I was in Snowbird all week teaching our clients about our software and
coding (my regular gig) as much as I could when not in a class. It
didn't seem like I'd be able to squeeze much riding in, but I jumped at
the chance to put my bike on a coworker's car and have it waiting for me
when I flew in on Sunday.
I got in about mid day on Sunday and saw there was an Oktoberfest
celebration going on at the resort. Hmmm. Beer or riding. It was a tough
call but I chose riding since beer is still good after sundown. Sunday
was the only day I was to have much time, so I inquired about
singletrack at the Activities Center and picked up a map. It turns out
there isn't much singletrack right at Snowbird. The girl at the center
told me it was the result of strict Forest Service regulations.
So I set out on what little singletrack there was near the base and
connect that to the Whitepine Lake trail. It's mostly a two track that
climbs a few Miles (and at least a couple thousand feet) up to a lake. I
had a meeting at 4:00 and it was a little after 1:00 when I finally hit
dirt. I explored a little before hitting the climb because there looked
to be more singletrack in a couple of places but none of it really
panned out, so up I went.
This was a very steep climb, and I stayed in the middle ring as I could
but dropped into the little rings here and there when the grade (or my
legs) required it. I saw quite a few hikers but no other bikes. There
were some bike tracks visible so I know it has been ridden. Several of
the hikers expressed surprise at a bike being there because it's such a
steep trail. "Is this as hard as it looks on a mountain bike?" someone
asked. "Yes." I replied.
I climbed for a couple of hours only stopping to answer the call of
nature or to occasionally dab. The two track got quite technical in
spots, climbing steeply through scree, baby heads, and the occasional
creek crossing.
Finally, I realized I was going to need to turn around before the lake.
I didn't want to be late for my meeting, and work was why I was there so
after what seemed like the 12th false summit, I turned back and
descended. After talking with my roommate later, I was really close to
the lake once I reached the steep scree portion. Oh, well.
The following night I just rode cat tracks up to the Mid Gad restaurant.
I actually went a little farther, but the tracks just go straight up the
steep mountain and it's slow going. Then the lack of singletrack for a
fun descent just made it a slog that was alright, but not something I'd
choose over any of my typical daily rides. I saw a doe and fawn up above
Mid Gad and took in the spectacular views before heading back down to
the Gad Two lift, realizing I had to backtrack a while, and then
descending down a wide singletrack/narrow two track route to the base.
After several very busy (and conveniently, rainy) days I finally got
another chance to ride on Friday after we were all done teaching. I was
high with the feeling of relief and decided to head up to Alta via a
paved road. Once I got to Alta (maybe a couple Miles of steep road
climbing) I went through the upper parking lot and began to climb a cat
track, with the goal of finding Secret Lake somewhere up above. The
climb was nice. It was cool, and the pitch, although still what I'd call
steep was a little more tolerable than what I did at Snowbird. The area
is spectacular high alpine, and it made me look forward to coming back
and ski when the snow's deep. The road made some switchbacks and there
appeared to be some singletracks peeling off every now and then, but a
little investigation led me to believe they were only game trails. As
time went on, I decided that once I summited a ridge I could see, I'd
turn back if I hadn't found the lake or a singletrack by then. I climbed
the last few hundred yards out of the saddle and it felt great. As I
crested, suddenly I could see the lake in front of me, tucked behind the
ridge. Cool! It was a very pretty little high alpine lake with a
singletrack circumnavigating it. I decided to follow the trail, which
was very technical and rocky - good stuff. I heard voices, and when I
came out from behind some tight brush I could see I wasn't alone. Rock
climbers were on a nearby wall, and hikers were coming and going from
the lake, presumably from a wedding sight I had seen in a meadow from an
overlook earlier. The trail continued down from the little lake with
some wonderfully technical ledge drops and switchbacks. I walked a
couple of moves that combined the two with what I figured would be a
very high penalty for failure. Most of them were relatively safe to
ride, but required wheelie drops to avoid tasting the bedrock that made
up much of the trail surface. Then things flattened out a little and it
was swoopy banked dirt from there back to the road I started on near the
base of the mountain. I was psyched to have finally found some good
singletrack and wish I had been riding Alta all week!
All in all it was a good week for working much of it. Three rides in a
busy work week is pretty good for me. Now I'm back home and happy to be
here and back with the family. I took a long SS ride yesterday and it
really felt like home (hurt so good).
Matt