We like Park City. Jolene and I have been there several times for our anniversary. This year I took a day off work (yesterday) and we went there to ride.
We did a variation of the ride we did with Andy and Rhonda last year. We drove to the gate at the end of Daly Avenue (in Daly Canyon) and headed up the dirt road.
How do you instill confidence in your riding partner when you have a somewhat tricky route you want to navigate? Take the wrong turn at the first junction. Fortunately there was a good trail (see photo below) to take us over to the trail I wanted to start on.
So, up the mellow Ontario Bypass which crosses the paved road then climbs a bit steeper up to Mid Mountain.
I must mention that we immediately noticed how green it was. Whereas down in the valley the grass has dried to tan, the mountains are all green.
We took Mid Mountain out the upper north side of Deer Valley. Good trail - cross the paved road again, fairly flat, in and out of trees.
As Mid Mountain crosses Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) its more up and down. There was some work going on - thinning Aspens with chainsaws (I'd guess to open it up for skiing) and laying pipe for snow making.
Our plan was to take Mid Mountain to the ridge on the north side of Thayne's Canyon, but the trail has been rerouted about a half mile before the rocky top of the ridge. So we decided to see what this reroute looked like and where it went.
The reroute goes farther out (lower on) the ridge, passes under the cliff band, then turns north and cross over to the north knoll and switchbacks up it before sidehilling around to the south and connecting back into Mid Mountain proper. We went out a ways then turned around and came back. It's not bad for being cut this Spring, but pretty rough and it adds more elevation gain and loss.
We ate lunch at this switchback on the reroute.
Coming back Jolene passes the cliff band.
Back into PCMR we took Mid Mountain back to the old mining area near the Payday & Town lifts.
We turned off onto Empire Link. We love this trail. It has banked turns and many little humps you can get a little air off of. This trail put smiles on our faces.
We finished off with Lower des Suds then some dirt road back to the car.
25 miles of excellent single-track with my favorite riding partner. I'm a lucky man.
After the ride we ate Italian-style pizza at Cafe Galleria in Midway. The pizza was delicious and not expensive. We wanted gelato for desert, but they were out.
A very good day.
The End
2 years ago
3 comments:
How does an italian place run out of Gelato? Thats a crime! My anniversaries dont result in singletrack. But, they end in other good ways. Looks like a good time.
Nate, I know, how could they do that to us? We saw gelato listed on the menu and thought of it while we ate the pizza. It was to be the finishing touch. But no, our plan was frustrated. But I'll try to focus on the 95% of the day that was awesome.
If I pick up gelato at the Super Harmons will it make it home for my dear wife to enjoy?
Those are some gorgeous photos of the trails at PCMR! Glad you enjoyed yourself.
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