While the riding is primed in the Salt Lake valley, more and more riding in Park City is beginning to open up. While not nearly the 400+ miles of singletrack are open yet, a few key areas are perfect for getting your legs ready for a summer of riding. Mind you, there is still plenty of mud in the form of deep puddles as well as long stretches on various trails. Please do not be “that guy,” and get off your bike and walk around the mud to keep the trails in good condition.
Round Valley
This area is good to go for the most part. Some of the rain storms that we recently had have closed down some of the north facing trails like Rusty Shovel. But if the sun has been out for at least a day, they should be dry enough to ride.
Round Valley is a great place to get your summer legs back. The climbs are short and fun and the descents all have great corners to hone your skills. The rolling terrain offers lots of diverse trails and new connections to the Trailside Bike Park let you get your jump game on.
But please watch for rain and muddy conditions. These trails turn into mud-fests within minutes sometimes and the ruts and other damage can last for weeks.
-Notable Trails
• Somewhere Elks
• Rambler
• Trailside Bike Park
Glenwild
The front side of Glenwild is usually the first area to dry out. Sometimes these trails can even open in mid-March! As of now, anything on the backside including Glenwild Loop and Flying Dog is just too wet to ride. So stay away from there. Stealth and Blackhawk are completely dry and offer mild climbing with a fun, diverse descent that includes lots of rhythm and rocks to test your skills. The front side main loop is only about three miles so ride it twice or more for an extended ride.
A personal favorite spring ride of mine is Bob’s Basin (BB). BB encompasses five trails: Fink Again, Crazy 8, Ant Farm, Team Cutthroat, and Drop Out. Fink Again is an easy yet honest climb to access the other four descending only trails. Riding all four takes a little over an hour if you’re in decent bike shape. If you access BB from the Bad Apple trailhead, you can finish off the ride with a beer at Park City Brewery.
-Notable Trails
• Bob’s Basin: Fink Again, Dropout
• Stealth
Gorgoza Park
Right after you come over Parley’s Summit headed into Park City is the Gorgoza Tubing Park. The snow has melted especially fast this year and it feels that this area is open sooner than usual. Road to Arcylon, or known as Gnarcylon or Gnargoza here in PC, is running really well. The Basic Recreation trail crews have done a good job of cleaning up this freeride-ish trail. There are multiple intermediate jumps and wood features but all of those can be ridden around if you’re not comfortable with them.
The Road to Arcylon does require some climbing and some riders use DH bikes and walk the up-trail. While it can be ridden easily on an XC bike, I would recommend a trail bike with five or six inches of travel.
-Notable Trails
• Road to Arcylon
Old Town and Prospector
This area is super fun and utilizes the paved Rail Trail for access. This is an early season hit among locals. Masonic is a fun, twisty trail with an old school, hand-built feel. Access it from Gambel Oak and Lost Prospector, a steady climb that looks over Old Town, Park City. Masonic is a couple miles and then spits you back out onto Lost Prospector. From there ride north-east and you have a fun, flowy, pedaly descent toward the steeper S.O.S. or the mellower Ski Row descents.
Start this ride at White Pine Touring on Bonanza Dr. The staff there will point you in the right direction and you can take the Rail Trail easily back to your car after you have completed the loop.
-Notable Trails
• Lost Prospector
• Gambel Oak
• Masonic
Unfortunately nothing above about 4,700 feet elevation is without snow. Soon though the upper elevation trails will clear and local favorites like Snow Top and Flying Dog will open. Around the beginning of July is when just about all the trails are open for good. For more information on trail conditions in Park City, check out Mountaintrails.org. If you are currently sans bike, you can rent one at Jans.com.
Snowtop is also now dry!