Mountain Bike: Park City. Jared Hargrave

      Dead leaves crunching under tires and cool temperatures make autumn a favorite time of year to ride Park City. (Photo by Sean Zimmerman-Wall)

      At 7000 feet in elevation, Park City is definitely a mountain destination. Anyone arriving from sea level would be wise to acclimate for a few days before tackling the trails. Because of the high-alpine locale, the diverse terrain allows for excellent mountain biking from spring through autumn.

      The Glenwild area (Routes 22–25), located just north of Park City near Kimball Junction, is at a lower elevation with trails mostly on south-facing slopes. These rides are among the first to dry out in the spring. You’ll find bitterbrush and sage down low and an alpine transition zone higher up with maples and scrub oak. Round Valley (Routes 29–35), which is closer to town, is similar and is another good option for spring riding. In Heber City, Kamas, and Midway (Routes 39–47), where the elevation is between 5000 and 6000 feet, the Dutch Hollow, Riverview, and High Star Ranch trails are also dry and ready to ride in the spring.

      As summer begins and the snow line performs its slow disappearing act up the mountainsides, mid-elevation trails above Park City open up. Most of these trails are located in ski resorts like Deer Valley and Park City Mountain (Routes 1–18). Here, the mountain biking is on smooth singletrack that winds through aspen groves and stands of fir and pine. Solitude Mountain in Big Cottonwood Canyon (Route 37), the WOW Trail (Route 38), Utah Olympic Park (Routes 19–21), and Road to WOS (Route 27) are other trails that are ready to ride by summertime.

      Finally, from midsummer through fall, the highest trails above tree line reveal themselves from under the melting snow. Deer Valley and Park City Mountain have many high-elevation rides, like the Bowhunter Loop (Route 10), 9K Trail (Route 16), and Shadow Lake (Route 2). But the most popular and highest ride, at an elevation of 9800 feet, is the Wasatch Crest Trail (Route 36). Ride this classic when you can, because the window of opportunity can be short depending on how long it takes for the snow to melt.

       LOCAL MOUNTAIN BIKING HISTORY

      Park City was settled in 1868 after silver ore was discovered. The town was incorporated in 1884 and it boomed as mines tunneled into the mountainsides. But by the 1950s, silver mines shut down and the town lost most of its population. Skiing saved the economy in the 1960s and ’70s, and today Park City is booming once again, with tourism as a primary economic driver.

      But skiing is a winter sport, and back in the ’70s there wasn’t much happening in the summer months. So, in the early 1980s, when mountain biking was in its infancy, Tom Noaker opened the town’s first bike shop, New Park Cyclery. Back then, riders pedaled on old mining roads. In 1985, Charlie and Kathy Sturgis started their shop, White Pine Touring. To create actual singletrack trails, Charlie began the Thursday Night Ride series, an event that doubled as a pirate trail-building mission.

      Meanwhile, Deer Valley started cutting mountain bike trails with the goal of creating an interconnected network. In 1992, the ski resort opened Utah’s first lift-served mountain biking off the Sterling chairlift. Around this time, other local mountain bikers banded together to create the Mountain Trails Foundation. This nonprofit worked with private landowners, public lands administrators, and the ski resorts to build the massive singletrack network we enjoy today. Their crowning achievement was the completion of the Mid Mountain Trail, which became a 23-mile hub that connects Deer Valley to Park City Mountain Resort’s Canyons Village.

      Over the years, other nonprofits have stepped up to meet the growing demand of multiple-use singletrack trails. Basin Recreation has built and now maintains 145 miles of trail in Snyderville Basin and Summit Park. They’ve also been instrumental in creating open space on the outskirts of town. The South Summit Trails Foundation has been constructing trails in eastern Summit County. And the Wasatch Trails Foundation has turned the Wasatch Back towns of Heber City and Midway into mountain biking destinations with singletrack that is every bit as good as Park City’s worldclass riding.

      What’s unique about Park City is that most of its trails are located on private property. But due to the partnerships Mountain Trails Foundation and Basin Recreation have forged with landowners, mountain bikers are free to enjoy the singletrack through public easements. That’s why it’s important to stay on the trails, not litter, and be respectful of other trail users.

       WEATHER AND CLIMATE

      Utah’s Wasatch Mountains are famous for getting a ton of the “Greatest Snow on Earth.” Park City Mountain’s average annual snowfall is 360 inches, which precipitates from late October through April. As a result, mountain bike season is generally from April through October in the lower elevations, and more like June through September above 8000 feet. After big snow years, trails like the Wasatch Crest might not be rideable until July!