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Marathon Trail
For years I ignored the "Marathon Trail." After all, the decent parts were already on
this web site as other rides. But now it's time to publish. It's
not that Marathon is suddenly awesome. It's that there's so much confusion about
what, exactly, this "trail" is.
I'm seeing all sorts of rides uploaded to cycling websites labeled as
"Marathon Trail" -- Bunker Creek, Dark
Hollow, Sydney Peaks and Lowder Ponds --
because of the "Marathon" label on trail-posts in the Brian Head
area.
The road portion does have some pretty
meadows and groves of trees. Here lava boulders are giving way to aspens.
Photos from rides 2001 through 2015, review based on latest ride by Bruce
on July 23, 2015.
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| Here's what you need to understand: The Marathon Trail
is NOT a single, specific bike trail. It's a ROUTE, cobbled together from
a bit of singletrack on the Lowder Ponds ride plus an awful lot of forest
road. Some of that road is cindered Dodge-truck-pulling-camper type road
and some is rough and bumpy, but it's road.
The Marathon route was 26.5 miles long, which was the rationale for the
name "marathon." The trail was to link the south end of the town of Brian
Head to the west end of Navajo Lake. And I say
"was" because you cannot do the ride in the official
trail description. If you found and printed the Forest
Service Marathon Trail map showing a connection to the west end of the
lake during your Google search, throw it away.
Heading east on the Sydney Peaks
trail, one short part of the "Marathon Trail."
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So this web page will tell you what you can do. And
with the downloadable GPS files and trail map, perhaps you won't spend the
night on the Markagunt Plateau hopelessly lost and unprepared for the
cold.
Why would you want to ride the Marathon route? It's a way of
pedaling your bike from Brian Head to the Duck Creek or Navajo
Lake campgrounds that doesn't involve long miles on busy highway. Or
something to try after you've done everything else.
First, find the trail. The trail connector shown on
the Forest Service map no longer exists. You may spot a carsonite post
marked "Marathon" at the roadside as Highway 143 exits the south
end of Brian Head, but there's no trail there.
View of one of the Lowder Ponds in the
singletrack portion of the Marathon route. |
| Instead, use the trailhead up on
Brian Head Peak, starting your ride on the Sidney Peaks trail. This is the
route for the Lowder Ponds loop, and also the
beginning of the Bunker Creek and Dark
Hollow rides. If you start at Sidney Peaks, your ride will have 4.7
miles of trail, and the remaining 20-whatever miles will be dirt road.
An alternative is to climb from the main resort parking lot via the
Color Country Trail (see the map). It's a surprisingly long 5 miles (and
400 vertical) from the resort base up to the Sidney Peaks trail parking.
This is your route for a loop ride with road return to Brian Head. See the
GPS tracks below. This loop has 9.7 miles of singletrack, 14 miles of dirt
road, and just over 13 miles on paved road (37 miles total).
Approaching Highway 143 (the road to
Panguitch) on Sidney Valley Road.
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Once you're on the Marathon Trail route, there will be trail
markers (at first). You're following the Lowder Ponds
loop ride, except that you'll turn downhill on the cindered Sidney Valley
Road. From that point, the rest of the ride is now dirt (or cindered) roads.
A mile or so after crossing Highway 143, the road turns from
cinders into regular dirt road.
You'll pass a lot of spurs to primitive campsites, as well as forks to
major forest roads. When in doubt, go straight south.
Looking east at Hancock Peak, a cinder
cone from a prehistoric volcano. The sagebrush flat is called the Red
Desert. |
| A bit further on, all "Marathon"
signposts disappear. You'll need to navigate via the ATV trail
designations and signposts. The roads have a forest road number and a
separate ATV route number, as well as a name based on the road's
destination, so any official map you take along may not correspond to what
you see on a trail marker.
As you progress south, more of the forks are unmarked. So I highly
recommend you navigate via a GPS device using my GPX files. (There's no
cell reception in this area, so you can't download satellite images or
other navigation helps.)
Several days since the last rainfall
-- but still plenty of puddles.
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The road will pass over a low hill where old chunk lava
alternates with water-filled pits on the road surface. Slow going but
satisfying in a perverse sort of way. No big trailers here.
The path then descends to
the critical Duck Creek "T" intersection. To the left, the trail
heads east then south to reach Highway 14 between Duck Creek Village and
Duck Creek Campground. (There's an ATV route parallel to the highway that
takes you to either destination.)
Climbing through a section studded
with volcanic boulders. Missing that boring cindered part yet? |
| Even if you're heading for Navajo Lake, use the left Duck Creek
path at the T. You can cross the highway at the Duck Creek Campground and
follow dirt roads west to the lake.
The right fork takes you through the lava desert, where the surface is
covered with volcanic boulders. Improved cindered roadway heads west to Highway 14 north of
Navajo Lake. The
main reason you'd ride this westbound road would be riding a loop with a road return to
Brian Head.
The lava desert starts about 1/4 mile
west of the "T" intersection to Duck Creek. It might be
worthwhile to make a quick visit, even if Duck Creek is your destination.
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FYI, the old official route leaves the main road about a
mile before Highway 14. It heads south to cross the highway and meanders through
a maze of forest roads down to Navajo Lake. Don't try it. Trust me, there's no cheese at the end of this maze. Pop up Google Earth (or GPS
Visualizer or whatever) and eyeball the unbelievable bulldozerstorm of
roadways between Highway 14 and west Navajo Lake. And on
the ground, there are no "Marathon that-away" markers.
Seriously. Don't go
there.
Eastbound toward the highway -- the
route for the "road return" option. |
Bottom Line:
The Sidney Peaks and Lowder Ponds portion of the Marathon route is worth
doing, but I'd suggest you simply do the formal Lowder
Ponds ride. Or if you don't care for climbing, have your shuttle
vehicle at the spot where Sidney Valley Road crosses Highway 143 southeast
of Brian Head.
The full version of the official Marathon Trail route doesn't really exist
at either end, so be careful what resources you use to plan your ride. The road portion of Marathon doesn't
warrant recommendation as a stand-alone ride. Navigation can be challenging.
But the forest roads provide a viable dirt route to
Duck Creek if you don't get lost on the way. |
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Getting there: On U-143 from Parowan, head up the canyon
to Brian Head. Continue uphill past the resort for a mile or so. Just 1/4 mile past the summit sign, turn
left on a gravel road (GPS N 37° 40.136' W 112° 50.350'). Drive 2.5
miles to the ridgeline of the mountain. Turn left into the parking
area at 1.8 miles from the paved road. Cross the gravel road to
singletrack to start riding.
Alternate: Start from the main resort parking lot and follow Color
Country, then the Marathon signs, uphill to the ridgetop parking lot.
Shuttle service: Brian Head Resort can deliver you to the
upper trailhead and pick you up at Duck Creek. It isn't one of their
regularly scheduled shuttle runs, but they're happy to do it if you give
them enough notice and can meet their minimum charge. See the resources
link below for contact info.
Riding resources for this trail:
GPS track files (right-click and "Save as..."):
GPX track, resort
parking to east Highway 14
Brian
Head peak to Highway 14 at Duck Creek
Multi-track
file
High-res topo map for printing: View
map
Lodging, camping, shops:
Links to Cedar City -
Brian Head area resources |
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