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Upper Pahvant System
Faulty, One-in-a-Pinion, Juniper Drop, lower Spinal Tap
The
Pahvant trails lie on the hillside west of I-70 in Richfield, with
singletrack trails ranging from beginner to expert. There are also some
ATV trails in the area that are occasionally used by cyclists. This page covers the trails on the
upper mountain, above the top of Kiln-It. See the lower
Pahvant trail page and the Cottonwood
Kids Loop page for information on lower trails. See the Spinal
Tap page for more information on that trail.
Descending Spinal Tap.
Photos and review by Bruce on September
23, 2019. Latest update June 2021. |
| The expected riding season
would be mid-May through October. The upper singletrack trails in the
Pahvant System include easier intermediate (Faulty), expert (Juniper Drop)
and high-expert (Spinal Tap).
An out-and-back on One-In-A-Pinion can be easy, but most riders use
this simply as a route to Spinal Tap (which is Not An Easy Ride).
This throne faces the valley just off Kiln-It near
the origin of Cairn-Age and marks, for me, the
division between the lower
Pahvant trails and the upper mountain.
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If you pedaled Kiln-It or Big Red uphill, you still have the option of using the gravel road for
the last 1.8 miles and 450 vertical.
Or you can connect to Faulty for the
singletrack climb. It's not that hard.
Looking west from One-In-A-Pinion on the ridgeline near FR 096. |
Climbing and Shuttle Routes
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FR 096
You can drive your car up FR096 to shuttle the downhill routes. This
gives you the option of an easy descending route (Faulty, then Kiln-It) or
a high-expert route (Spinal Tap).
If you're looking for the easiest possible way to bike to the top, it's the
road. From the
bottom of FR096, it's 4.1 miles and 1400 vertical feet to the top of
Faulty. But really, if you're looking for "easy" you're doing
the wrong sport.
Looking uphill on FR 096, a bit uphill from the top
of Kiln-It. |
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Faulty as a climbing route
The Faulty trail is 3.7 miles in length with 600 feet of elevation
change. It begins on upper Kiln-It and winds up the hill to
One-In-A-Pinion and FR 096 at 6850 feet elevation. When climbing from the
bottom, about 1/2 mile from
where Kiln-It turns to the left on the ridgeline (with the entry to
Cairn-Age), Faulty forks to the right.
Entry to the bottom of Faulty as seen when climbing
Kiln-It. Veer right and soon you'll be climbing to the top.
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After a gentle descent into the wash, Faulty begins to
climb through a series of gentle banked turns. These turns will make you
think about flying downhill, but they're also nice high-speed climbing
turns. Most of Faulty lies in this zone of white clay.
There will be plenty of nice views as you ride through a sparse forest of
pinion pine. |
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As you reach a trail fork at mile 1.0 on Faulty, keep to the right (the
routes rejoin). This right fork takes you along the edge of the cliff with
some awesome views into Cottonwood Wash.
There will be many views into Cottonwood Wash.
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The reason I suggest climbers keep right is because I'm
sending the downhillers onto the other fork. There's significant cliff
exposure here with no berm to hold downhill riders on the trail. So I strongly
suggest that everyone keep right -- so downhill riders take the inside path away from the edge. View
from the edge! |
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After the trail leaves the edge of the wash, you'll reach the trail fork for
Juniper Drop. It's on your left at mile 1.8
from Kiln-It. Keep straight to continue to climb Faulty.
The next trail fork comes at mile 3.4 of Faulty. Again it's an alternate line that will rejoin. The
right fork is the main
trail; left takes you over a nice rock drop before rejoining.
Looking back up at the rock drop.
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At the top, keep straight as the singletrack merges with the Cottonwood Wash
ATV route. After 1/10th mile, roll onto FR 096 and look for One-In-A-Pinion
across the road. Almost there. When you hit the red
dirt, you're getting close to the ridgeline. |
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Faulty as a downhill
The Faulty trail is an easy descending route. Many young riders combine
it with Kiln-It as a shuttled ride, with Mom hauling the bikes back
uphill. The Faulty portion of this descent is 3.7 miles with only 600 feet
of elevation drop. It extends from FR096 (across from
One-in-a-Pinion) down to Kiln-It near the top of Cairn-Age. Faulty is a
two-way trail, used for climbing to the top of Spinal Tap, so descending
riders must stay aware and YIELD to climbing bikers.
Entry to the Cottonwood Creek Wash ATV track and
Faulty.
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To find the top of Faulty from FR096, look for an ATV track on your right as you
arrive at the top of a ridgeline, 1.8 miles from the top of Kiln-It.
(Immediately after the trail forks away, the gravel road descends into a
small valley.) There's a "Faulty" sign on a carsonite post.
After about 100 yards on the doubletrack, veer right
(there's a sign) at the Faulty singletrack. (The ATV route heads over to
the edge of Cottonwood Creek Wash.)
Rolling on the upper section of Faulty. The trail
trends up and down. |
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Faulty has a lot of up-and-down riding, which will add a bit of
climbing even on the downhill. There will be a few
rollovers, but in general it's smooth dirt. Most riders are now using
Faulty as a climber rather than a downhill.
The terrain alternates between red and white clay in pinion
pine forest with an occasional juniper and short meadows of sage scrub.
Looking at an alternate line. Riders heading uphill
can roll over to this ridgeline and take a 5-foot drop, then rejoin the
main trail.
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At
mile 2.0 from the top, Juniper Drop forks away downhill to your right. This is an
expert-level option for descending back to Kiln-It.
Next keep right at mile 2.8 if you're riding fast. The left path rejoins after a close encounter
with cliffs. If you decide to go left anyway, slow down. Stop and take in
the view, then ride on.
At mile 3.4, keep straight as Faulty joins Kiln-It to continue an
easier-level downhill.
Pinion pine and white clay. |
| Juniper Drop
Juniper Drop descends southeast from Faulty two miles downhill from the
ridgeline. It drops 250 vertical feet
over 0.6 miles, then goes gently uphill 1/10th mile to end on upper
Kiln-It, just 30 feet from its origin on FR096.
At the start of Juniper Drop on Faulty.
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Juniper drop features frequent highly-banked turns and lots
-- lots -- of rock drops. Most are little; some are bigger. At the time of my
first ride,
lines for ride-arounds were not fully developed on all drops. So if you're
not a confident ledge-dropper, you'll need to get off and walk a couple of
times.
View southeast on Juniper Drop. There three small
drops between the camera and the bermed right turn in mid-photo. |
| Several of the drops are vertical and big enough that you can't roll
them. You need to take them airborne, controlling the attitude of the bike
as you leave the edge. There are a few drops that come in series --
nothing too hairy, but non-experts
should control their speed enough that they can rebalance and pick their
line for the next drop.
Looking back uphill at two drops, each about 4 feet.
The top drop is a full-on air launch, the closer one can be rolled.
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One-in-a-Pinion
One-In-A-Pinion follows the ridgeline south from FR096 at the top of
Faulty. The trail is 1.1 miles long with only trivial elevation change -- until
it drops down to Spinal Tap. It's a two-way
trail with some nice views into the wash. It can be done as an
out-and-back, or as a connector to the Spinal Tap downhill-only trail.
Entry to One-In-A-Pinion, as seen from FR096. |
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If you climbed Faulty, just keep straight as you join the ATV trail, and
straight again as you hit FR096, angling across the road until you spot the
trail dropping down the other side.
Cruising along the ridgeline, with a hint of green in
Little Valley to our right.
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For a time, One-In-A-Pinion holds the edge of the ridgeline
above Little Valley. This area is pinion and white clay. Then it crosses
over to the left side of the ridge, where you'll find red dirt and
juniper.
Still easy riding! |
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After again reaching a flat area of white clay, One-In-A-Pinion turns to the
left to drop through a series of turns to the bottom of a wash. The top of
the turns is a good spot for non-expert riders to turn around.
Otherwise, drop down the white clay slope until you're cruising in red
dirt. Somewhere
around here, you started Spinal Tap.
We're about to begin our descent to Spinal Tap as we
ride through stunted pinion, juniper, and manzanita.
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Spinal Tap lower section
The lower segment of Spinal Tap is a downhill one-way trail that begins at
the bottom of
One-in-a-Pinion. It requires high-expert skills, so others should turn
back. Serious here! This lowest segment of the Spinal Tap trail is 4.5 miles
long and drops 1300 feet in elevation. It offers quite a few challenging spots.
Starting out in the trees, with red dirt and easy
cruising. |
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Spinal Tap, including the upper and middle segments of this 18-mile,
4000-vertical one-way trail, is discussed in greater detail on the Spinal
Tap trail page.
This lower segment of Spinal Tap is a challenging trail. It might "average" an expert
rating, but there are a few spots that require high-expert skill.
Trail split, taking the higher (right-hand) line along
the rock.
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Lower Spinal Tap starts out with around a mile cushy smooth riding
through the trees with a gradual slope. There's an occasional little drop
or roll-over that will make the advanced-intermediate think, "Oh, I'm
riding awesome! What were they talking about with the
"high-expert" stuff? This isn't so bad!"
Running into the top of a three-foot drop. |
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The trail begins to follow the top of a spine -- thus the "spinal"
part of the trail name -- and
things get a whole bunch techier. The trail gets steeper, there's more rock,
and the challenges
come faster.
On the spine; rougher than it looks.
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There will be a couple of gut-check steep ramps, covered in
slippery dust, where you just have to let it roll. (The one I couldn't
bring myself to do was a double drop with deep soft dirt between them. If
you fishtail or dig the front tire after the first, and you're going to go
sideways over the second. A high-school team was digging a ride-around
trail on the day of my ride.)
About to plunge down; steeper than it looks. |
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And there will be some drops. It's smart to make a timid "scope it
out" ride first, then head back up for a more aggressive ride.
Looking back at an edge. It's possible to just roll
this one, because it's got a good transition.
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At mile 4.3, Spinal Tap hits the valley floor. And it does
that right in the
middle of a massive ATV and motorcycle playground. Don't try to find
"the bike trail." There isn't any. Just keep heading in the same
general direction, hitting the motorcycle bumps if you want, going northeast. Aim for the spot where the mountain seems to come down next to
the freeway.
Almost there! One more wiggle and we're on the final
descent to the valley floor. |
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Eventually, you'll find yourself on dirt road heading
north between the mountain and the freeway. The road ends on FR096 just west of the
freeway underpass. To head back
uphill, climb the road a bit over 1/2 mile and find Tank Run on your right just above
the water tank. It will take you to either Big Red or Kiln-It. (See the lower
Pahvant trails page.)
See the dedicated Spinal Tap trail
page for more details on this trail.
Nice long downhill with quite a few challenging
spots!
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Other Stuff on the upper mountain... |
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| Upper Cottonwood Wash ATV trail (alternate)
At the top of Faulty, you can keep left and follow the 2.3-mile ATV
trail downhill to the Kiln-It/Cairn-Age intersection. Like many ATV
trails, it's loose and often steep, tending to go over small hills instead
of around them. Riders are still using this ATV track occasionally, mostly
for a few nice views into massive Cottonwood Wash.
Keep right (on top of the
ridge) at mile 1.6 where a larger ATV route drops steeply into the wash.
Keep heading east. At a fork at mile 1.9, turn left and the track will
take you to the top of Cairn-Age. (The right fork takes you steeply uphill
to the top of Kiln-It.)
View into Cottonwood Creek Wash. |
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Scorpion ATV trail 084 (alternate)
At FR096 mile mile 3.9 (1.4 miles from the top of Kiln-It) an ATV route
forks away on the uphill side of a 150-degree right-hand turn. After
climbing to a ridge line, it turns and descends east back to the edge of
the freeway. There are some confusing spots where ATV tracks join/leave.
It's around 4.7 miles to the bottom. Here a left turn on dirt road can
take you back to FR 096.
I saw no bike tracks on Scorpion at 2 weeks since the last rain. Since
Spinal Tap was finished in 2020, almost no bikers ride the ATV trail.
Top of ATV trail 084. |
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Getting there:
Pahvant (northern access) parking: At the north Richfield exit from I-70, turn north (toward the mountains).
As the pavement ends, turn left onto a gravel road, then left again into the
Pahvant parking area. Start the ride either on the small gravel road heading southwest
parallel to the freeway, or on the singletrack near the trail sign (the
two routes will rejoin after 0.3 miles). After 1/2 mile, follow the trail sign by turning
right on a smaller gravel ATV track. (Note there's room for a couple of
cars here where the doubletrack splits.) Veer left onto singletrack after
0.1 mile to head for Kiln-It, or continue uphill
on the doubletrack for the Cottonwood Kids
Loop.
300 North (FR 096) parking: From Richfield's Main Street, turn west on 300
North. As you approach the freeway, turn left into the ATV parking lot.
Pedal under I-70 to head uphill on FR096 to reach the top of Kiln-It.
Shuttle: Top of Kiln-It: Drive uphill on FR 096 2.2 miles and
find DT on your right with a carsonite trail marker. Top of Faulty:
continue to mile 4.1 of FR096 and find marked ATV track on the right, with
singletrack across the road on the left.
Bathrooms and water: none at trailheads (businesses nearby)
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