AdamFehr.com Blog

After a busy morning of work at the Park City bread and Bagel, Tracker, Hobbes, and I met Mike and Gold for some mountain biking around Round Valley.  We hopped on at the Cove Trailhead in park Meadows and meanered aimlessly on the confusing network of trails that makes up round valley.  We rode various sections of Lah-De-Duh, Round Valley Loop, Rambler, Nowhere Elks, Somewhere Elks, Val(something) Road, Cammy’s Trail, and Radman Ridge.  The best section was the trail that made its way from the Cove Trailhead to the Cove swimming pool.  Nice day for a bike ride and a swim.  Than I got a call to go cliff jumping with Conrad…

We got quite the posse together for a day of downhill riding at Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR).  Sam, Mike, Darren, Jarred, and I started the day with a nice 30-minute lift ride on Pay Day.  The lifts have to go slow enough for the alpine sliders to unload, thus making a full lift ride almost unbearably long.  Frustrations with the lift speed quickly goes away when you imagine how long it would take to ride up the trails instead.

John’s Trail - Our first run was on John’s Trail, which starts downhill just feet from the top of Pay Day.  The trail starts out switchbacking the hillside before dropping into a dense aspen forest.  The aspens get pretty tight as you pick your way over ruts and around corners as the aspens gradually give way to more and more pine trees.  The pine tree section is the most open and fastest section of the trail.  The pine section becomes more technical upon reaching Sweeney’s Switchbacks.  The rest of the ride is pretty rocky and technical until the final runout to Town Lift.  Not a bad trail.  Technical in spots, fast and fun in others.

Empire Link - Our second ride started with a short climb from Town Lift to the Mid-Mountain Trail.  We then dropped down to Empire Link for a little traversing through the woods and across a creek.  The next section is one of my favorite places to ride in Park City.  We wound our way through an aspen grove moving quickly over a bunch of small jumps and around corners before dropping onto Lower DeSuds, just below Lady Morgan Express.  We followed Empire Link on a decent climb towards Deer Valley.  We reached a spot where the cottownood pollen in the air looked like a snowstorm, even accumulating across the trail in sections.  We followed a rocky, steep trail back into Old Town Park City, down Main Street to Town Lift.  The combination of the fun aspen riding and our high-speed run down Main Street Park City made this trail one of my favorite biking experiences this season.

Trestle Trail - Mike and Darren took off on an ill-fated trek back to Jeremy Ranch via Mid Mountain Trail.  Sam, Jared, and I decided to ride Trestle Trail back to PCMR.  The trail parallels Drift and Town Lift for the first little while, becoming more difficult as the trail switchbacks on some steep, unbanked corners.  The trail eventually meets up with John’s Trail and Sweeney’s Switchbacks.  We followed Sweeney’s down a muddy creekbed, occasionally stopping to duck under or climb over some downed trees (or in my case, get trapped under a tree that fell on top of me as I slide under it).  From here we rode out onto Empire Avenue and back to the car waiting for us in the parking lot.  A good ride that could be a lot of fun once the creekbed is cleared of downed aspens.

Fun day.  I guess it’s no Deer Valley or Whistler, but we had a lot of fun riding the PCMR downhill trails.  It was free with our winter season passes, worth every penny.

Sam and I went for another ride last Monday evening.  With Tracker and Hobbes following closely behind, we left my house and made the climb to the top of the Avenues.  Upon reaching the end of the line, we decided to explore the trails on the backside of the hill.  Previous attempts to explore the trails had been thwarted by slow-to-melt snow drifts and rain/mud.

The trail was in good shape between the Avenues and the cell towers at the top of Parley’s Summit.  The last climb to the fireroad gate was rough, but not enough to kill the idea to ride west along the ridge following the Great Western/Donner Party/Mormon Trail.

The trail from the cell towers to the lookout point above Mountain Dell was a blast.  A little overgrown, but fast and fun. The four of us eventually reached the top of the lookout point and we stopped for a few minutes to take pictures of the Salt Lake Valley below.

Hobbes looking to attack Salt Lake.

The 5 mile ride back home was a blast.  Lots of winding trails before the cell towers.  Some steep technical rock dodging after the towers.  A fast straightaway section back to Upper Moose Trail.  And, of course, a ride down the best trail in the area, The Avenues.

One of my favorite rides of the year so far.  But boy my dogs were tired.  Tracker especially.

I went for another ride last Sunday.  Up to the Avenues, back down, down Amazon, back up, three laps on the jump at the top of Amazon, up Parley’s Lane to the pond, down the muddy trail next to I-80 to the bigger pond, and again onto the loop back to the house.  Check out some of my cool pictures.

Me, with Hobbes in the background.

Yes. I took this picture with a self-timer. I must have gotten distracted as the picture was taken, thus drawing my attention to something off in the distance.

This time I forgot the timer was on and started walking across a log.

Hobbes looks classier in black and white.

I went for a bike ride last week.  Following the well-documented spell of bad weather in Park City, I was finally able to make a full tour of the Avenues.  The trail was in good shape for the amount of moisture in the ground.  Just enough to make the trail grippy with some fun mud puddles in the dips and switchbacks.

I did a full lap and made my way home via a muddy Moose Trail and a moose-free Amazon Trail.

A couple hours later, Sam stopped by the house before a ride up the Avenues.  I decided to join him for a quick ride to the halfway sign and back down.

Good day of biking.  Best day of riding in awhile.

I rode my 19th day last week.  I don’t remember where I went, but it must have been muddy.  My best guess is that I rode up to the Avenues… wait, yeah, I rode to the halfway point of the Avenues and rode down.  I didn’t have water, cell phone, gloves, helmet, anything.  In fact, I hadn’t planned to ride more than a few feet up the trail.

Anyways, I took it easy on the way down and had a great time doing some real mountain biking for the first time in too long.

Hobbes swimming after a bike ride