A Hike

We found ourselves headed to Provo on monday morning, LuAnn's mom wanted to go up to the Y on the hillside which stands for BYU which is a college nearby. It was laid by some people way back when and consists of cement that gets white washed and is a popular hike. Looking at it, it doesn't look far from the parking lot, but beware this was only a mile but it was steep. As we left the parking lot all three of our heart rates spiked, oh wait all four of our hearts, the little guy! Despite the fierce incline, LuAnn and Mom were relentless and we made our way steadily. After 10 switchbacks of very steep trail with no flat, we arrived at the bottom of the Y in an hour. The view was fantastic of the valley, Utah Lake looked especially appetizing and we took a seat and took it in. At the top I could not get over how steep it was and knew it was going to be a thigh burner while trying to hit the brakes all the way down. Everyone did a great job and as we made our way down annoyingly trying to keep from falling backwards and pumping the brakes. It was a great hike with LuAnn and Mom and they did a great job.

Y hike

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking near Provo, Utah

Crest Super Human

Saturday was the day Brent and I would be making a loop out of two of the very best alpine trails I know in the area. We met at the Mill D trailhead up Big Cottonwood Canyon, there were so many cars there at 7am I could not believe it. We headed further up canyon and arrived at the hair pin where our journey would begin. We got pedaling and immediately my heart began racing....my body was really suffering by now, I have had 4 hours of sleep that morning and my head was really out of the game and fatigued but the legs felt ok after the 40 miles they had on them so far. I made it 75% up the climb and then my heart rate just got way out of control as I reached 10,000 ft and I called it the quits and watched Brent tear up the climb. As we got to the top the scenery was as magnificent as it always is, a little less peaceful with 10 or so people up there but it was going to be a good day. We found our way to the new Pine Cone Ridge trail and descended fast! This was a roller coaster of ups and downs and just one massively long downhill. There were plenty of weeners coming up from the Park City on this trail so we had to pull over 10 or so times until we hit Mid Mountain Trail where we then began to traverse still losing lots of altitude. The ride so far was pretty easy with virtually no uphill pedaling. The aspens lie along side us at every moment with their leaves a bright rich healthy green. The trail was unbelievably good, those mountains are stunning when the snow melts. Little tourist know that when they come here on their vacations and use the snow, they are 100% more amazing when the snow melts. OK enough babble, by now we are at the Canyons and a good chunk of the Mid Mountain is complete. Looks like the resort set up some downhill bike runs and some good looking jumps and wall rides. I looked at them and I desperately wanted to go play on them but my weenie rental bike said don't even think of it. We reached the end of Mid Mountain and now were making our way up a dirt road which ended up being the wrong dirt road and instead of turning back we hiked a bike up some steep steep stuff, probably 1,000 ft worth it sucked. We did reach the Crest finally and it was relief to see the fmailiar single track. The bad news was we still had a bit of altitude to gain and every single bike in Utah showed up to ride today. As we rode on rider after rider coming in the opposite direction had little room so whoever was going uphill had right of way. By the time we found a good spot for our first stop I realized this was not a good day to be on the Crest. Yet we continued and moved over for another 50+ people on the rail. It drove me absolutely nuts, I have never even seen so many people on this trail, I had about 100 people total to deal with coming in my direction and not one that came up behind us. Apparently these butt holes were all shuttling and whoring the Crest at it's demise..... made me sad. Now we were at the top of Puke Hill and nothing but a fast descent and kick some dirt on the beaters coming uphill. Got the brakes so hot by the first hairpin I only had 50% of my brakes and then made it to the car after 4.5 hours riding. Eleavtion was about 3,000 ft and 22 miles of pure fun!

Crest mid mtn loopy

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking near Salt Lake City, Utah

Ambitious Loop

Absolutely amazing riding today, I hit up an favorite and rode some of the new stuff and enjoyed every piece of it. I opted riding some more ridden terrain in a little place at the very end of Salt Lake. This has grown into being a very popular Mountain Bike spot. It offers just about everything with many trail options, there is a DH trail that I opted out of since on the hard tail I was't really feeling it and it's really only got 2 decent jumps. Starting off I felt a little better after some tyenol and a redbull that seemed to help as I headed up canyon. The sun was strong and it was hot out but nothing compared to the east, even at 98 degrees it felt like nothing! I had a big loop in my mind as I headed up for the Clarks trail. Clarks is nice and smooth and skirts the hillside in an out valleys with great views and a somewhat moderate climb rate. At the top I continued and rode the double track up to the top of Jacobs Ladder which was a big ride alone at just under 2,000 feet in an hour. I ripped down this thing so fast and had a lot of fun doing such. It's very steep which allows me to go very fast. I was missing full suspension but I made do with what I got. By the end of it I made my way to the popular rush trail that I am not crazy about but hoped it was going to be better. It's very long and well built but I just like it steep and fun. Lots of little jumps and stuff but by the end I was sick of it, video to come soon. I have alot of footage to edit and pictures it demands a lot of time. After Rush I was 80% down mountain and could not believe I was heading back up for more. I took the shoreline trail west along the foothills and climbed hard again and again and then sadly lost most of it only to end up on the rd trying to find the rest of the trail. Luckily I headed where I could find the trail and was absolutely shocked when I found the tiny entrance right where I needed it to be. More shoreline trail and then huge relief as I found whats called ann's trail. This was wide and climbed steady uphill again. It met with the downhill trail and I hiked a bike up some very very steep section. It was absolutely brutal for me at this point but nice to walk a bit. By now I was kicking myself for such an ambitious ride choice. At the top I now had at least 4,000 vertical of climbing under my feet and got to head downhill on pavement to make my way to Ghost falls. Tore down that bad boy and then the tire felt low and then I realized I was in trouble. Patched the snake bite and pumped back up only to have the tube explode! Spare tube is a 29r shrader!? do they really sell these, wish I took notice. Hopeless I walked the next 30 minutes peacefully downhill and very awkwardly trying not to damage the rental bike. Amazing day for sure and loved the loop as brutal as it was. Tomorrow another ride with more miles and more nuts...... love my wife for understanding my insanity.

Corner canyon epic

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Utah

Painful Bliss

Not a great nights sleep at all but that was probably due to how excited I was due to get out and shred trail. I slowly got ready and had a dull head ache but I was locked and loaded and out the door a little after 9:00. Had a great ride over to Payson and then up the canyon, windows wide open taking in all the sights sounds and smells of my past. I arrived to the trailhead and got cranking, the super stud I was expecting to be on this bike was extremely undersold. I was sucking wind in no time and felt every bit of the 8,000 ft elevation making my brain throb and ears pounding. This was not a good start as I made my way uphill I decided to give my body some rest to catch up so I took lots of pictures. I must say my legs were not putting out much horsepower and I think it was due to how beat I have felt the last two days for some reason. Whatever was affecting me was frustrating but was not going to win so I pressed on. Meadow after meadow and wide open views of the alpine scenery was absolutely spectacular. The trail was narrow and at times very choppy with a lot of horse use and cows littered all over the place. Rolling hill and descend after the other I was feeling pretty good as I was putting more trail behind me. When I strolled through the campground I lost the trail a few minutes and then picked it up and ended up on a hillside with tight trail that eventually began to climb brutally. I was taken to my feet so many times already and this was extremely frustrating, I can't figure the exact reason why I was so weak today but just kept trucking on. After an eternity climbing the hillside I reached a flattish aspen meadow and then had a mile of pavement to the next dirt road. Here I picked up rock springs and shot down the mountain hating this 29r hard tail so much. I dislike the bike all around, nothing about it makes me ever want to own a 29r hard tail or even a 29r now. After what I was hoping for a long long decent to the car ended shortly and had me climbing and climbing and more climbing. I had plenty of cows to talk to along side the trail as I cursed the horses for shitting all over the trail. Came across a few bulls dishing it out and was a bit nervous as I filmed them but luckily I was unscathed. I did eventually hit a good down hill to the car believe it or not and then cranked pavement for some minutes back up the car. What a brutal ride for me, it is a very remote trail and I took a punishment on it but I still had a great ride. Tomorrow I am going to go ride some more popular smooth stuff where I can really crank out some miles.

Black Hawk Beat Down

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Utah