American Fork Canyon Trails

[accadacca]

@tallsteve or others might have the line on this. Wondering which trails are groomed in the winter and how the trails are in general?

[tallsteve]

AF Canyon has become quite the fatbike destination. There are several options, routes and starting points. If you've never fatbiked it before, start at the Pine Hollow trailhead parking lot (where the gate closes SR92 for the winter) and just pedal up the road. The road gets groomed after every storm and packed down by snowmobiles. You can stay on the road all the way to the summit. From there you can go down the backside toward Sundance (you'll have to pedal back up if you do) or, if the trails have been packed down by snowshoe traffic you can head out on Ridge #157 and go all the way back down to the parking lot via 157 and the Pine Hollow 047 trails. It's a hoot if it's been packed down. If you don't want to pedal all the way to the summit you can cut off on the #150 trail then take the Pine Hollow trail back down. The Forest Service and some local fatbikers are also pulling a groomer and making a path in the Timpooneke area on the #180, #151 and #150 trails. A couple of other routes guys are taking is parking at Tibble, pedal up the Mineral Basin road about a 1/4 mile then crossing the foot bridge and going up the Mill Canyon #040 trail, then cutting over on #173 and coming back down Tibble Fork #041. That route gets plenty packed by snowshoers. I've also just pedaled up the road to Silver Lake Flat reservoir. That's pretty fun if it's been packed by snowmobiles and the snow isn't too soft.

[accadacca]

How are the trails up AF? When might they be rideable?

[tallsteve]

There is still 2' of snow at the Summit so, not any time soon. The trails are under the annual Springtime wet trails closure for now, which means only foot traffic is allowed. Memorial Day weekend has typically been the opening day, not only for the trails but for the gates as well. In about 2 weeks from now, my buddy and I will start going up to clear and chainsaw out the winter deadfall and do drainage control. I'll keep you posted.

[tallsteve]

I went up and installed the Trail closed signs yesterday afternoon at the trailheads I could get to. My buddy and I have hiked several miles of the trail system over the past couple of weeks and things are progressing nicely. Compared to past years, the deadfall that will need to be chainsawed out is low.

[tallsteve]

More trail work last Saturday. I went up with three Rangers to chainsaw out a bunch of tricky deadfall on the Upper Pine Hollow #047 trail. One widowmaker took about an hour to cut out. Quite dangerous. So far, we've cut out and cleared about 10 miles of trail. Still a bunch more to go.

[tallsteve]

All AF Canyon trails are now open! The entire Tibble Fork Trail will only be open for another 2 weeks then the bottom half will be closed for the summer so ride it now. The bottom half (from the Mud Springs trail intersection to the dam) will be closed due to the Tibble Fork reservoir dam reconstruction. There won't be any access to the trailhead. Another route option will be to ride down the upper half of Tibble to the Mud Springs intersection then turn right on Mud Springs and go over to and down the Mill Canyon trail. I like this route better anyway.

[tallsteve]

I just need to have my GoPro on me and running whenever I mtn. bike AF Canyon. Saw 2 mountain lions on the #252 trail yesterday at about 4:30pm. They were on the trail, 10' in front of me not far after the Ewok Forest section (coincidentally, they were about 10 yards away from the exact spot where the bear chased me last summer). I scared them just as badly as they scared me! The one took a flying leap off the trail to my left and went crashing down slope through the brush while the other one ran down the trail in front of me for a good 10 yards before bounding up-slope to my right. Yeah, I'm still a bit freaked out. Be careful out thee folks!