Mountain Bike: Park City. Jared Hargrave

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      Sharing the Union Pacific Rail Trail (Route 7) with cows as the route passes through a working ranch (Photo by Eric Ghanem)

       Technical Difficulty

      Routes are categorized into one of four levels of difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert. It is very important to know your own skill level when choosing a route to ride. However, sometimes the technical sections of any given trail are short, and you can walk your bike around them. The Spine on the Wasatch Crest (Route 36) is a great example. Most of the Wasatch Crest is intermediate, but I label it advanced because of that one technical section. It’s up to you to decide what is rideable and what warrants a dismount to hike-a-bike.

      Beginner: Easy rides with few or no obstacles. The trails are wide, smooth, and flat. There are also no steep sections.

      Intermediate: Routes are rougher and narrower, with smaller, unavoidable obstacles that are easy to roll over. Intermediate trails can also be steeper. The vast majority of routes in Park City fall under this category.

      Advanced: Narrow and uneven trail tread combined with steeper grades and larger obstacles like rock drops, large roots, and tight corners with loose soil. These routes require advanced skills to clean safely.

      Expert: The most difficult trails with very steep grades, continuous uneven tread, large drops, challenging rock gardens, and big, unavoidable jumps. These types of routes are mostly found in lift-served bike parks where body armor and full-face helmets are recommended.

       Fitness Intensity

      This category is based on a scale of effort to complete a route, quantified by mileage and elevation gain. Some trails are short but steep, while others are very long, but without much climbing. To come up with the fitness rating, I always choose the more difficult rating between mileage and vertical. Again, these ratings are subjective and dependent on a rider’s individual fitness level.

      •Easy: 10 miles or less and/or 1000 or less feet of vertical gain

      •Moderate: 10–15 miles and/or 1000 to 2000 feet of vertical gain

      •Strenuous: 15–25 miles and/or 2000 to 3000 feet of vertical gain

      •Very Strenuous: 25–plus miles and/or over 3000 feet of vertical gain

       SEASON

      Because of Park City’s elevation and mountainous terrain, bike season generally runs from late spring until mid-autumn. Some lower-elevation trails are rideable in early spring, while the highest trails don’t open until July. I’ve indicated the best time of year to ride each route, but that may vary based on the weather and snowpack of any given year.

       MAP

      Each route in this book includes a simple topographic map, but it’s always a good idea to supplement with other maps. Every year, Mountain Trails Foundation publishes an updated trail map of the entire Park City network; it’s the best map to bring on your ride if you want to link the routes in this book with other trails. The Adventure Maps Salt Lake City, Park City, and the Wasatch is another good resource. If you cannot find another resource, I’ve included the name of the USGS 7.5-minute TOPO maps that encompass each route.

       GPS COORDINATES

      The GPS coordinates listed in this category are for a route’s trailhead. Each coordinate is listed in degrees, minutes, and decimal seconds using the WGS84 datum (for example: 40˚36'24.65"N, 111˚33'17.95"W).

       BEYOND THE ROUTE DATA

      The Overview section describes the route and what you can expect. Getting There provides basic driving directions from a major intersection in the nearest town. The Mileage Log details every intersection and point of interest on the route. Options offers alternatives to the highlighted route.

      Park City and the surrounding area are lousy with singletrack. There are over 400 miles of nonmotorized trails for mountain bikers to enjoy. If you look at a trail map, you’ll get heart palpitations trying to figure out what to ride. So in this book, I’ve highlighted what I consider to be the best rides within this massive, mind-boggling network. However, with so many cross trails and options, there is no limit to how these trails can be explored. I offer this guidebook as a starting point. Use it to learn the trails, then go out and discover your own favorite ways to ride the best mountain biking trail system in the world.