Freewheel Burning

    Thursday was our last day in Park City before we would depart for Moab. With more rain coming in the late evening yesterday, it was yet another damp morning. There was a lot of fog hanging over the Reservoir, which made for some great views and photos.

    We started early again today, heading over to Deer Valley again to explore an area down by Snowpark. Shannon was still tired from Tuesday's ride, but she did well with the large amount of climbing we did. It was all uphill from Snowpark. We rode the Pipeline Trails, which took us up one of the smaller mountains near Jordanelle and gave us a great view of the Reservoir.

Climbing

Switchback

The sun popped out by the time we hit the Outlook trail

Riding Outlook

Nice view of the Jordanelle Reservoir from the Outlook trail

Following Shannon back down the mountain

Video: Highlights of our morning ride on the Pipeline Trails at Deer Valley

     After the ride, we zipped back over to the campground to pack up the tent that had now dried in the sun. The plan for the afternoon was to hit the Canyons Resort and explore their bike park. The website said they were open from 1-5pm only. I was disappointed that I could only get in 4 hours since it was $27 for a day pass for the bike lift. We get there to find out that the hours were incorrect online. It was open 10am-4pm. Now I had less than 3 hours to ride! They told me I must have been on the wrong website. I checked it again when we got back to Gma's that night and they had changed the whole website over to prepare for the winter ski season so I had no proof for my argument. I did however notice that there was a 2-for-1 special for the bike lift passes. We initially intended to get Shannon a lift ticket, but after hearing the price, she decided just to hang out in the village while I rode. It would've been nice if they had told me about the special. We could have both ridden. I almost didn't buy myself a ticket because I was sort of ticked off, but Shannon went ahead and got me one. She said that I had talked about the bike park the entire drive out here to Utah and she was not about to let me miss out on it. One of the many reasons why I love my wife!

     Needless to say, I was displeased with my initial interactions at Canyons. It was a long ride on the main lift to get up to the bike park area. Then I hopped onto another lift to take me to the top of the bike park where several obstacle-filled trails awaited. I could see several lines from the lift and it was clear that this bike park was for real. The most advanced trail, Rally Cat, was full of pro-level freeride features like 15 foot wall rides and 30+ foot gap jumps. I haven't done any serious freeriding on my Remedy in almost 2 years and I will admit that I was scared to death.

Riding the lift

Wall ride on Rally Cat

Some wood on Wild Mouse

     I started with the intermediate-level trail, Wild Mouse. This trail was still sort of advanced for me, but it was a great confidence-builder. There were some big jumps, but they all had built-in fail-safes in case you came up short on the gap. The jumps were more like huge rollers with a lip on the face. There were some massive berms and a few wooden features to test your skills including a few drops and one wooden platform built around a giant boulder.

Big berm

Rider crossing over the boulder obstacle. Very cool idea.

Wooden obstacle in the distance

     Since I only had 2 hours to ride, I spent all my time on Wild Mouse just getting the feel of hitting big jumps and drops. I ran the GoPro on my full-face helmet a few runs, but mostly just took the opportunity to enjoy some good quality freeriding. I was able to clear all the jumps by the end of the ride. I did miss out on at least one run after flatting from casing a gap jump. That took a few minutes to change, but then I was back in business.

Getting me bike from the friendly lift operator

      After the lift closed, I played around in one of the skills areas for a while, hitting some big drops and tabletop jumps. Then I found a Holly's Trail that took the long way back down to the resort, heading downhill for much of the way. What started as a frustrating visit to Canyons turned into an awesome experience. I hope I get to go back really soon and spend a full day hitting all the freeride trails.

Wild Mouse

Big berms on the upper part of Wild Mouse

Video: Riding at Canyons Resort

     After Canyons, we stopped by the Park City Dirt Jump Park before heading back to Gmas in West Jordan. The rain had soaked the sandy jump park, but a few lines were still rideable. There were two kids hanging out when we got there. They were hitting some pretty big jumps. I had fun watching them in between my runs. It was hard to get the momentum up on a big full-suspension, but after a few minutes I figured out how to pump efficiently and began to clear the jumps and get some height. It was the first time I have ever hit real, properly-shaped dirt jumps. I loved it! There were tons of lines in the park, including some unbelievable Pro lines that I'd love to see someone ride. Park City truly is bike heaven.

Park City Dirt Jump Park

One of the kids tearing up the jumps

Another little shredder

Throwing in a little look back as the confidence builds

My favorite pair of shadows

Video: Riding the Park City Dirt Jump Park

    We ended the day back at Gmas where we washed clothes and bikes, and charged our electronics to prepare for a departure to Moab the next day. The desert awaits...

Black Forest

     Wednesday morning started wet again. It wasn't raining once the sun came up, but it was still very wet all around. We decided to try making powdered eggs on the camp stove. I had never eaten powdered eggs before and was a bit skeptical. They turned out ok. I couldn't tell much difference in the taste, but the texture was a little strange. They still went well on tortillas for breakfast wraps on the way over to the trail.

    The plan today was for a double ride. We had lunch plans with Shannon's Aunt and Uncle, so I hit the trail early. Shannon took me over to Deer Valley. She was worn out from yesterday's Silver Creek adventure, so she shuttled me up the mountain where I caught the Corvair trail over to T&G, which is a long black-diamond trail behind the Empire Lodge.

Snow in the distance from the top of Corvair

Aspen chapel atop the mountain

    Shannon occupied herself reading and doing Sudoku in the car while I explored a new part of  the Deer Valley area. I went West today, staying higher up on the mountain to catch some of the black-diamond, backwoods trails that are further away from the main lodges. I found some steep climbs up the ski slope on dirt roads that connected me to the tougher trails of Fat Lip and Weber's Trail. Fat Lip was cool, twisting it's way through a dark area of thick evergreens. I felt like I was riding through a fairy tale forest. It was creepy and super exciting all at the same time. Some of the trail was very difficult and I had to walk a few of the climbs. Weber's was more downhill than Fat Lip. It wound its way through the forest and dropped me back at the bottom of the ski slope I climbed earlier.

Looking down on a fog-covered Park City

Initial part of Corvair

    I had to climb the slope again, going farther up the mountain this time to catch the Black Forest Trail. It was appropriately named. The forest was so thick that very little light came through. It was a rugged trail, full of steep, rooty descents with drops around every corner. The path was true singletrack, sometimes just wide enough for me to fit through. And the dirt was a rich black color that gave excellent grip while also providing a good spray of roost in fast corners. I enjoyed being so far out in the forest. I saw more wildlife there including some huge mule deer. I never saw another person during the ride. The terrain was difficult which is what I was looking for here in Utah.

Passing by Powder Monkey on my way up the ski slope

Taking the steep dirt road up to Black Forest

Entering Black Forest

    I got lost on the way back to meet Shannon at Empire. Somewhere along the long descent I took a wrong turn and wound up way down the mountain. Then I couldn't figure out how to get to a spot where Shannon could pick me up. I went down some gnarly, gnarly, gnarly trails before I found my way to Park City. There were many spots that were so steep and muddy that I couldn't even begin to think about attempting to ride them. We finally met up on Main Street in the middle of Park City. I cleaned up and got changed on the way over to Zupa's to meet Aunt Laura and Uncle Duane. We were a bit late, but still had plenty of time to eat and catch up. It was my first time meeting them so there were plenty of get-to-know-you questions.

Checking the map

Passed some abandoned buildings on my way down the mountain

Video: Chest cam highlights from my morning ride on Day 3

     In the afternoon, we returned to Deer Valley, this time back to Silver Lake and Bald Mountain where I had ridden on Monday. Shannon wanted to hike and I was wanting to do some filming, so she hiked along with me as I rode. We stopped often on the stunts to film and play.

Lila's Liar Trail

Climbing up Homeward Bound Trail

Log ride

Contemplating this stunt on Homeward Bound. In case you are wondering, I didn't do it. Landing was a bit too tricky for me.

Yellow aspens along Homeward Bound

Riding stumps on Homeward Bound

Another rider enjoying the nice day on the other side of Ontario Canyon

This pair of tabletops near the top of Homeward Bound were my favorite jumps of the while trip. So perfectly built.

     Shannon ended up walking all the way up to the Heber City overlook very near the top of Bald Mountain. We had heard some booming on our way up. The sky was clear so I thought it was machinery from nearby construction, but once we got to the top, we saw a huge thunderstorm rolling just to our east through the Heber Valley. We stood in the sun over 8,000 ft up and watched the thunderstorm pass through the valley below us. It was cool to watch the clouds move and see the lightning bolts shoot toward the ground. I climbed all the the way to the very top of Bald Mountain today, unlike on Monday. It was an awesome view from the summit of 9,323 ft. I could see Heber City and was looking down on the Jordanelle Reservoir. I could even see our campground getting rained on.

Criss-crossing trails on Bald Mountain

Watching the storm pass through the Heber Valley

     The temperature dropped on our way down the mountain, but the rain stayed away. The distant black clouds made the fall colors even brighter. It was a beautiful ride down.We explored some new trails including Super G, Bermy, G.S. Trees and Twist & Shout. We looked for, and found, some tame lines so Shannon would be able to ride down the next day.

Contemplating never going back down the mountain. It's just too nice up here...

Climbing the switchbacks up to the tip-top of Bald Mountain

Descending on Super G

Getting some air on Super G

Super G

Bermy

Rocks on Twist & Shout

Berm cut into the mountainside on Twist & Shout

Beautiful shot of the Deer Valley Resorts as the sun peaks out of the clouds at sunset

Dark clouds drawing near

     After the drive, we drove down into Heber City for dinner. Aunt Laura and Uncle Duane recommended we hit Granny's Drive-In because they have some famous thick milkshakes. "Thick" was an understatement. It was some of the richest and best tasting ice cream I have ever put in my mouth! I loved it! Their burgers and fries were beyond good as well. Granny's is now on my all-time favorites list.

     The night ended with more rain. We looked over pictures and videos from the day's rides, then went to bed early. I think we went to bed at 8 every night because we were so worn out and it was raining. We slept almost too good and woke up fully rested at 2am. I had to get up and watch a movie one night just to kill time until I got sleepy again. We still had one more day to go in Park City. I think part of my sleeping difficulty was that I couldn't wait to get some more forest miles in my legs! 

Video: Highlights of the afternoon ride at Deer Valley