Crop Circles is a series of loop trails just north of the Dry Canyon
Bonneville Shoreline Trailhead on the hillside above Lindon. These "social trails"
have been adopted by the U.S. Forest Service as official public trails.
There are no trail markers or signs at this time (spring 2022), as
official trail designation signs are still awaiting funding.
View south from the hillside. In the
valley, you can see all the way to Elk Ridge on the south. Photos and GPS
track July 10, 2015 by Bruce. Update May 2, 2022.
The trails are most easily found by heading north on the
Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST) from the Lindon (Dry Canyon) Trailhead.
There are lots of old abandoned roads, game trails, and old hiking routes here, so
you should have a means of knowing where you are. A GPS
navigation app such as Trailforks is strongly recommended. The area has been closed to motor vehicles for only a few years, so
you'll cross the remains of old jeep paths.
View uphill from the trailhead. Resist
the temptation to ride up Dry Canyon. It can be done, but it's too steep
to be fun, and it becomes unrideable after about two miles.
There are four loops stacked on the hillside. Below the BST,
there's the Lower Crop Circle which forms a loop with Canberra, Sunshine,
and a piece of the BST. North and uphill is Crop Circles, forming a loop
with the BST at the bottom. Above the main Crop Circles loop via a short connector is
the Middle Crop Circle (designated forest trail #316). And at the top of
the Middle Crop Circle is a short connector uphill to the Upper Crop
Circle #317.
View from the Curley Springs area.
Crop Circles Main Trail
From the BST/Dry Canyon parking lot, backtrack to the north
end and find the trail near the metal gate. Stay on the BST (as
a few alternate paths fork away) for 0.4 miles. As the trail veers to
eastbound (directly towards the mountain) for the first time, spot a trail
forking 90 degrees right (south) just before the BST turns back
northbound. That's the south end of Crop Circles.
Starting out on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail from
the Dry Canyon trailhead. The south end of the main Crop Circle is 0.4
miles (and a bit of uphill) away.
The main Crop Circles
loop is 1.9 miles around (1.5 miles of the Crop Circles trail and 0.4
miles of the BST at the bottom). The climbing rate is generally easy and
the trail surface is non-technnical.
Looking south from the Middle Crop
Circle as Orem and Provo fill the valley below.
This trail will climb up the mountain through some gentle
switchbacks. At mile 1.0 from the BST (1.4 from the Dry Canyon trailhead) you'll reach the
"stem" that connects uphill to the Middle Crop Circle. The
smaller trail breaking downhill left is the
continuation of the main Crop Circle as it drops 0.5 miles down to the BST (see
map). Most riders will plan to take this trail on their way down.
Climbing through larger trees and
cooler temperatures on the south side of the main Crop Circle.
If you complete this lower circle without going higher on the mountain,
it will be 0.4 miles on the BST back to where you entered the circle and
another 0.4 miles back to the trailhead.
Note that the Sumac Hollow trail will join the northern limb of the
Main Crop Circle for a short distance. In 2022, the trail signs that would
help you sort this out are still waiting.
Heading
uphill on the northern side of the main Crop Circles loop on a clockwise
ride.
Middle Crop Circle
At mile 1.0 of the Crop Circles trail (riding
counterclockwise, northbound), a connector goes uphill to the Middle Crop
Circle. The connector is 0.1 miles long, then the uphill route splits into the Middle
Crop Circle. You can go either direction, so take either one uphill, then
ride the other one downhill. (Or ride around in a circle now. It's all
good.)
Grinding on uphill eastbound, with
Cascade Mountain on the skyline.
Stay on the narrower singletrack as it joins then leaves a wider route.
(Here's where your navigation app helps!) The wide trail is Sumac Hollow,
see below.
The Middle Crop Circle is 0.7 miles around. At the circle's
highest point, a connector goes uphill to the Upper Crop Circle. The
northern limb of Upper Crop Circle is 0.3 miles, while the southern limb
is 0.4 miles. Most riders will climb via the southern limb.
View northwest over Utah Valley.
As noted above, one section of the southern limb of the Middle Crop Circle
is shared with the Sumac Hollow trail. When climbing, the trail will make
a hard right turn to join a bigger trail. That's Sumac Hollow. After 100
yards of climbing, veer to the left to leave the combined trail.
Hitting a turn on the Middle Crop Circle, with Utah
Lake in the background.
Upper Crop Circle
At the top of the Middle Crop Circle, another short
connector (a bit over 0.1 miles) takes you up
to the Upper Crop Circle. At the fork, the easiest navigation will be to
keep left and ride the loop clockwise.
View northwest as we wind up
switchbacks.
Near the end of the clockwise loop (or shortly after
starting Upper Crop Circle when going counterclockwise) you'll
find yourself at the fork to the connector to Curley
Springs and upper Sumac Hollow. This trail
heads straight south traversing the hill. It will dump onto the rough
steep Sumac Hollow trail after about 1/10th mile.
As you complete the loop, head back on the stem to the
Middle Crop Circle, then on to the main Crop Circle. On the way down, drop
to the right into the oak brush for the north side this loop. At the BST,
fork left and head south.
Heading north on the Upper Crop
Circle.
Lower Crop Circle
There's also a loop below the BST. This loop actually
consists of three named trails. You'll run across the
trail fork to this lower loop in a grass meadow about 0.1 mile after passing the fork where
you originally left the BST for Crop Circles (0.5 miles from the Dry Creek
trailhead).
The lower Crop Circle lies in an area that's almost
completely grass.
Turn hard right and descend,
first straight, then through a series of tight turns. As you near the bottom, turn
left on a horizontal trail to head southeast. Cross a fall-line trail a
few feet later. You're now on Canberra trail #311, sometimes called the
lower BST.
View to the west, with little West
Mountain showing as a dark hump sticking out into Utah Lake.
Keep straight at a connector down to the homes on your
right, then just as you see a corner of chain link fence around the homes, turn left uphill again on
singletrack. This is the Sunshine trail. and it will climb back to the BST. It
joins the BST about 100 yards west of the Dry Canyon trailhead. Turn
left for more riding; right to descend to the trailhead.
Grass, short scrub oak, and an occasional sage.
Sumac Hollow trail
The Sumac Hollow #310 trail has been designated as an
official route by the Forest Service. At this time (2022), it's cobbled
together from several bits of trail and you'll almost certainly take a
wrong-way trail fork on your way down. Hopefully, future
signs -- and closure of the many unofficial trails -- will make the
navigation more obvious. But this will not be your favorite trail in the
area.
View down Sumac Hollow toward Utah Lake.
The main purpose for Sumac Hollow is to provide a wide and
straight path for horses and hiking groups to get up and down the
mountain. So while the Sumac Hollow trail shares some mellower pieces of
the main and middle Crop Circles, the rest of it is steep and loose. It's 1.2 miles long with 750 feet of elevation change.
Some bikers will enjoy the blistering descent. It's not a pleasant climb.
It's kinda OK as a bomber downhill if that's your
thing.
At the top, the trail starts as the old access road from the
ridge where the Curley Springs trail turns north. Just after mile 0.1,
there's a singletrack on your right that connects over to the upper Crop Circle loop. At
mile 0.25, the trail joins the middle Crop Circle loop for around 100
yards. Keep straight here. At mile 0.4, you'll cross the downhill side of
the middle Crop Circle.
Looking down Sumac Hollow shortly after leaving the
Curley Springs trail. Most riders will never make it up this far. They'll
take the trail down from the Upper Crop Circle.
At mile 0.5 comes the first critical fork. The trail drops
into what appears to be an S turn with the wide path dropping steep
downhill to your right. That's not the trail! Instead, veer left on a
less-traveled (and fairly flat) path. Now the trail will join and leave the
Main Crop Circle. Just keep straight southbound through this area.
Coming into the turn where I took the
"obvious" path and wound up on the BST. Had to climb all the way
back up to figure it out.
The next critical fork is at mile 0.8 and this one's a doozy.
When the trail hits the fork between the BST and the south end of the main Crop
Circle, stay a bit left. After crossing the Crop Circle trail, take the
smaller trail to the left. The more-obvious trail straight and to the
right is an unofficial route
that drops to the BST.
Once you get through this jumble, it's a straight
shot down to the parking lot.
Rocking a mellower stretch of the trail.
Tour! Up one side
of the Crop Circles and down Sumac Hollow
If the above video does not appear on your
browser/device, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking
here.
Other area trails
Curley Springs: The Curley Springs trail runs
from the Dry Canyon Trail to Battle Creek Canyon. It traverses the mountain above Crop Circles
and can be reached via a rough old doubletrack from the southeast corner of the Upper Crop Circle.
Curley Springs is rough, eroded, and postholed by horses. It connects at
the north end to Battle Creek, a very rough steep trail, littered with
boulders, that descends to the Battle Creek BST trailhead (or via
push-a-bike uphill to the Timpanogos Perimeter). On the south, Curley
Springs connects to Dry Canyon, descending down to the Lindon BST
trailhead. Uphill, Dry Canyon connects via steep
trenched non-rideable trail to the ridge above Baldy on the GWT. If
you're thinking about a loop with a short bit of Dry Canyon uphill, Curley
Springs northbound, lower Battle Creek downhill, then BST southbound back
to Lindon, it can be done. But it's nasty. Both Battle Creek and Dry
Canyon often have a 20% slope; 1000 vertical per mile. You'll push your bike a bit.
The unpleasantness factor is just too high for me to recommend it.
Curley Springs mini-loop: There's a little loop ride on
the south end of Curley Springs. I recommend doing it clockwise. Starting
on the connector to between the upper Crop Circles and the Sumac Hollow
trail, you'll climb the last (steepest) bit of Sumac Hollow up to the
Curley Springs trail #51. A clockwise ride includes the Upper Curley Springs trail #318, a fairly
easy traverse of 1/2 mile, then a short steep piece of Dry Canyon #49 best done downhill,
then a climb up lower Curley Springs (taking the easier new alternate
trails) for 0.6 miles to complete the 1.4-mile loop. This can be a fun
addition to a Crop Circles ride if you've got the leg for it.
Riding guide, Crop Circles Tour above BST:
0.0 North from parking, trail at apex of turn
N40 20.519 W111 40.623
L into trees (straight = old
closed road)
Keep L but uphill to stay on
main trail
0.4 R on Crop Circles N40 20.712 W111 40.814
1.4 Keep R (L = to BST) N40 20.867 W111 40.885
1.5 Fork R (Middle Crop Circle)
N40 20.898 W111 40.844
1.8 Fork R (L = other half of mid circle)
N40 20.970 W111 40.829
1.9 Confusing corner/fork/crossover, get
on to trail going NW
(traversing)
N40 21.005 W111 40.840
2.4 Trail joins on R (might not see)
N40 21.190 W111 40.964
2.8 Fork R downhill (straight = to Curley Spr)
N40 21.016 W111 40.735
2.85 Fork R (you'll return to this spot)
N40 21.028 W111 40.771
3.4 Keep R to rejoin outer loop
N40 21.190 W111 40.964
3.7 Again fork R downhill
N40 21.016 W111 40.735
3.75 Straight this time (See 2.85)
3.8 Close circle, head downhill
N40 20.997 W111 40.832
4.0 R on Middle Crop Circle
N40 20.970 W111 40.828
4.3 Close circle, R downhill
N40 20.899 W111 40.847
4.4 R downhill N40 20.869 W111 40.887
4.8 L on BST N40 20.903 W111 41.100
5.7 Back at parking
Getting there, Dry Canyon Trailhead:
Turn east off State Street (Highway 89) at 200 South in Lindon, which also
happens to be 2000 North for Orem. Keep straight as you approach the
mountains. When the road begins to turn right (south), turn left onto Dry
Canyon Drive heading northeast. Now keep straight uphill until the road
turns into the trailhead. The parking area is at N 40° 20.52' W 111°
40.62'.
Bathroom at trailhead.
No camping nearby.
NOTE: Trails on this map shown in light blue with outlines are
routes that currently are seeing substantial use, but are (to my best
understanding) scheduled for re-wilding after signage for the official
trails is in place.
