail to Bountiful just north of Mueller Park. Curious about decent ways to drop off the ridgeline...

[Canada1]

Hit mid mountain end to end. Several downed trees between Armstrong and the Canyons. Couple washed out spots on that end as well. So, go have fun, but don't get too wide open and hit a deadfall.

Has anyone been on evil empire or dark forest yet?

[One (+) Sentence]

I have no problem with offering some constructive criticism if its going to get us better trails.

Your feedback on a skiing forum is invaluable.

[mar123]

Has anyone been on evil empire or dark forest yet?

Still some small snow patches in there, but its melting fast...its really close. May be ready during this week, definitely will be ready by the weekend...might go up tonight and roll through.

[mar123]

Your feedback on a skiing forum is invaluable.

I know it must be confusing for you with all the mountain bike photos and the titles of the threads...but, actually this is the mountain bike forum, and a thread with 35k+ views...so who knows.

[Dantheman]

I’m not overly critical of any dirt trail I get to ride my bicycle on for free.

This 'net was made for bitchin', so that's just what we'll do!


I'll show myself out now.

[zion zig zag]

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.

I do need to go check that out. I had it planned last year and called it off for some reason.

And I need to apologize for my constant bitching about crowds. I realize, as evidenced by this thread, that there are lots of places to go to avoid people, I just end up close to home on easy to access trails for the times that I only have a short window to get out. So of course they're crowded. Mentally, I've got to get over what those trails used to be like 5, 10, 15 years ago, because it's never coming back.

[Dantheman]

Since we're talking about rarely ridden trails that are probably more fun of foot, anyone been on this North Holbrook trail (dashed black)? Drops off the Great Western trail to Bountiful just north of Mueller Park. Curious about decent ways to drop off the ridgeline...

I just end up close to home on easy to access trails for the times that I only have a short window to get out

I'm damn lucky in that regard. Getting to Snowbird only takes about 5 minutes longer than going to Corner Canyon and the whole ride takes about three hours door-to-door. I'll also disagree with Boissal that BMT is "janky." According to Strava I usually average 18-19 mph over the 6.5-mile segment.

[One (+) Sentence]

I'm damn lucky in that regard. Getting to Snowbird only takes about 5 minutes longer than going to Corner Canyon and the whole ride takes about three hours door-to-door. I'll also disagree with Boissal that BMT is "janky." According to Strava I usually average 18-19 mph over the 6.5-mile segment.

I honestly think BMT > Baby Thunder is one of my favorite trails in the Wasatch.

[Boissal]

I'm damn lucky in that regard. Getting to Snowbird only takes about 5 minutes longer than going to Corner Canyon and the whole ride takes about three hours door-to-door. I'll also disagree with Boissal that BMT is "janky." According to Strava I usually average 18-19 mph over the 6.5-mile segment.

Big Mountain at the Bird? Didn't realize that's what you were referring to, when I ride the Bird I start at White Pine and grind my way to Alta sticking on the lower elevation stuff. Baby Thunder / Devil's Castle / Catherine / etc. is home of the jank in my book but I've never ridden BMT and have no idea how smooth it is. Worth it to pedal to the top of dirt roads or is it a tram-accessed ride only? I have no interest in gravity-oriented riding (I'm too dumb to play that game and avoid getting injured) and it seems like getting up there on one's own power wouldn't be all that fun so I've given it a pass.

[dfinn]

Its actually a pretty nice pedal up. I think I like climbing it better than descending it.

[Dantheman]

Big Mountain at the Bird? Didn't realize that's what you were referring to, when I ride the Bird I start at White Pine and grind my way to Alta sticking on the lower elevation stuff. Baby Thunder / Devil's Castle / Catherine / etc. is home of the jank in my book but I've never ridden BMT and have no idea how smooth it is. Worth it to pedal to the top of dirt roads or is it a tram-accessed ride only? I have no interest in gravity-oriented riding (I'm too dumb to play that game and avoid getting injured) and it seems like getting up there on one's own power wouldn't be all that fun so I've given it a pass.

BMT* is not a bike park DH trail, just ripping downhill-only alpine singletrack. Lots of pointy rocks and chunder but nothing that remotely qualifies as techgnar. There are jumps, but nothing very big or you can't roll. If you're even considering that North Holbrook trail (avg. grade of almost 20%) you'll be just fine. BMT isn't any more technically challenging than Mill D.

For a fit dude like yourself it's 100% worth pedaling up**, unless you don't enjoy blasting through alpine terrain (frequently at 20+ mph) for miles on end with zero concern about uphill traffic. There's some unnecessarily pedally bits that I'd change if I had my druthers, but overall I'm in full agreement with One(+) that's it's one of the best trails around. If you're allergic to pedaling up service roads it's open to uphill traffic until 10 am, but honestly it's even more work to climb it. Pedaling up P-Gulch is at least 20 minutes faster.


* - Big Mountain Trail is such a terrible name for a trail, though in this case maybe that's a good thing.

** - My preferred up route is Creek Road->Bypass->Blackjack->P-Gulch.

[Boissal]

Well shit, I'm adding it to the list and will be up there as soon as it's dry. Guess I mistakenly assumed it was more DH oriented based on the number of fully decked out bros I run into when I'm slogging around the Bird. That shit intimidates me even though I should have realized by now that the amount of protective gear on the bros doesn't have much to do with the level of the trail/rider...

[criscam]

Its actually a pretty nice pedal up. I think I like climbing it better than descending it.

I might agree. Although it is nice hitting it just right (about 10 min before first tram unloads) and having it all to yourself going down.


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