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Wasatch Crest Trail
http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/wasatch.htm
The Wasatch Crest Trail runs along the high ridge between Big Cottonwood Canyon and Park City, then descends via Mill Creek Canyon.
Riders and bikes are loaded at or near the Park and Ride on 3900 South Wasatch Blvd.
After a beautiful 30 drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon, riders are dropped at the Guardsman Pass parking lot.
Your ride starts Scott's Bypass trail. Scott's Bypass is 1.4 miles, descending 200 vertical feet (with a bit of climbing in the middle).
The singletrack ends at Scott's Pass above Shadow Lake.
At Scott's Pass, take the doubletrack on your left heading uphill. You are now on the way to Puke Hill, the final brute climb to the Crest. It's 350 vertical feet in 1/2 mile, with the steepest part at the highest altitude. The name Puke Hill was not chosen arbitrarily.
On the ridge there will be singletrack to your right. That's Pine Cone Ridge. To continue on the Crest, veer left along the ridge on doubletrack trail. After the second transmission shack, it converts to single track.
The trail rolls up and down, with fabulous views of the granite peaks southward in Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood canyons on your left. Occasionally, you'll see a bit of the Park City area to your right.
Into late summer, the trail is surrounded by sticky geranium, wild flax, paintbrush, daisy, wild rose, and arnica. Later in the season, currants, rose hips, and elderberry provide color as the leaves turn yellow.
Until you drop into north Mill Creek Canyon, every inch of the trail has a fabulous view extending over miles of alpine landscape.
Above Desolation Lake, the sharp fin of rock called The Spine is a challenge for the very best riders. The ridge is a col, a fin left standing between two glaciers as they ate into the mountain towards each other (there's a glacial cirque and lake on either side of the fin).
Keep right at the trail fork just below The Spine (left goes down to Desolation Lake and Mill D North Fork). Now motor on toward Mill Creek Canyon, stopping occasionally for the views. This section of the trail (Mill Creek Canyon) is open to mountain bikers on even days only.
Keep to the left at the intersection with the Crest Connector. Follow the trail signs down Mill Creek Canyon to the Lower Big Water Trail. (Alternate: shorter steeper descent down Red Pine Road Trail.) The official ride ends in the parking lot in upper Mill Creek Canyon. Coast down the road to your shuttle vehicle.
An option (our personal favorite) is to catch the Mill Creek Pipeline at Elbow Fork 4 miles down the road. Ride the Pipeline Trail to Rattlesnake Gulch, then run out the bottom of the canyon.
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