Park City’s newest downhill trail, Cyn City, is a fun new way to ride a loop off Charlie’s 9k. Cyn City, which officially opened with a ribbon cutting in mid-July, is an intermediate, mountain biking flow trail featuring a ton of double jumps, whoop-de-dos, and large berms built within a shady, old-growth evergreen forest. Ever since Charlie’s 9k was built, there were only a few descent options, including the advanced-rated Black Forest. But Cyn City now gives intermediate mountain bikers a moderate downhill to enjoy and opens up new loop options in the upper elevations of Park City’s trail network.
Cyn City Mountain Bike Trail
Cyn City is around 2.75 miles long with over 700 feet in elevation loss. The name honors Cyndi Schwandt, a long-time Park City local and mountain biker, who is credited for building some of the area’s first mountain bike trails. She passed away while riding her bike in 2019 when she was found, unresponsive, in the Prospector area.
This new trail is a compliment to Cyndi’s legacy, as it’s very well-built, and super fun to ride. In fact, after I experienced it for the first time, I was struck at how good the flow and fun-factor is – I almost felt like I was descending one of Deer Valley’s bike park trails. It’s that good IMO. Cyn City is sure to become a destination trail, the reason for riding here perhaps as a shuttle ride, as opposed to being just a new connector for a loop.
Cyn City shares a start with the already established Black Forest trail, about 1.7 miles from the Empire Pass trailhead on Charlie’s 9k. When Black Forest exits the woods on the Georgeanna ski run, the start of Cyn City branches off on the left. From there it immediately swoops back into the forest, traversing among pines and deadfall in a series of rollers, jumps, and overbuilt berms. The fun never lets up as the ride zigzags down with multiple switchbacks and long, straight sections, each filled with features to play on.
At the bottom of Cyn City, riders are spit out onto another open ski run. A trail on the right is Link, which descends to the Midmountain Trail. Or you can continue down Cyn City with a few more switchbacks to an old road grade that connects to Mid Mountain near Empire Link where you can choose to navigate back to whatever trailhead you parked at.
How to Find and Ride Cyn City
There are many options to use Cyn City as a descent for your ride. You can shuttle it from Park City town via the Empire Pass trailhead where a short ride on Charlie’s 9k gets you there. Or you could approach it from the other side of Charlie’s 9k above Shadow Lake for a really long approach. Or if you’re the type who likes to eat dessert before dinner, do a loop where you descend Cyn City at the start, then climb Corvair to get back to Empire Pass.
Personally, I like the save the fun part for the end and get the bulk of climbing done early. So here’s my preferred way to ride Cyn City:
Park at the Mid Mountain Trail parking on Empire Pass Road just above the Empire Base Area at Deer Valley. Pedal east on MMT, then immediately go right onto either Tour de Suds or Boulder and begin the ascent (I prefer Boulder as it’s a more mellow warmup climb). Both trails come out on a gravel road. Cross the road and go left on Moosebones.
Moosebones ascends up and ends just below Empire Pass. Get on the road and continue going up on the pavement for a short section to the Empire Pass trailhead. Follow the dirt road connector to the start of Charlie’s 9k, which will take you to Black Forest and Cyn City.
After the descent described above, you reconnect with Mid Mountain Trail. Go right on MMT and follow it all the way back to the trailhead on Empire Pass road. This is perhaps the shortest loop you can do that incorporates Cyn City, while saving the best for last.
If you like Cyn City, then consider donating to Mountain Trails Foundation. They use the funds to build trails like these, and to maintain them. It’s the least we can do to give back and make sure that Park City continues to have the best mountain biking in the world.
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