Powder Mountain Race Loop

This was my 2nd attempt to ride the race loop. The first time I forgot my GPS & the coordinates for the turnoffs from the double track to single track. I don't know if they still use this trail for racing, but if they do, it doesn't look like it's been raced on lately. You can get directions there & the coordinates from utahmountainbiking.com. Some of the singletrack sections are a lot of fun to ride. Others look like they haven't seen a bike in more than a year (probably because riders couldn't find the trails). On portions of this trail you'll get really close to nature as the trail gets swallowed up by overhanging trees & plants. It's at those times that all you see is your line through the plants and you hope there isn't a large rock in the way that you can't see. Other parts of the singletrack are plagued with the after effects of burrowing rodents. At other times you'll stop & wonder where the trail goes. In the end though, it's a fun ride, and now that I know where all the turnoffs are I can have a little more fun & ride through it faster. Only the first turnoff onto singletrack is marked with a cairn. The singletrack is also marked with small pink flags (welll, they used to be pink at one time), so if you haven't run over one in a while, you're probably off the trail. The directions on utahm..b...com are fairly accurate, only things I'd clarify are that at 4.2, the DT does not become ST, you have to turn off on a singletrack trail. If you see a ski sign for Combome Canyon, you went too far. I went about 3/4 of a mile past the ski sign before turning back and added another 400 ft of climbing to my ride. 2nd clarification, at mile 4.9 at the lift house, go around it to the north & down the hill (this isn't on my map, I went to the south of the lift house, but managed to get back on a little down the road) It'll look like you're just going to drop all the way down to the nether regions of the resort, but there's a road off to the left that you hop on that will take you back up to the lodge. 3rd clarification -- that single track you have to find off the parking lot is really an old entrance to the parking lot. If you want to do this ride, I suggest finding someone that knows the route. The first time up we didn't see a single piece of singletrack, mainly because we didn't know where we specifically needed to look at each invisible intersection. The singletrack intersections look even fainter than game trails.

Not including my jaunt way off the beaten path, the actual trail is something like 5.75 miles & 850 ft elevation climbed throughout.

Ogden Peak

With a season pass in hand, getting to the top of Ogden Peak was never easier. Without a ride to the top, you'd need to go through an exhausting climb from the base of Snowbasin to the top, or for the ultrafit, you could climb it from the Ogden side all the way from the valley floor up one of the many canyon trails that lead to the top. You really won't see any signs pointing to any of the trails going up to Ogden Peak. Some of them are pretty new, and even while I was up there, the Snowbasin crew was working on portions of the trail that lead up to the ridgeline. From the ridge to the halfway point to the peak the trail seems to be nothing more than a game trail. A real trail comes into view as you cross the ridge coming up from Strong's Peak. This trail is marked with massive cairns -- impossible to miss. This trail leads to the service road that climbs Ogden Peak to the towers. You can really go any way you want until you hit this road -- walk the ridgeline, bushwhack, whatever. Getting up the service road is the steepest section of the climb. Sharing the summit are several radio towers, and a helicopter landing pad -- a mighty small landing pad -- really close to the towers. Storm clouds were brewing in the morning, but by the end of the hike blue skies were back out & more people decided to come up onto the ridge.

It was 3.33 miles to the top & back & around 1300 ft gained.

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Snowbasin -- Green Pond Loop / Needles

Well, I broke down and bought a summer season pass to Snowbasin. Not bad at $110. The gondola is only open Fri-Sun + different occasions, however, so you're kind of limited to what you can do up there depending on the day.

Green Pond Loop Trail: On my latest excursion I did the entire Green Pond Loop Trail, this time without deviating. I went counter-clockwise this time instead of clockwise, and after that, I can easily recommend doing it clockwise. Reason being, the climbing feels more gradual, and is almost entirely shaded, and the other way around is exposed & hot for most of the serious climbing. Either way, the loop is 5.3 miles and you climb almost 1,000 ft. This trail is worth riding for some sweet, free flowing singletrack, and a quick ride. I think it took about an hour, maybe a little more to do this.

Needles: This is trail #1 on the Snowbasin map. You descend 2,553 feet & climb 167 ft (not including the gondola ride). The trail is 7.4 miles long & it feels like an eternity to get down the mountain. The upper section is plagued with the same problems of the lower section: the wretchedly designed switchbacks. They're pretty much designed for novices who ride trails at 3 MPH. The middle section is a blast to ride. The trail flows very well, meaning you don't need to slam on your brakes every 20 feet to make a sharp turn. There are a few places you can get a little air, but I'm still craving more. As you enter into the lower section you have a wide open path with very few obstacles, so you can fly down at top speed. In the end, it's a worthwhile ride. I would've liked to see a little more climbing throughout -- not a lot, but enough to give you more of a workout than downhilling gives you, though combining a couple trails together can easily achieve that.

Once I've ridden all the trails up there, I'll rate which ones I like, best to worst.

Mountain Biking Snowbasin

Snowbasin has been open in the summer to mountain biking for what I believe is the 2nd year. My first time biking in the area involved a ride up Wheeler Canyon, and continuing on up a trail which leads to the lower parking lot at Snowbasin. From there we took the Old Snowbasin Highway back down to a trailhead above Wheeler Canyon & completed the ride back through the canyon to the trailhead. It was a good ride, on good trails. One trail I noted that branched off of the trails we were on was the Green Pond Trail. It's partially on the Forest Service trail system & partially on Snowbasin's trail system.

The parking area for the Green Pond Trail is on the new Snowbasin Highway and is quite obvious. The trail is in great condition, and aside from the tiny insects that seem to hover in large groups & one down tree offered a really good ride. The signage on the trails is good at times, and sketchy at others. One of the problems is that whenever two trail intersect, like the Green Pond Loop & the Last Chance Loop, only one of the trails is listed, in this case, the Last Chance Trail prevailed over the Green Pond Trail, so without a map of the trail system, I headed down a service road in hopes of finding a turn off back onto the Green Pond Trail. After half a mile and seeing nothing I turned back to ride on the Last Chance Trail. If I would've continued further I would've intersected the returning portion of the Green Pond Loop, but that would've cut my ride in half. Back on the trail I met a couple of other bikers, and I rode with one a bit. He was wanting to attempt a climb all the way up to the top of the mountain. I went with him for a couple miles & left him when my asthma started kicking in. From there I rode back down a ways until I was on the Needles Trail which heads back to the main lodges. I wasn't a fan of that trail. It was mainly comprised of 40 feet of straight trail & then a tight switchback, over and over and over, so it was all brake & swerve & no fun. At one point you reach one of the snowboarding pipes where there's no real trail, you just have to haul yourself & your bike up & over it. Not cool. When I was close to the lodge I hopped onto the Maples Trail. This leads you over a fast flowing creek towards the lower parking lot & the Forest Service trail system. I took this trail back down to the turn off towards the Green Pond trail & the parking area. This section of trail was a blast to ride. It's mostly singletrack, except for the first section, and you can just haul. There are few real obstacles. If you count horse piles, then there were a ton of obstacles -- it was bad. Horses are banned from Snowbasin trails ; ) that makes me smile, they're welcome on Forest Service land unfortunately. So this stretch of trail was great. Aside from one tight turn where I almost went over the edge or head long into a rock, but narrowly escaped incident. At one point Wheeler Canyon was coming up quick & I still hadn't found my turn off to get back to the Green Pond Trailhead & I started to get worried. Fortunately after another 5 minutes of riding I found it & headed up. From there I crossed the Old Snowbasin Highway, and continued up towards the lot. The final stretch is through a small canyon. It was quite pleasant in there, and would be a fun downhill.

Next time I go up there I might hitch a ride on the gondola to the top, but as much as I love the downhill, I also like to get a workout in, and downhill works your body about as much as one of those vibration belts from the early 1900's. If I had a full day to bike I'd do it. With the temps in the valley looming around 100, it was nice to be up in the mountains. It was still warm, but not quite as much, and in the different nooks & crannies of the mountain you can get some much cooler air.

All in all it was over 2,000 ft of climbing & 11 miles.

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Riverside/Crimson Trail - Logan Canyon

This trail starts in the Guinava Campground, and follows the Logan River West towards the Mill Hollow area, and reservoir, the upper one I believe. Then it climbs steeply up onto the mountainside until you're hiking above the cliffs, where you're almost at the same elevation as the Wind Caves directly across the canyon from where you're at. It's a moderate hike at 4.89 miles, and 2,000 ft elevation gain. The descent back to the campground is quite steep in some sections. It took about 3 hours and was a nice trip.

Lewis Peak Take II

One of my friends wanted to do Lewis Peak, so I went again. All the snow was off the trails, and the wildflowers were starting to grow out of the ground where the snow once was. It was nice and windy, though not so strong that it was uncomfortable. I was feeling remarkably well on the way up, and just the opposite on the way back. My mountain biking & hiking seem to compete for the well being of my knees. If i just mountain bike all summer, then my knees are fine, and same if I just hike all summer, but when I switch between the two I guess ligaments & other fun stuff change position in my knees depending on what I'm doing, and when that happens, it's quite unpleasant., so I had that to deal with on the trip back.

I think this is my last time up this trail. The horse usage is just too much for me. If you read my other post about Lewis Peak, you'll know what I'm talking about. With warmer weather & higher usage, parts of the trial were even nastier.

On the way up the steep section a wild turkey flew out of the brush and started attacking us, then started walking up the trail ahead of us, I guess it was trying to lead us away from it's nest. Near the top I wanted to go out into a section of rock to relax & found a rattlesnake on the way there, just chilling in the sun. As with all my experiences with rattle snakes, this one just winded it's way into the bushes & out of sight. More wild flowers were blooming on this trip making for some very pleasant fragrances on parts of the trail.

While we were on the peak we noticed a storm coming in across the Great Salt Lake. We were fortunate that the stretch we experienced on the way back was all talk & no action except for some faster wind gusts. By the time we reached the end of the ridgeline and dropped back into the canyon, there was lightning and thunder on top where we were 30 minutes before.

The pics taken on this trip are from my new camera, the Canon A95. They're significantly better than my old camera, and consequently the large sized images are significantly larger, but for the good pics, I think it's worth the wait.

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