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Blind Hollow
Blind Hollow is a 6.2-mile singletrack near Tony Grove in Logan Canyon.
After a short climb, it seems to descend forever on narrow twisting
singletrack with frequent technical features. This ride is for advanced
bikers with good technical skills and aggressive confidence. There's 500
feet of climbing, then 2500 feet of gnarly downhill. Most prefer to do
this ride with a shuttle vehicle to drive between the trail's
end and Tony Grove Lake. Or you can suck up and crank 12 miles and 2000
vertical on the road for an 18-mile loop. Reaching the top of the mountain,
we're about to drop down into Blind Hollow for an absolutely awesome
technical singletrack. Review by Bruce on
October 1, 2008 - Thanks, Neil, for your
guide services! |
| The ride starts with a climb out of the Tony Grove basin to
the south. Switchbacks take you through thick forest of huge firs with
spots of fern understory where the light penetrates. As you reach the
first ridge, aspens predominate. You'll do 500 vertical, to a top altitude of about 8500 feet,
over 2.2 miles. So far, the trail is smooth and mellow.
The climb uphill is at a reasonable
pace on nicely buff trail.
Yeah, it's getting dark. |
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Go left at the first two trail forks. The first fork at 0.4
connects to the campground. The second, at 1.2 miles, goes to Coldwater
Spring and the wilderness border.
At 2.3 miles, there's a critical fork. It's easy to go the wrong way.
As you roll out of the aspens at the top of a meadow, you need to fork
right downhill through the meadow. If you stay straight, it takes you down
a log-infested (as of 2008) singletrack, and a mile later my topo map
shows it connecting to a dirt road that takes you back to US-89 about a
mile down-canyon from the Tony Grove turnoff. |
| As you reach the bottom of the valley, veer left as the
trail from the wilderness area rejoins. From here, you have four miles of
technical descending. The rate isn't too steep, but there are periodic
rock-garden challenges on narrow trail. The trail twists quickly back and
forth through the trees as encroaching brush touches your legs. Dodge logs
and derailleur-eating tombstone rocks. The trail will deliver you, again
and again, to another group of boulders that invite you to endo.
Heading across the ridgetop from Tony
Grove to Blind Hollow.
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Pick your line, get your butt back, and keep enough speed to
bang through. They're all rideable.
But I don't recommend hitting this section at dusk as we did. The gray
skies didn't allow enough light to penetrate the dense firs to show the
contours of the embedded dust-covered boulders. If you slow down enough to really see the
rocks in 3-D, your tires hang up on the boulder instead of rolling over.
This section of the trail is one of the more technical little
singletracks in the state, and it's great fun to ride. Very narrow,
constantly turning, frequent small challenges. But definitely not for the
casual mountain biker.
Straight sections are a rarity on the
descent. Most of the trail is narrow and twists like an epileptic snake.
Brush, willows, and trees fly past, inches from the handlebars. |
| If you're an expert rider, you should absolutely do this
trail. It's best tackled while you're fresh, with an aggressive attitude
(and plenty of daylight left).
The last rays of sunshine peek under
the storm clouds to hit the aspens ahead of Bruce. This is the location of
the critical fork. Turn to the right here and head down along this row of
aspens. Photo by Gene Poncelet. |
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Riding notes, Blind Hollow as shuttle:
0.0 ST at the far (west) end of the gravel loop
N41 53.401 W111 38.009
0.4 Fork L (R=trail from campground)
N41 53.210 W111 38.124
1.2 Fork L (R=to Coldwater Spring and wilderness)
N41 52.968 W111 38.285
2.3 Fork R downhill in meadow
N41 52.173 W111 38.079
Critical Fork! (Straight = Twin
Creek)
2.7 Fork L (R uphill = to wilderness)
N41 51.859 W111 38.219
6.2 Cross road, downhill to shuttle parking
N41 49.949 W111 35.677
The lower singletrack becomes narrow
and twists constantly, with frequent rock outcrops for a technical
challenge. Here Gene cruises a less-tech section. |
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| Getting there: In Logan, turn east at 400 North
on US-89 towards Logan Canyon (about 2 miles). If you have a shuttle
vehicle, park it in the gravel turnout at mile 15.5, just 0.2 miles down
canyon from Temple Fork. (Drive to the Temple Fork turnoff and turn right.
Now turn around and head back down US-89 0.1 mile and watch for a gravel
turnout on the left. You'll spot a trail on the mountain above, across the
road.) Drive your bikes uphill 4.5 miles (21 miles from the
canyon mouth). At the sign for Tony Grove Lake, turn left, then immediately
turn left again. (Right goes to a campground.) Now drive 7 miles uphill.
Just before you arrive at Tony Grove Lake and campground, there's a gravel
road on your left. If you miss the road, backtrack 0.2 miles from the end
of the Tony Grove paved parking loop. Follow the gravel road to a parking
loop and bathroom. The trailhead is at the far end of the loop. N41 53.401 W111 38.009 |
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