Wasatch Dirt Thread

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Originally Posted by g_man80

LL isn’t quite lost anymore. I can’t believe how smooth it is now

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Truth. First time I rode it (4 years ago mind you, not exactly BITD) I exploded on one of the gaps in the upper section cause the grass was so tall you couldn't really see the jump on the narrow trail. The whole thing had a really quiet semi-secret feel. Now it's super well groomed and wide. With the tower road getting graded it's not even that shitty to get to. I rode there Sat and saw at least 8 people slogging up with a huge posse of a dozen or so with filming gear camped at the start.
The lower gully is still some of the best riding around, so fast and fun.

Tio Bob also got popular, used to be all mangy and now it's buffed out and rides super fast.

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Originally Posted by g_man80

I’m also surprised, or maybe terrified, of all the trail runners I’ve seen coming up it! Some close calls. Someone is going to get annihilated in the lower canyon. I think the well-graded road is inviting more people.

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Seriously? There's even a nice trail to bypass the lower gully, I can't believe anyone in their right mind would want to run up it. It would be like being in a shooting gallery, their only hope when coming across a bike would be to stay smack in the middle of the trail and hope the rider knows how to handle banked turns and ends up above them. I can't imagine the carnage if it happened, looking at Strava my last run down that thing was at 18 mph average, nobody's coming out of that collision in one piece.

Quick daytrip to Richfield...If your looking for some other rides to make it more of a weekend worthy destination check out some of the riding in the Rainbow hills area that has some cool spine lines. We also shuttled up West Willow Creek to Red Canyon to Red Rock Canyon it was a great unique ride with some cool views...FYI, there was a flash flood last year that took out a lot of the trail down lower...which actually made for some fun technical riding but you will have to get off the bike multiple times to get out of the wash. Even with that I would still recommend to do the trail if you havent. Dont think I will do it again though until some trailwork is done (if that ever happens). We left a car at the bottom of Red Rock Canyon trail, which is also a great quiet area to camp.

We wanted to also shuttle the trails in Ephraim (white pine, pioneer, to flume) but ran outta time....anyone ride those trails? are they worth it? some of the video I saw makes it look kinda fun.

Upper Red Canyon so good!
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getting into the nasty lower down...will be fantastic with a little trailwork
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Excellent beta, thanks!

2nd! Thanks, It's just too far out of the way to add on to a trip to St.G area but I've been trying to find motivation to try to make it a weekend trip.

It's been on my list for a while, I think it's only like 4 hours from here. X3 on the thanks!

+1 on this. Thoughts on doing the loop without a shuttle? Partners never seem particularly interested in venturing out of the pen for more exploratory rides and will go munch dirt carpet in CC rather than risk having to push their bikes...

There's also a trail a bit farther north that looks worthy, right outside of Scipio, called 8 mile creek. Pics make it look quite appealing. Anyone ridden it?

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Originally Posted by Boissal

+1 on this. Thoughts on doing the loop without a shuttle?

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Looks like a pretty chill 15-ish miles on Frog Flat Rd, CR 3105 and West Willow Creek Rd to make the loop, so I'd say it's totally doable. The big caveat to the "pretty chill" approach is that it looks exposed AF until you get into West Willow canyon proper, so best to start early and pick a day without wind or a south wind.

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Originally Posted by Boissal

Partners never seem particularly interested in venturing out of the pen for more exploratory rides and will go munch dirt carpet in CC rather than risk having to push their bikes...

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I'm your huckleberry!

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Originally Posted by Boissal

There's also a trail a bit farther north that looks worthy, right outside of Scipio, called 8 mile creek. Pics make it look quite appealing. Anyone ridden it?

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Oooh that does look cool. Maybe a bit flat for the lower half but cool nonetheless. Probably some nice camping off the access road.

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Originally Posted by Dantheman

I'm your huckleberry!

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I need to hit you up then! Riding some of these zones solo is a bit sketch and not super fun. I went back to the Lake Mtns last week on my own and felt pretty dumb getting sketchy and sideways on the Punisher. Now cell reception, no people around, not a good place to get wrecked. And the 1+ hour HAB was something I'd have preferred to share with someone, if anything to be able to bitch and moan more interactively!

Not really the place for it so tell me to take a lap put I have some Pearl Izumi X-Project 2.0 size 43 shoes I need gone, $50? Great shape. Want to sell local and haven't had any hits on FB. Attachment 415790

If your going to pedal Red Canyon as a loop id start at the Red Willow/West Willow Creek Junction. Pedaling up West Willow creek road would actually be quite pleasant, its a mellow grade well maintained road in a heavily forested area. Then exit out Red Willow back to car. ...Including the Lower Red Rock Canyon double track into a pedal loop would add MUCH more pedaling and not at all worth it.

...Hopefully some trail work gets done on Red Canyon, it should/could be a must do when down in Richfield.

Ah, got it, didn't realize the Red Rock Canyon segment was DT. Skipping that part makes the loop option no problem at all.

Beautiful out there tonight

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^^^ Nice, it's so awesome up there right now! Everything is green, the brush is still reasonable, temps are great, there's moisture in the soil, almost feels like a great place to ride bikes!

I rode the new section of Shoreline starting from Wild Rose heading north yesterday, the trail is mostly complete, another half-mile at most to connect to North Canyon. The whole thing is machine-built and wide, gently climbing the whole way, great cardio XC stuff, mostly shaded and quite pleasant. Last 3 miles are currently under construction, they were already done in the fall but they revisited that section and it's quite soft. On the way back it makes for a fun cruise, never steep or super fast but pretty flowy with little pedaling. I sniffed out some side action on obscure hiking trails, there's so much potential in those hills!

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Thanks for the info. I’ll have to get up there to check it out.

Another great evening tonight. I’m trying to savor this weather before the oven gets turned on. I’m anxious to get up high, but last summer’s heat and smoke were brutal.

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Originally Posted by Boissal

^^^ Nice, it's so awesome up there right now! Everything is green, the brush is still reasonable, temps are great, there's moisture in the soil, almost feels like a great place to ride bikes!

I rode the new section of Shoreline starting from Wild Rose heading north yesterday, the trail is mostly complete, another half-mile at most to connect to North Canyon. The whole thing is machine-built and wide, gently climbing the whole way, great cardio XC stuff, mostly shaded and quite pleasant. Last 3 miles are currently under construction, they were already done in the fall but they revisited that section and it's quite soft. On the way back it makes for a fun cruise, never steep or super fast but pretty flowy with little pedaling. I sniffed out some side action on obscure hiking trails, there's so much potential in those hills!

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I’ve been riding that quite a bit this spring. There’s a surprising number of little interconnecting trails up there that keep things interesting. I’m looking forward to the north canyon section getting finished since I live within pedaling distance of that trailhead.

Does anyone know if they are still planning a DH trail down Mueller?

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Originally Posted by g_man80

I’m trying to savor this weather before the oven gets turned on. I’m anxious to get up high, but last summer’s heat and smoke were brutal.

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Same. I love riding at 10k but if it means 100F in the valley and smoke you can cut with a knife I don't mind enjoying the green foothills a bit longer. I was browsing through my pics and saw one from last summer, post-apocalyptic ride on the Crest, red sun in a grey sky, you could taste the smoke. Even the moose seemed down and would slowly shuffle off the trail instead of bolting.

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Originally Posted by alias_rice

I’ve been riding that quite a bit this spring. There’s a surprising number of little interconnecting trails up there that keep things interesting.

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That there is, some old and some new, there must be some busy people hiding in the brush doing work. I was slogging up the Dude Benchmark double track last fall looking for nothing in particular and spotted a small cairn and faint track heading into the oaks, said fuck it to more dirt road grinding and went on an adventure. So good. Now it's officially on the map (segment called Long Woody, get on it if you haven't) so it might get the Lost Lad treatment. Oh well.

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Originally Posted by alias_rice

I’m looking forward to the north canyon section getting finished since I live within pedaling distance of that trailhead.
Does anyone know if they are still planning a DH trail down Mueller?

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Sweet trail to have in the backyard. A DH down Mueller would be rad, it's a fun trail in fantastic terrain but so busy... The N canyon side has so much potential, lots of gullies dropping from the ridge into N facing terrain, tall dark pines, loam, the anti UT.

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Hobble Creek is bone dry and definitely some of the best available DH right now.

Do you have any favorite trails in that area? Was just browsing trailforks and was looking at Dry Canyon and Kirkman Hollow. Thanks for the heads up about it being good to go, hoping to get down south more this year to check it out as well as Bennie Creek!

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Originally Posted by altabird92

Hobble Creek is bone dry and definitely some of the best available DH right now.

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Originally Posted by Spencer123

Do you have any favorite trails in that area? Was just browsing trailforks and was looking at Dry Canyon and Kirkman Hollow. Thanks for the heads up about it being good to go, hoping to get down south more this year to check it out as well as Bennie Creek!

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Kirkman hollow is awesome, and Kirkman alternate is a close second. I use packard to climb up there, but that’s a fun downhill too. Sawmill hollow is worthwhile too as a shuttle for a ride linking a lot of those trails.

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Originally Posted by Spencer123

Do you have any favorite trails in that area? Was just browsing trailforks and was looking at Dry Canyon and Kirkman Hollow. Thanks for the heads up about it being good to go, hoping to get down south more this year to check it out as well as Bennie Creek!

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Kirkman, Kirkman Alt, Left Fork Days are my favorites. Sawmill sounds cool but hard to get to. Dry Canyon is super meh. The key with all of the Utah County trails is to ride them early before the motos and cows really get to them. July 4 at the latest and more like fathers day in a year like this. In August it's fucking hammered.

Thanks for the tips! Hopefully will make it down this week to do some exploring.

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Happy to find another short old school PC trail with some questionable switchbacks and narrow bits through trees, but it was pretty short and not anything I highly recommend to anyone. But I'll probably hit it every spring now as a part of an early season loop in that area. And on that note, what was the loop Brutah said was a good spring ride before it's overgrown? I thought it was a loop off of Sheep Creek/GWT but not the entire trail? Can't find the post in this thread...

You can put together a pretty good low elevation loop with Masonic, I used lost prospector as a connector on a big ride I did a few years back, but you could park at Happy Gilmore, Round Valley to bike path, up skid row to LP, masonic, down Solamere connector, over to Rossi hill, ontario, 420, lower jenni's/loose moose, back to bike path to round valley to trailhead.
Brutah's was GWT/Sheep trail/MoPi/jeremy road/the avenue ish, IIRC.

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Originally Posted by Phall

Brutah's was GWT/Sheep trail/MoPi/jeremy road/the avenue ish, IIRC.

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If it was that, and you may be right, nevermind, ha. For some reason I remember a similar-but-different loop but Trailforks says I'm wrong there's no other way to do it.