The
Blackridge trails start at Blackridge Pond in Herriman. There are three
major trails reached via the Blackridge trail: Diamondback,
Sidewinder, and Eric's trail. The loop at the top of Eric's is called the Mustang Loop.
A ride here can be easy, such as the "snake loop" of 3.1
miles and 400 feet of fairly gentle climbing, or tough like Eric's trail with over 1000
vertical and some rocks to dodge.
View southeast into Utah County from the viewpoint
circle of the Blackridge trail. Original photos and description
by Bruce on August 25, 2014. Latest update
May 22, 2020.
The Herriman singletrack trail system was started
in 2013, and is still under construction. The system is
planned to expand to around 20 miles, with connections to the Rose Canyon
Trails and Butterfield Canyon on the north and a future southbound
Bonneville Shoreline Trail. For now, it provides another
"off-season" low-altitude riding opportunity. See the Juniper
Crest page and the Herriman Bonneville
Shoreline Trail page for additional riding that you can link to from
Blackridge.
Looking northeast from the hillside. Blackridge Pond
is at the left.
All trails are reached via the Blackridge trail, which
starts at the northwestern end of the parking strip for Blackridge Pond in
Herriman. The Pond parking can be hard to find if you're not a local, so I
recommend a mobile for navigation or a printout of the ride guide from this
website.
There are two additional web pages that provide extra details on some
trails in this system. These are the Rodeo
DH beginner downhill trails, and the upper-mountain expert trails Mojo,
Rawhide, and Hardlick.
Bikes on the rack tell me that this family is cooling
off in the water of Blackridge Pond after their bike ride.
The most popular ride (2018) seems to be a 3.1-mile lariat
loop. This quick ride climbs Blackridge to Sidewinder, climbs over the hill
on Diamondback then rejoins Blackridge to head downhill. We'll call it
"the snake loop." See the ride
guide below.
Second most popular is a lariat ride up Eric's trail and around the
Mustang loop clockwise. I recommend this ride highly (see video below).
Looking down at the pond, just a bit uphill on the
Blackridge trail. The singletrack starts on the uphill side of the paved
city trail that ends at the pond parking lot.
Blackridge trail
The Blackridge trail starts at Blackridge Pond and climbs
0.9 miles up
the mountain. . At the top of Blackridge, it continues as either Eric's
Trail or the Diamondback trail. Elevation gain is 250 feet.
Approaching
the fork with the Sidewinder trail (the sign on the far left). A left turn
continues uphill on Blackridge.
Sidewinder forks away from Blackridge on the
lower mountain, just 0.3 miles from Blackridge Pond parking. Keep left to stay on
Blackridge, and stay left as you pass the exit from the Rodeo DH trails.
At mile 0.7, the Rodeo DH trails fork away on your right. These are two
beginner and child-level one-way downhill trails. See
the Rodeo DH page for details.
Rounding a turn as we climb gently uphill on Blackridge.
Blackridge continues uphill to Eric's trail, which climbs to a
high ridgeline on the east slope
of South Mountain. A hard left at this trail fork will put you on
Diamondback. Stay left and straight to make the Eric's
trail climb.
Trail fork at mile 0.9. Right and a
180 turn sends you on Diamondback, up and over the little hill. Straight
ahead is the big climb up Blackridge.
Eric's Trail
Eric's Trail connects the top of the Blackridge trail to the
Juniper Crest Loop on the other side of the hill. It's 4.7 miles long.
Eric's climbs 800 vertical feet (1050 from the Blackridge Pond trailhead)
to a high ridgeline at 6150 feet before descending. At the top of Eric's,
the Mustang Loop continues as a lariat-loop ride option.
Much of the ride is on grassy hillside. There's scrub
oak as you get higher. These lonely junipers are the exception, not the
rule.
Shortly after you make the turn in Secret Canyon at mile
1.6, a trail forks away to your left. This connects to the utility road.
No reason you'd want to go there unless you're making an emergency bailout
down to the homes of Herriman.
You'll pass the exit from Hardlick,
coming from uphill on your right, at mile 2.
At mile 2.2, there's a trail fork for the Mustang Loop. Go either
direction. Eric's trail is the left one. My description here assumes you went to the
left, for a
clockwise ride.
Eastbound toward the first ridge viewpoint on the
lower ridge. The terrain has changed from grass to sage.
The trail climbs to a viewpoint on a ridge at mile 2.5, but
hang on, it gets better. At mile 3.0, elevation 6000 feet, you'll hit a
trail fork. Left takes you on a loop to the top of the little knoll.
From this viewpoint among the rough granite rock, you can see both Utah
and Salt Lake counties.
You'll rejoin the main trail 30 feet away from the trail fork that took
you into the viewpoint loop.
Looking to the northeast from around 5700 feet
elevation. More climbing to go.
After climbing to 6150 feet elevation southbound, the trail
hits a fork on the ridge. At the trail fork, left is Eric's, straight is
Mustang. Eric's trail descends down to the Juniper
Crest trail, while Mustang loops around to a lower point on Eric's
trail to form a loop.
If you descend the western side of Eric's back to Blackridge, there are a couple
of rock challenges. Some you simply have to finesse your way through,
others are optional rollovers or drops on the side of the trail.
Not too bad. You just need to slow down a bit to
steer the bike between the boulders.
From the fork with the Mustang trail on the ridgeline, Eric's
trail continues down on the eastern side of the hill. After a couple of
switchbacks, it heads north. It descends 900 vertical feet over
two miles down to the Juniper
Crest trail. It's intermediate in tech requirement.
My Rocky Mountain Element leans on granite rock at
the top of the viewpoint loop. We're looking east across southern Salt
Lake Valley, but you can see the mountains of Utah County above Traverse
Ridge on the right.
Eric's trail is also a reasonable climbing option from Juniper Crest. There's
less parking at the bottom of Juniper Crest (at this time) compared to
Blackridge. The upside is, fewer people to contend with. For veteran
riders, the bottom of Eric's Trail is the old -- formerly closed --
Firebreak trail.
Rocking down the eastern side of
Eric's, heading for Juniper Crest.
Mustang Loop
The Mustang trail is 1.2 miles long, with 200 feet of
elevation change. The top is on Eric's trail at mile 2.4 (3.3 from
Blackridge Pond trailhead). The bottom of Mustang is on Eric's 1.1 miles
downhill on the western side of the ridge.
Westbound
on Mustang, shortly after leaving Eric's trail on a clockwise ride around
the loop.
The Mustang trail drops back to Eric's trail through a
couple of switchbacks. The trip around the Mustang Loop is 2.3
miles. The downhill is a lot of fun -- swoopy and twisty.
Heading north through tall oak forest on Mustang.
Blackridge to Eric's to Mustang Loop
If the above video does not appear on your
browser/device, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking
here.
Sidewinder
Sidewinder begins at mile 0.3 from Blackridge Pond. Turn
right off Blackridge and make a 180. The trail will climb gently as it
contours around the hill. Technically, it's very easy, and quite suitable
for beginners.
Just getting started on Sidewinder, looking back at
Blackridge Pond. As you can tell, we didn't have to climb very much.
There are constant views from Sidewinder. Granted, you're
not very high up. But to your right, the view will change from the south
valley with the Jordan Narrows and Traverse Ridge to the northwest where
the massive Kennecott
tailings cover the slopes of the Oquirrh Mountains.
Looking east as we begin the trip around the
mountain.
Sidewinder is only 0.6 miles long. It will climb less than
100 vertical feet, then descend a bit before ending on the northern side
of Diamondback. From here, you can keep to the left to climb uphill. The Bonneville
Shoreline Trail is 0.2 miles away, or you can stay on Diamondback to
ride over the hill
for a loop ride.
Looking northwest at the Kennekott tailings as we
approach Diamondback.
Diamondback
The Diamondback trail extends north from mile 0.9 of the Blackridge
trail. It will climb 300 vertical feet up and over the hill
then descend 400 feet to the city streets north of the hill. There are some great views at the top.
Diamondback goes through a series of switchback meanders before arriving
at Friendship Drive. There's no parking lot or
official trailhead at the north end of Diamondback.
The trail climbs through a burn scar
from the big fire a couple of years ago. This photo is from 2014. In 2018,
I didn't even notice the signs of the fire.
The climbing on Diamondback is fairly sustained, but not unpleasant. This
trail is occasionally bumpy due to embedded rock but still technically easy.
At mile 1.5, you'll crest the ridge. Stop among the weathered granite
boulders and take in the views. On a clear day, you can see north all the
way to Ogden and south to the mountains east of Utah Valley.
On the ridge at the top, 5600 feet
elevation. The rocks are granite from the igneous intrusion that created
the copper deposits at Bingham Canyon mine.
After descending north around a mile from the top, you'll
reach the fork between Diamondback and the Bonneville
Shoreline Trail. Turn hard right to continue on Diamondback. In
another 0.2 miles, you'll reach the fork for Sidewinder. Turn hard left to
continue descending, or keep right to take Sidewinder back to the south
for a loop ride returning to Blackridge.
On Diamondback just before Friendship Drive, keep right at the trail
fork to continue descending on Diamondback. The graveled trail to the left goes over a little bump on the hillside
then descends north on a path that takes you between homes for about 1/2
mile.
View to the north.
Mojo, Rawhide and Hardlick
These upper-mountain trails fork off the Mustang Loop at the
top of the mountain. They are discussed in detail on a separate page. Click
here to go there!
Bruce hits the trail.
Sample ride, easy loop of Sidewinder and Diamondback
0.0 Singletrack from Blackridge parking N40 28.814 W112 01.345
0.3 R onto Sidewinder N40 28.892 W112 01.558
0.9 L uphill on Diamondback N40 29.063 W112 01.840
1.1 L uphill (R = BST) N40 29.022 W112 01.985
1.7 Top of the World, take in the views
2.2 Hard L onto Blackridge N40 28.575 W112 01.530
2.8 Keep R and downhill N40 28.892 W112 01.558
3.1 Back at parking
Getting there: First, let me caution you.
Street names in this area often change as you go through a stop sign. And
the names on the signs are often not the same as what you see on your auto
GPS or on Google Maps. Yeah, it's messed up. But print my map (link
below) and take it with you. Look carefully at the street layout as you
follow my directions and you won't get lost.
Blackridge trailhead: From the Bangerter
Highway, turn west onto 13400 South and drive 2/3 mile. Turn left (south) at the Mountain
View Corridor and drive about a mile. At the traffic light, turn right onto Rosecrest Road.
After 1/2 mile, turn left onto Juniper Crest. (Watch out! From Rosecrest, the street signs
to your right give the northbound continuation of Juniper Crest another name!)
As you
see that you're leaving the dense homes and are approaching a bridge across a
ravine, turn right onto Ambermont Drive. (Again, caution. The continuation
of Ambermont east of Juniper Crest has a different name.) Over the next
half-mile, Ambermont goes
southwest, then west, then turns to northwest. Now fork left on Aurora
Vista. Quickly turn right onto Esher Street, then left at Ashland Ridge
and enter the parking area for Blackridge Pond. The
trail starts at the far end of the parking strip. (If you reach a
"do-not-enter" exit from Blackridge Pond on the right and a
"bozos-stay-out" sign for a private neighborhood straight ahead, you went too far on Aurora
Vista. Turn around and go back to Esher Street.) Juniper Crest (bottom of Eric's Trail): See Juniper Crest trail
page.
