Wasatch Dirt Thread

[Boissal]

Similar to upper BT but steeper and worse dirt/more rocks since it's mostly not in the trees and out in the open.

Chatter report: a touch above my pay grade on the first try. It felt significantly steeper than BT and infinitely jankyer. Definitely rideable but I would have prefered to follow someone to convince me that some of the stuff goes! The spot that really got me was a mega steep chute that hugs the L side of a pine tree and make a right underneath, my ass was buzzing the rear tire and I still felt like I was gonna end up OTB. I got whipped in the face by the branches, barely kept it together, made the turn, and bumped straight into a big chunk that stopped me dead in my tracks. Fortunately it had flattened out by then so I didn't die. I lost the trail for a sec after that around some gravely spot, got back on it, clipped a pedal at the 3rd to last switchback, and didn't get it back in time to attempt the last 2 "safely" so I walked the last bit to 9K.

Overall it's fun in a weird sort of way and definitely worth doing, I will be back up there at some point to try again. It's completely savage though, it's got my vote for hardest section of steep tech in the range, super commiting and pretty high consequence. The fallen tree huck at the top set the tone, after that it's a relentless slide for life. I'm sure there's worse out there but I haven't ridden enough to find it.

take 9k further past apex. recently rode all of 9k west to east and its surprisingly fun, we took corvair/payroll down and looped it with mid mountain for a pretty fun 14ish mile loop. Shatter would be a nice bump to add to the ride, but personally apex is the last thing I'd take off 9k. If you are looking to end up at the crescent yurt, I'd recommend empire to the mckonkeys lift and then you can take a dirt road that connects to tommy two step about 2/3s of the way up.

I'll likely be riding up there on saturday. if you see a dude in nike athletic shorts on a silver ibis, give a holler!

Good call on 9k, I rode it all the way to DV and I think the builders deserve mad props for their work! I was bent when they finished phase 1 as it seemed like a boring machine-built bench trail. Turns out I was wrong, the whole think is fun. The new section is still pretty rough and I doubt it will buff out much but man did they do a good job using the terrain and making the trail playful. It's full of small turns and bumps you can pump through, there are tons of side features, and the grade is great, never too steep. The section through the long rock gardens on the E side of Jupiter reminded me of the Castle Loop at Alta, pointy shit everywhere and yet the trail manages to flow well. After that it flows really well and while there's not much technical riding it's a really fun well-engineered cruise.
The whole thing felt like a higher elevation version of Mid Mountain built specifically for bikes. I really don't get the TF bros who are pissing and moaning about yet another PC blue trail. It dilutes traffic, gives you tons of options (I can see some massive and really fun Crest loops), and it creates access to rad terrain that could host some really nice new tech trails. It certainly beats having no trail there...

Kept my eyes peeled but never saw a silver Ibis. Just one pic from the backside cause I was too busy bouncing around all day:

[brutah]

Sounds like we had a similar ride on Saturday. I also rode shatter ridge for the first time. just felt like controlled braking to me and was not my cup of tea, but fun to check out regardless. Also rode the guardsmans DH trails for the first time that were much more up my alley.

Yesterday, I rode around DV and just FYI they have their snowmaking equipment out and have placed some guns in the middle of trails. This is the first year I noticed that type of placement in the past it seems like snow making equipment was always placed just off the trails. None that I saw seem like a huge hazard (blind) just more of an annoyance. The DV lot was pretty full around 5 pm when I rolled through Snow Park.

[Boissal]

controlled braking

The palm of my hands would like a word with you
Never got hand pump on the bike before chatter.

Bummer about the snow guns. Easy to avoid until they're not. Possible snow in the forecast for the weekend, I think the resorts are starting season prep. It's been cold enough to make snow for a while I guess.

[mall walker]

Think we were stuck in the US6 traffic for like 70 mins - 90 mins. Took so long I forgot when we actually hit a standstill, but we arrived at the red snake around 4:30. Phall was about 10-15 mins ahead of us and took US 40 through Duschene and beat us home by about 20 minutes fwiw.

We discussed future Moab/Fruita (our destination last week) trips should involve a longer Sunday and later departure time, so that we hit US6 in the evening after traffic has hopefully calmed down.

wtf is stopping them making route 6 two lanes both ways the whole way, just money? that highway sucks absolute dick to drive on and it really does not have to

[muted]

wtf is stopping them making route 6 two lanes both ways the whole way, just money? that highway sucks absolute dick to drive on and it really does not have to

They have spent years and years, maybe decades putting in the double lanes and passing lanes that exist now. Not that long ago it actually was really slow going when you were stuck behind 5 RVs.

[Boissal]

Phall was about 10-15 mins ahead of us and took US 40 through Duschene and beat us home by about 20 minutes fwiw.
We discussed future Moab/Fruita (our destination last week) trips should involve a longer Sunday and later departure time, so that we hit US6 in the evening after traffic has hopefully calmed down.

Ooooof, if it's faster to go through Duschene then you're talking about a real shitshow on 6 and 15, that detour is serious!

Years ago I made the decision that there was no point in rushing weekend trips that start and end on I-15 (probably while stuck in traffic at point of the mountain). I don't bother packing the day before or leaving work early, I do all that stuff Friday night and get on the road at 7ish PM. I get wherever I'm going really late and it sucks but at least I'm not raging in traffic. Same thing on the way back, I ride/climb/do whatever to my heart's content on Sunday, drink a beer, pack camp, and start driving at 7 or 8. I'm usually beat to shit and the drive can be a struggle, especially when I'm solo, but I can pound coffee and take power naps and it's still less damaging to my health than wishing death on the whole world while driving 3 mph in UT county.
Would be different if I had kids or was doing stuff with people but for most of my trips it works out OK.

Edit: the could make route 6 wider than I-15 and it would still be unmanageable. More lanes = more people clogging those lanes. That's been established with freeways but it's true of all roads.

[detrusor]

1.5-hour backup south of Santaquin coming back from Virgin this afternoon, and it probably got worse than that before it got better. Friends who went to Moab left at 2:30 and reportedly still haven't made it to Thistle. We're approaching a point where leaving town on a holiday weekend is untenable.

Bitching aside, we rode Blowhard on the way home for the first time in forever and it was so damn fun.

We left the Zion area via 89 after riding on saturday and canyoneering on Sunday. Rolled through santaquin at about 10 pm and no traffic at all. I’d say burn it down a little later and then drive.




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[mall walker]

They have spent years and years, maybe decades putting in the double lanes and passing lanes that exist now. Not that long ago it actually was really slow going when you were stuck behind 5 RVs.

yeah, I’m sure it’s a lot harder than I am giving it credit for. but for the only reasonable way from slc to moab / grand junction / etc, geez. mud slides, fires, accidents... not the most reliable way

[jtran10]

I 15 wasn't a problem at all once we got there at like 6PM. The issue always seems to be because those last 2 2 lanes to 1 lane merges get backed up. And then once you are in 1 lane cruising past the windmills you're good to go back to SL county.


All traffic sucks, but boissal really encapsulated the real crux of it for me: "wishing death on the whole world while driving 3 mph in UT county." lol

[Dantheman]

wtf is stopping them making route 6 two lanes both ways the whole way, just money? that highway sucks absolute dick to drive on and it really does not have to

According to my friend at UDOT that's the long-term plan, and they have made significant progress to that effect in the past decade. It will only help so much, though. The I-15 backup we hit was due to an accident, almost certainly caused by douchebags making sketchy passes on the right then trying to jam back in. Traffic would have been heavy but fine if everyone would just chill the fuck out and be fine with going 70 the whole way (the horror).

Would be different if I had kids

Yeah, that's the rub. If you can swing it switching from Fri-Sun trips to Sat-Mon would also help a lot.

[Boissal]

According to my friend at UDOT that's the long-term plan, and they have made significant progress to that effect in the past decade. It will only help so much, though. The I-15 backup we hit was due to an accident, almost certainly caused by douchebags making sketchy passes on the right then trying to jam back in. Traffic would have been heavy but fine if everyone would just chill the fuck out and be fine with going 70 the whole way (the horror).

Yeah, that's the rub. If you can swing it switching from Fri-Sun trips to Sat-Mon would also help a lot.

Accidents, for sure. When I worked in Lehi it was a daily occurrence at rush hour, there was always some inane shenanigans going on and it was a complete miracle only one major accent would occur during commute.

It's always shocking to me how chaotic things get once you make it past Spanish Frk into UT County. The highway widens to 5 or 6 lanes and everyone always seems to be on the wrong side of it. Huge trucks pulling 6 ATVs in the HOV lane suddenly remembering their exit diagonaling across the whole thing at 80 mph, small sedans rolling in from an entrance and immediately trying to teleport to the left lanes, processions of land boats driving within 0.2 mph of each other and jostling for position in the middle lane, basically swapping places over and over, 18-wheeler flying by on all sides, scared geezers in wood-panel station wagons trying to merge for 7 miles straight with nobody letting them in, aggro moms riled up on diet DrPepper driving mini-vans with 8 kids watching 8 different channels weaving around as if lanes just weren't a thing then swerving wildly when they reach in the back to smack little Brigham across the face cause he pulled little Afton's hair and by Jeebus there's not enough oxycontin in the whole state to help them through that shit...

It's a fucking miracle we make it home alive every time we go South!!

[g_man80]

We discussed future Moab/Fruita (our destination last week) trips should involve a longer Sunday and later departure time, so that we hit US6 in the evening after traffic has hopefully calmed down.

I checked the traffic maps around 9:30pm last night and it looked like US6 and I-15 were still backed up! Sounds like 15 was due to an accident.

[criscam]

I checked the traffic maps around 9:30pm last night and it looked like US6 and I-15 were still back up!

can confirm. to add insult to injury my truck (w camper) broke down about 5 miles in the canyon just north of Helper. towed to Price and luckily had friends get me and the kiddo home w the bikes. time to get home = 9 hours.

[Phall]

Don't go 191 to Duchesne, the views suck, you gain a huge pass, and its really, really boring. Wish we had stuck it out on 6.

[Boissal]

Don't go 191 to Duchesne, the views suck, you gain a huge pass, and its really, really boring. Wish we had stuck it out on 6.

And you can't get a quickie ride of the Strawberry Narrows as a fun way to break up the drive. Terrible option.

[Dantheman]

can confirm. to add insult to injury my truck (w camper) broke down about 5 miles in the canyon just north of Helper. towed to Price and luckily had friends get me and the kiddo home w the bikes. time to get home = 9 hours.

Dude, brutal!

[dfinn]

All the people heading south to the desert when we still have all this great alpine riding to get in before it snows have me really confused. Sounds like moab has been an absolute shit show.

Seems like hunting season must be wrapping up? I saw hardly any of them on my ride in Woodland on saturday, much improved.

[Dantheman]

All the people heading south to the desert when we still have all this great alpine riding to get in before it snows have me really confused.

You're not wrong. A bunch of friends were going so we jumped on the bandwagon. Though we did work some alpine into the trip. Hopefully it doesn't snow too much this weekend and warms back up a bit.

[Boissal]

Seems like hunting season must be wrapping up?

Some "sportsman" shot a critter right off Big Mtn pass, probably 100' from the trail at most, gutted it and left most of it to rot in the sun. When I rode down the backside last week the stench was so overwhelming I almost puked on the way back up. Got comments from 3 different groups of "sportsmen" as I was riding back up, something to the effect of biking this trail at dusk being risky. Mother fucker I'm wearing an orange shirt, it's your fucking job not to shot me. And maybe get your portly ass more than 20' off the trail to do your thing instead of complaining that I'm scaring the animals, the second I saw you I started whistling to do just that. Pathetic twats.

[dfinn]

I know we have a few avid "sportsmen" that post in here and I know they aren't all bad but I am not much of a fan of them lately. Mostly stemming from an incident I had a few weeks back where one of them told me he was going to shoot me in the back as I rode away. Also an overweight fuckwad "hunting" right on the trail.

Don't mean to turn this into an anti hunter thing, was just pointing out that it seems like the risk of getting shot while out enjoying some singletrack is tapering off, which is nice.

[Benneke10]

I know we have a few avid "sportsmen" that post in here and I know they aren't all bad but I am not much of a fan of them lately. Mostly stemming from an incident I had a few weeks back where one of them told me he was going to shoot me in the back as I rode away.

Where did that happen? I don't have much respect for people who chose to hunt near trails in Salt Lake County on weekends. So many other trail users out there, and its not that hard to drive an hour in pretty much any direction and get away from people

[Boissal]

I know we have a few avid "sportsmen" that post in here and I know they aren't all bad but I am not much of a fan of them lately. Mostly stemming from an incident I had a few weeks back where one of them told me he was going to shoot me in the back as I rode away. Also an overweight fuckwad "hunting" right on the trail.

Don't mean to turn this into an anti hunter thing, was just pointing out that it seems like the risk of getting shot while out enjoying some singletrack is tapering off, which is nice.

Just to clarify, I have no qualms with hunters doing their thing either. I'm personally not into it but I don't see it as my job to tell people what to do unless their behavior is egregious. Leaving guts right off a popular trail or making vague (or in your case very clear) threats of violence qualifies as such. Being a fat fuck who can't go more than 1/4 miles from the truck to shoot something is something that I personally find pathetic but that's not something that warrants confronting people over.

Regardless, I do agree that it's quite nice not to have to worry that I didn't wear my most obnoxious orange shirt if I'm riding late.

[dfinn]

Where did that happen? I don't have much respect for people who chose to hunt near trails in Salt Lake County on weekends. So many other trail users out there, and its not that hard to drive an hour in pretty much any direction and get away from people

Summit County on a less ridden trail

[zion zig zag]

Regardless, I do agree that it's quite nice not to have to worry that I didn't wear my most obnoxious orange shirt if I'm riding late.

Don't put away the orange quite yet. Deer hunt just started Saturday and late season hunts run until 1st of the year. As far as your other comments about hunting, what you find pathetic isn't necessarily based in reality. I helped my son harvest a cow elk on Big Mountain a week or so ago, and in that situation, we were 3 miles in and a half a mile off the trail. But I wouldn't have discouraged him from shooting something a quarter mile from the truck if the opportunity presented itself legally and safely. I don't consider either of us fat fucks

[whyturn]

For me it’s the mtn lions coming out to feed on the remains and see me and decide I might be tasty.


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