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...Quote:
Originally Posted by snowaddict91
High Star was cooler on Sunday but this May heat is out of control!
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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...Quote:
Originally Posted by snowaddict91
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? LolQuote:
Originally Posted by Boissal
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!Quote:
Originally Posted by snowaddict91
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!
That's awesome, always wondered why there was such a lack of bike trails out there. There's certainly no shortage of hiking trails.
Solid info 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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boissal
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. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantheman
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...Quote:
Originally Posted by 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. 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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by dfinn
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boissal
Attachment 330423
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!
Attachment 330424
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantheman
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!
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Agree with all of this. Especially the crowd spreading.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boissal
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by brutah
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.
I was not aware of those additions, good to know, thanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by brutah
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by zion zig zag
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantheman
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!Quote:
Originally Posted by dfinn
No I won't poach City Creek unless I'm absolutely dying. Probably not
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by altabird92
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.
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:Quote:
Originally Posted by mar123
- 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...Quote:
Originally Posted by One (+) Sentence
-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.Quote:
Originally Posted by mar123
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by One (+) Sentence
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...
Attachment 330512
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?
Your feedback on a skiing forum is invaluable.Quote:
Originally Posted by mar123
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Canada1
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by One (+) Sentence
This 'net was made for bitchin', so that's just what we'll do!Quote:
Originally Posted by One (+) Sentence
;) I'll show myself out now.
I do need to go check that out. I had it planned last year and called it off for some reason.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantheman
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.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....mbK8L._AC_.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by 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.Quote:
Originally Posted by zion zig zag
I honestly think BMT > Baby Thunder is one of my favorite trails in the Wasatch.Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantheman
Its actually a pretty nice pedal up. I think I like climbing it better than descending it. :eek:
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boissal
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.
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...
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by dfinn
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