Dutch Hollow

Saturday Jolene and I spent a few hours riding up at Dutch Hollow State Park near Midway. The trails are pretty good and we enjoyed connecting up routes. This was Jolene's 4th time riding Dutch Hollow and my first.

The weather threatened, but we didn't get rained on and the leaves had some good color.


(Dutch Hollow brochure PDF)

From the parking lot we went up Cottontail and out to the Heber Valley Overlook. Then we went up Sage and down Aqueduct to take my first run down The Barrel which goes down a gully banking up on the sides (similar to Rodeo at Lambert Park but bigger). Next we went up Dutchman Way then down Aqueduct and The Barrel again. Looped back up Sage and Aqueduct to hit The Barrel the 3rd time. Finally we went up Sage and Aqueduct and descended Dutchman Way.

Jolene riding down Aqueduct


Taking a big bank on The Barrel


Riding the upper line after the big bank


Catching some air on the lower half of The Barrel


Jolene passing a bright red maple as she comes up Dutchman Way


Ruddy red Gambel Oak lining Dutchman Way


Hearing dead leaves crunch under the tires - one of the joys of Fall riding


I liked riding Dutch Hollow. The trails are mostly buff cruisers with moderate climbing/descending with a few technical features. There are enough trails to keep things interesting as we connected them together to make up routes on the fly.

We skipped all the higher trails because Jolene feels they aren't very good. Burnt Ridge is an old double-track that's not very interesting - better to take Cottontail and Sage. 1000 Turns and Enchanted Forest are overgrown and don't flow due to all the sharp turns. Gobblers Gulch is a trench. Boneyard is OK but isolated.

I managed to crash. Operator error on a sideslope coming down The Barrel. I slid out. It did burp the front tubeless tire - that's a first for me. I added some more air and had no issues for the rest of the ride.

From Orem it took us 1/2 hour to get there. It was worth the drive to try some new trails. The trails aren't much different or any better than those in the foothills or Corner Canyon, Lambert Park or Glenwild so it I can't see myself riding Dutch Hollow more than once or twice a year. But if I lived in the Heber Valley I'd ride these trails a lot.