Fort Canyon Riding Area
Alpine's Three Falls Fort Canyon plus EZ Breezy,
new DH, and Last Chance trails
The Fort Canyon riding area has plenty of great riding, but it's not
crowded. That's because the area is relatively new and undiscovered. And
the massed riders of Corner Canyon find it
a very long ride to link up and ride back. This page will discuss rides
easily reached from the Fort Canyon Ranch trailhead. See the area overview
page for links to other area trail pages.
Rolling a turn on EZ Breezy, a downhill-only flow
trail near Fort Canyon. Original photos and trail notes April 28, 2018 by Bruce.
Latest update April 18, 2022.
Three Falls Trail (Fort Canyon Section)
The Fort Canyon section of Three Falls trail connects the Three
Falls Ranch trailhead in Fort Canyon to Vista
Ridge, Last Chance (see below) and the Bodily Harm trail on the
ridgeline. It then continues through Fort Canyon to link up with Forbidden
before becoming the Draper section of Three Falls. To the Bodily Harm
junction, it's 1.4 miles with 500 vertical feet of elevation change. At
mile 2.3, the Three Falls trail reaches the Forbidden trail junction then
continues westbound toward Draper.
Fort Canyon trailhead. Bathroom, huge paved parking
lot. The outbound trail is just to the left of the bathroom in this photo.
As you drive or pedal up Fort Canyon, turn right at mile
0.9, just as you're approaching the entry to Three Falls. Take the first
left into the public trailhead parking. The trail begins to the left of
the bathroom building.
View to the southwest, with Utah Lake and Lake
Mountain in the distance. To the right is the Fort Canyon road.
After flirting with the fences of adjacent private property,
the Fort Canyon trail climbs uphill. The terrain is sage with small stands
of gambel oak and occasional maple.
You'll enjoy frequent views of Lone Peak, Little
Matterhorn,
and Chipman Peak ahead of your handlebars as you climb. (Far left, Lone
Peak. Left, Little Matterhorn. Middle, Chipman.)
There are two trail forks off the Three Falls trail before you reach the
Bodily Harm trail at mile 1.4. The first is the Vista Ridge trail at mile
0.8, on your right as you climb. This trail crosses the ridge and descends
to Heritage Hills and Stoney Way.
The next trail fork is at mile 1.1 as you climb. To the right is the EZ
Breezy trail (see below). This trail descends through upper Big Hollow and
climbs up to Bodily Harm.
At mile 1.4, fork right to head downhill on Bodily Harm to
Alpine Cove, or keep left for Three Falls or to connect to Forbidden.
Arrowleaf balsamroot blooms in the April sunshine. On
the far right, Box Elder Peak appears as we climb higher.
The Three Falls trail will now begin to drop into upper Fort Canyon. It
descends through a series of turns before
approaching the homes of Three Falls and the Fort Canyon road. You'll be losing almost 200 vertical
feet of your climbing.
Crossing the ridge between Utah Valley and Fort
Canyon, with Lone Peak forming a picturesque background.
Across the valley, you'll see a ribbon of pine trees in a ravine
descending the slope of Lone Peak. That's the main creek. After you get
through the subdivision, you'll climb to the
bridge across that creek.
Looking across upper Fort Canyon. I've noted the
location of the continuing trail. The brown smudge through the middle of
the photo is the construction area.
At mile 0.9 from the junction with Bodily Harm, the trail starts to climb uphill
again through in a forest of mixed maple and pine. You'll go around a
couple of switchbacks.
Riding through maple groves as we approach the Three
Falls road in Fort Canyon.
When you reach the Fort Canyon road, go straight across to the trail on the opposite side
and begin climbing.
Climb through a couple of turns. As the trail straightens and heads
toward the big ravine, you'll see a trail
on your right. This is the Forbidden trail, which can take you back to the Alpine
Cove trailhead in a loop ride. (There's a second connector from Forbidden
that joins just uphill. Keep straight if you're heading for Draper.)
Riding through the balsam root near the ridgeline
above Fort Canyon.
To ride Three Falls to Peak View,
keep straight and ride across the bridge over Fort Canyon Creek. And you're on the way to
Draper.
See the Peak View - Three Falls Draper page.
The bridge over the creek. Take a minute to enjoy the
spot.
Bodily Harm
The top of the Bodily Harm trail is found 1.4 miles
uphill from the Fort Canyon Ranch trailhead. If coming from Forbidden or
from Draper's section of Three Falls, it's 0.9 miles from the Fort Canyon
paved road.
If climbing from the trailhead, you'll first pass Vista Ridge on your
right, then Last Chance, also to the right. Then at mile 1.4, fork to the
right on Bodily Harm to descend to the top of the DH flow trails. (See the
Bodily Harm trail page if you plan to climb
to this area from the Schoolhouse Spring area.)
Hitting a grove of maple and tall gambel oak during
an early-spring climb.
Just 1/10th mile from the Alpine Cove trailhead, the Stoney
Way trail forks away to the left. This trail connects to the Heritage
Hills Loop.
Keep right and uphill on Bodily Harm.
Looking northeast up Dry Creek Canyon from high on
Bodily Harm.
At 0.3 miles down Bodily Harm from the Three Falls Fort
Canyon trail, the intermediate DH flow trail (as yet unnamed as of April
2022) forks away to your right as the trail veers to the left.
Around
1/10th mile further down (two left turns away), the EZ Breezy DH flow
trail forks to your right. See below for riding directions to these two DH
trails.
Looking over a group of arrowleaf balsamroot at Lone
Peak.
If you continue further on Bodily Harm, your next trail fork will be with
More Effort (straight and left). This trail climbs to Forbidden
(see map). A hard right turn keeps you on Bodily Harm, which descends
through switchbacks to Stoney Way.
Rolling the Rocky Mountain through forest of maple --
and an occasional fir tree -- on
the Fort Canyon side of the ride.
Fort Canyon - Left Fork Big Hollow Trails
EZ Breezy (easier DH flow trail)
Machine-built in the left fork of Big
Hollow in 2021, EZ Breezy is an early intermediate downhill flow trail. It
descends from upper Bodily Harm down to the bottom of the canyon, where
the Last Chance trail climbs to the Three Falls Fort Canyon trail
section.
View over Utah Valley from the EZ Breezy
This is Alpine's first directional flow trail
and it's a lot of fun. The trail is one-way from
east to west (from Bodily Harm west to Three Falls in Fort Canyon).
Bruce starts down EZ Breezy with Lone Peak behind him.
The EZ Breezy trail is machine-cut singletrack, 0.7 miles in
length, with 250 feet of elevation loss.
It's a smooth and easy trail to ride. The EZ Breezy trail leaves Bodily
Harm 0.3 miles from the junction of Bodily Harm with Fort Canyon. This is
1.3 miles uphill from the bottom of Bodily Harm.
Straight
sections of the trail have little swoops and dips to keep interest, but
are still easy for an early-intermediate rider.
At the bottom of EZ
Breezy in the hollow, turn hard left to climb Last Chance. (The trail on
the right is the exit from the one-way intermediate DH flow trail.) To complete a loop, climb Last Chance (0.8 miles) then 0.4 miles of the upper Fort Canyon
trail then descend 0.3 miles of Bodily Harm back to the top of the EZ Breezy trail.
Rolling through a turn. The trail is significantly forested with maple and
gambel oak.
Quick 3-minute
video of a ride using EZ Breezy!
If the above video does not appear on your
browser/device, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking
here.
Alpine Slide (expert DH flow
trail)
The Alpine Slide trail is a new upper-intermediate to
expert DH flow trail in the left fork of Big
Hollow. It's 0.5 miles long, descending 250 vertical feet to the bottom of
the hollow, where it joins Last Chance for a climb out. Alpine Slide forks away from upper Bodily Harm at 0.3 miles from the
junction with Three Falls Fort Canyon, just 1/10th mile above the trail
fork for EZ Breezy.
Highly
banked turns, swoops, and plunges are non-stop as you descend.
The trail is machine cut with banked turns. It's engineered
for much higher speeds than EZ Breezy and would therefore earn an upper-intermediate
to early-expert tech rating.
This is the entry to the trail off Bodily Harm. Now
that the trail is officially open, I need to replace this
with another picture (without the chain).
At the bottom of the hollow, the Alpine Slide trail hits the junction of EZ
Breezy and Last Chance. Keep straight and to the right and begin climbing
to get back up onto the ridgeline.
Rolling the sides of the ravine as we near the
bottom.
Alpine Slide! -- preview version before the official opening
If the above video does not appear on your
browser/device, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking
here.
Last Chance (climbing trail)
Last Chance is the climbing route to return from either EZ
Breezy or the new intermediate DH trail. It's 0.8 miles long with 200 feet of climbing as you pedal up to the Three Falls
Trail on the ridge above Fort Canyon.
Looking
west from EZ Breezy at the Last Chance climbing trail.
On the western side, the
trail's exit is 1.1 miles uphill from the Fort Canyon trailhead, 0.4 miles
downhill from the junction of Bodily Harm and the Three Falls Fort Canyon
trail.
Looking uphill to the north on Last Chance as we climb out of Big Hollow,
with Lone Peak, Rams Horn, and Chipman Peak on the skyline.
The combination of Last Chance with the downhill trails through upper Big Hollow opens up some very nice ride
possibilities. You'll need to ride clockwise, of course. The 2.2 mile loop formed by EZ Breezy,
Last Chance upper Fort Canyon and upper Bodily Harm is a nice bit of riding.
The climbing rate is mostly mellow on Last Chance. It
gets a bit steeper when you hit Three Falls Fort Canyon for the last bit
of uphill when riding laps.
A
satisfying big loop includes Vista Ridge, Stoney Way, Forbidden, Three
Falls to upper Bodily Harm, then EZ Breezy back to Three Falls.
I suggest using the Fort Canyon Ranch trailhead for access, which will
make your ride 10 miles with 1800 feet of climbing.
A look at the mountains north of Fort Canyon in
fall.
Getting there, Fort Canyon Ranch Trailhead: As you drive into Alpine
on Main Street, keep straight at all intersections until you reach 800
North. Then, just as Main Street turns to the right and becomes Heritage
Hills Drive, fork left on Fort Canyon Road to continue north. 0.9 miles
later, turn right just before the Three Falls gate. Quickly turn left into
the parking lot for the Three Falls Farm trailhead. The Three Falls Fort
Canyon trail is just to the left of the bathroom.
Heritage Hills (North Point): Shortly after you veer to
the northeast from Main onto Heritage Hills Drive as above, spot the small
parking lot on your left and turn in. Climb the Heritage Hills Trail to
Vista Ridge and continue to Three Falls. The Ridge TH (Stoney Way and Big Hollow): At the T intersection of Grove Drive,
turn left and follow the road as it then veers left and approaches the
mountain. Take Stoney Way west to Vista Ridge and climb to Three Falls, or
go northeast to Bodily Harm and climb.
Facilities: bathroom at Fort Canyon trailhead, bathrooms at Lambert
Park trailheads. (No services at Schoolhouse Springs, Big Hollow, or Heritage Hills
trailheads.)
See below for the Schoolhouse Springs trailhead area routing as of August 2021.
Getting there, Alpine Cove - Schoolhouse Springs: Instead of turning left
on Fort Canyon Road, stay on Heritage Hills Drive. Turn left uphill on
Grove Drive. At the T intersection (where a right turn would take you
across the bridge into Lambert Park), turn left on Alpine Cove Drive. At
the 4-way intersection, turn left. As Alpine Cove Drive turns downhill,
turn uphill on Aspen Drive. It will turn to the Three Falls Lane road. As
the larger road veers left, keep straight onto a smaller dirt road. Go 1/4
mile uphill and park at the Lone Peak trailhead. Go all the way up to the "Lehi"
gate and turn left to get on the singletrack that dips through the creek.
Keep left and descend on the trailhead connector. You'll find a connection
to Forbidden on the right. To reach Bodily Harm, you'll need to coast all
the way down to the raised Three Falls Lane road, then crawl up and over
it to find Bodily Harm on the opposite side. Bodily Harm climbs to meet
southern Three Falls Fort Canyon on the ridgeline, while Forbidden meets
Three Falls north of Fort Canyon.
