Three Favorite Mountain Biking Trails in Park City Utah

Posted by Sean Matyja on Thursday, June 20th, 2013 at 4:44pm.

Recommendations on a few top choices of trails in Park City Utah.

Its summertime in Park City and for those lucky enough to know, summer can be just as much fun (or more so) as our popular winter season. As we get through June, we typically see the mountain trails open up as the higher elevation snow finally melts away. For the past few weeks we have been mostly confined to the lower elevation trails for hiking and biking such as the very popular and easy Round Valley. Round Valley is a great choice for early and late season riding. It is at a lower elevation, and gets a lot of sun so the area dries out quickly and is one of the first locations to be ridable in spring.

Three Top Recommendations for Biking Trails

There is a huge network of trails all over the Park City area with miles and miles of amazing singletrack. Its no wonder why Park City is becoming just as much of a summertime destination resort as in winter. With so many trails choose from, it can be hard to decide where to go. First off, just remember that we are here to help you with anything in Park City. So, if you are planning a ride or hike, give us a call at 435-901-2158 and we can make a few suggestions depending on your group's ability and fitness levels. Below we have some info on three of our favorite biking trails; Armstrong Trail, Mid-Mountain Trail, and Deer Crest Trail. And if you have the time, you can combine these three into one very large loop as described below.

Armstrong Trail at Park City's Silver Star

The Armstrong Trail is a newer trail for Park City and is a great route to take to get up into the higher elevations. The trailhead is located next to the Silver Star  real estate community at the base of the Silver Star chairlift. This real estate development is on Three Kings Drive, just to the west of the Park City golf course. The trailhead serves both Spiro and Armstrong Trails so just follow the signs for Armstrong. Armstrong is designated as an uphill only route for bikers. Hikers are allowed to go up or down. This is a beautiful trail that works its way up, but is not quite as steep as Spiro. Its a good climb, and weaves through the trees keeping you underneath the canopy of leaves for most of the ride. Its not very technical, but a nice ride up. For an experienced rider it may take about an hour to get to the top, where the trail meets the Mid-Mountain Trail.

Photos of the Armstrong Trail:

    

    

    

The Famous Mid-Mountain Trail

The Mid-Mountain Trail has become quite famous in the recent years. After climbing the Armstrong Trail, you arrive at the mid section of the Mid-Mountain Trail, also know as the 8,000 ft Trail. At the junction of Armstrong and Mid-Mountain, I dont really recommend going right, or north. Much of the Mid-Mountain Trail north of the Armstrong Trail is very rocky and rough, and just not a smooth ride. But, the other direction, going left or heading south is a very fun ride. From here, just beyond the edge of the Park City Mountain Resort the trail leads south and cuts across much of the ski resort and heads to Deer Valley resort. The trail is fairly level in elevation with a little up and down, and a fun amount of twisting and weaving through the mix of aspen and fir trees. Its a fun and fast ride, on a smooth and rolling singletrack trail. You'll get great views of the Park City town, and the distant peaks of the Uinta Mountains to the east. Once up here, the air is a little cooler, and its just simply a fun, fun ride. The trails cuts accross ski runs, and underneath chairlifts. It eventually crosses over from the Park City ski resort and then across Deer Valley ski resort. At one point you wrap around the very large Montage hotel and drop back down to Deer Valley's Silver Lake Village. If you have planned your ride out well, you may want to stop and grab a bite to eat at McHenry's Grill at the base of the chairlift at Deer Valley in the Silver Lake Village. Many people will start at Deer Valley Resort's Silver Lake Village and walk or ride out on the Mid-Mountain Trail and then head back to Silver Lake, so watch for traffic when getting close to this area.

Photos from the Mid-Mountain Trail:

    

    

    

The Deer Crest Trail

The Deer Crest Trail can be accessed by heading up from Silver Lake Village, following the cat track road that is right underneath the Silver Lake Express chairlift. You'll pedal up a little bit, going alongside the ski-in, ski-out properties of Sterling Lodge, Deer Valley Club, Double Eagle and just past Stag Lodge. From here you'll see the turn off to the right for the Deer Crest Trail. The first portion of the trail is through the trees with a fun twisting and turning singeltrack with a few rocks and roots to pop little airs off of. Its bit dark and shaded, so it looks scary but is a fun section. The trail then heads out on the cat track along the ridge of Deer Crest and you'll see views down to the Jordanelle Reservoir. Then the trail gets really fun. From here it goes back to a single track that is fast and smooth. It feels like riding a roller coaster! You can really let the bike go, as few people ever go up this route. This trail eventually drops you down just past the St. Regis Hotel. Shortly after that you can drop down at this point into the Snow Park Lodge area. Of all the downhill trails in Park City, this has always been one of my favorite routes down as it can be so fast, smooth and just plain fun.

Photos of the Deer Crest Trail:

    

    

These three trails are a couple of my favorites, and can be linked together for a great big ride that loops from the far end of Park City ski resort to Deer Valley and back down into the center of town. If you are planning to do a few rides and want a few suggestions, just give us a call or email. You can purchase the trail maps at any of the bike shops in Park City for $5 donation.

A Great Recommended Hike in Park City

For hiking it can actually be fun to hike some of the ridges nearby even if there is still snow. I recently had my nephew visit from Arizona, and we hiked up the ridge on Peak 10,420 located at the top of Guardsman Pass. He rarely sees snow and at age ten, it was a blast to hike up in snow, being that we were in June with sunny warm weather. For this hike we brought along snowshoes and hiked up the trail along the ridgeline until we got to a large snowfield at the upper portion of the ridge. From that point we used the snowshoes. It was a fun experience, and the views up there are amazing. The trail is easy enough to find, as it is at the top of Guardsman Pass. You can drive up either from the Park City side, or up Big Cottonwood Canyon if you are coming up from Salt Lake City.

Sean Matyja - Realtor® / Associate Broker
Mobile: (435) 901-2158 | Email: sean@enjoyparkcity.com 

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