The Wasatch Over Wasatch Trail will link
Deer Valley to Wasatch Mountain State Park when complete. 12 miles are finished,
starting across the road from the campground/day-use area at Wasatch Mountain State Park to
an upper parking lot on SR 222 about a mile below the Empire
Pass road fork. Riding season
is late June through mid-October. Wasatch Mountain State Park is a fee
area -- and this includes the entire canyon.
Heading through the September aspens at 8300 feet
elevation on the WOW trail. First photos and review by Bruce
on June 2, 2015. Last updated September 2018.
The trail is located in Pine Canyon north of Midway.
Starting at 5850 feet elevation across from the campground, the completed
section hits 8350 feet altitude, drops back to 8200 at Hardy Lake, then
resumes climbing to 8450 at the new SR 222 upper trailhead. An out-and-back
ride is an advanced-level outing due to length, significant climbing, and
some rough trail surface. A shuttled downhill requires upper-intermediate
skills.
Ignore smaller branching trails in the
first half-mile. These are nature trails extending up from the campground.
At this bridge over Pine Creek, WOW is the bigger trail veering left.
Photo in June.
Most riders will choose to shuttle this trail. It's about
5 miles by road from
the lower parking to the top, but it's not a quick drive because the road
is steep and twisty. (If you're thinking of pedaling uphill on
the road to do a loop ride, well, it's super steep. Like 650 vertical feet per mile
steep, on a narrow road with significant weekend traffic. But it CAN be
done.)
The ride starts in maple forest with
occasional aspens, then heads over to a dryer hillside where the terrain
is scrub oak. Photo September 25th.
Climbers have an option of three trailheads. In
addition to the main WOW trailhead (around 2 miles uphill from the
visitor's center), there's the Bike Park
trailhead and the day-use parking at the Wasatch Mountain
State Park campground.
From the day-use parking at Wasatch Mountain
State Park, the trail is across from the entry, on the east side of the
road near the self-serve fee station. Climb 0.7 miles, then fork hard left.
The two trails ahead are
the connector from Phosphate Hill (left) and the Pine
Canyon Flow on the right. (The Phosphate Hill connector climbs through 20
turns. At 1.2 miles from parking, it will reach the west side of the Phosphate
Hill loop.) At mile 1.3 from the campground entry, you'll reach the SR
222 parking area. The trail continues across the road.
There will be views south over the golf course, Midway and
Deer Creek Reservoir. Here's a view on September 9 as the maples begin to
turn.
Climbing the WOW trail...
If the above video does not appear on your
browser/device, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking
here.
The total
climbing for an 24-mile out-and-back (from the base at the campground to
the big upper parking lot) is 2900 vertical feet -- but it's
more work than you'd expect. Allow at least four hours. More if you're not
a strong climber.
And you can add a bit of extra distance and elevation change by adding
a mile and a half of trail between WOW trailhead and the Bike
Park trailhead.
We're climbing uphill, about two miles
from the bottom. This is the dryest segment of the ride -- with scrub and
sage -- but it has more views.
Most riders are starting from the SR 222 trailhead (0.7
miles up the road from the campground). The WoW trail starts westbound across the road.
Within 100 yards, you'll arrive at
the bridge over Pine Creek. Here you'll find nature trails extending up
from the campground. Keep straight to cross the bridge as a trail from the
campground joins, then splits away to follow the creek uphill. At the end
of the bridge, keep slightly left on the broader trail as another nature
trail heads uphill. After another 100 yards, keep straight as another
nature trail heads 90 degrees left downhill.
As the trail curves back around the hill in Pine Canyon
(about 3 miles from the road) you'll enter deep fir forest.
After this first half-mile section above the road crossing, there will be
another trail fork at around mile 1.2. As you turn on an exposed
ridgeline, the Birdie Shot trail forks away
south downhill. It connects to the back of the golf course in Snake
Canyon.
You'll spot SR 222 occasionally. This road climbs up to the
ridge above Deer Valley, east of Guardsman Pass. The WoW trail will
eventually cross over and connect to the Deer Valley trail system.
The first part of the trail is
in maple forest. Then the trail winds around to the west to a more sun-exposed
slope of scrub oak and brush. The trail will settle into a rhythm of long traverse,
series of climbing turns, long traverse, series of climbing turns. You'll
climb from the dry scrub of the lower altitude to fir forest, then finally
to aspen groves in the upper half.
View northwest at the granite ridge above Little
Cottonwood.
The WoW trail is fairly smooth through the bottom four
miles and very buff for the top four miles. In 2015, the middle 1.5 miles is bumpy and
rocky. It's very ride-able downhill but offers periodic challenges on the
uphill.
The bottom five miles was dug first (fall
2014), and has been improved and ridden-in. So it's pretty buff. But overall
the soil
of the lower 5 miles is much more rocky, so the riding will be rougher.
Getting up into aspen forest, about mile 5 from the
road.
The upper four miles to SR 222 was completed by Park City's Mountain
Trails in late 2015, then a 1.5 mile extension in 2016. The higher trail has a very different character than the lower five
miles. The upper trail is a broad undulating ribbon in smooth dirt with
broad superbly banked turns. Although the tread was still a bit loose in
fall 2015, it has firmed up to be an awesome section uphill and down.
A typical turn on the upper section
around mile 6, with a wide turning radius and a high berm. The soil here
has little rock, and the trailbuilders have taken advantage.
At around mile eight uphill from the lower
SR 222 crossing, the trail stops
climbing and veers east toward SR 222. It will lose 200 vertical feet as
it rolls around the ridge and drops through a series of S turns. The pitch
is gentle, so if you're dreading riding back uphill on the out-and-back,
it's not that bad even when you're tired.
Climbing
through aspen forest around mile 7. Just uphill, the trail descends 200 vertical feet over the next
mile as it heads toward the SR 222 at Hardy Lake (mile 9).
The trail passes Hardy Lake (basically a mudhole with rushes
and cattails) on your right before reaching a doubletrack. If you're
finished, turn to the right and follow doubletrack east toward the
roadside parking.
On the upper mountain, the terrain
is almost exclusively aspen groves.
To continue, join the doubletrack by veering left then
immediately fork right. (Note October 2016: There's rough new trailcut on
the left, just as the singletrack approaches the doubletrack. Until the
trail extension is finished, stay on the main trail.) The singletrack will
climb 1.5 miles as the trail meanders
north until it reaches the large upper parking lot on SR 222.
At 8400 feet, near the big trailhead
on SR 222. Photo October 19, 2016.
Bottom Line:
Excellent climbing trail for an out-and-back, with a lot of prettiness,
but reserved for riders with a little reserve in the gas tank. As a
shuttled DH (not that there's anything wrong with that) it's awesome.
In
the parking lot of the SR 222 trailhead, looking south (down canyon). The
trail at the kiosk is the connector to the campground and day-use parking,
with a fork to the Phosphate Hill Loop. The singletrack you
want is to your right, across the road.
Downhill on the WOW trail...
If the above video does not appear on your
browser/device, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking
here.
NOTE! The road to the Pine Canyon trailhead is
labeled on many topo maps and software as highway 224 -- including the
software that produced the topo map (link below). The road signs (and Google maps)
show it as 222.
Getting there, Pine Canyon (SR-222) trailhead: From
Provo Canyon, drive east to
the end of Deer Creek Reservoir. Right where the water ends, turn left
(north) on U-113. Zero your odometer. Drive north 3.8 miles into Midway.
On Main Street, turn left (west) onto Highway 222. Follow the signs for
Wasatch Mountain State Park and/or for Guardsman Pass, staying on 222
as below. When you pass the campground
(on your left), watch for a gravel pull-out area outlined by large
boulders on the right side of the
road about 1/4 mile later. The trail starts across the road from this
parking spot.
From Salt Lake City, go up Parleys Canyon on I-80, then turn right
(south) on US-40. Drive all the way into the middle of Heber, then at 100
South turn right on SR 113 to Midway. In Midway, continue straight as SR
113 turns south, and you'll be on SR 222. Go 2 blocks to 200
East and turn right. Turn left at 200 North and go about 1/2 mile west and
SR 222 will turn right to be northbound again. When the road turns
west, turn right to stay east of the golf course on 222. Once you pass
the campground, look for the parking area on the right about 1/4 mile
uphill.
FEE: In 2021, $10 per car ($5 seniors) if
your vehicle is parked within the canyon. Self-service fee deposit
stations are located throughout the canyon. Bring exact cash or a
checkbook. Plus, minor detail, a pencil or pen to fill out the fee
envelope and dashboard ticket.
Getting there, Campground/Day-use trailhead:
Just after SR 222 and the Pine Canyon Road join at the mouth of the
canyon, drive uphill past the golf course entry. When you reach the
campground entry (on the left), turn and go through the entry station
(paying the day-use fee rather than the camping fee), then go to the right
for the day-user parking lot. On your bike, exit the campground back to SR
222 and cross the road to the singletrack. Climb 1.3 miles uphill (keep
left as the connector from Phosphate Hill joins) to the SR 222 trailhead
and cross the road to continue.
Northbound
from the campground on the WOW connector trail. Photo November 15, 2016.
Getting there, upper 222 trailheads: If you're
shuttling, leave your pickup vehicle at one of the lower trailheads. At the
SR 222 Pine Canyon trailhead (0.7 miles uphill from the campground), zero
your odometer and drive uphill.
Shorter ride: At mile 3.4, look for
concrete barriers on the west (left) side of the road as 222 turns to the
right. There's room for 3 parallel-parked vehicles here. This is the start
for a shorter downhill. A doubletrack will take you 0.1 mile west to
intersect the trail.
Longer ride: Continue on 222 uphill to mile 4.5, then turn left and descend to the large
fenced parking area. The trail starts on the south (down-canyon) side of
the parking area, directly downhill and across the parking lot from the
entry road.
Little
Snowflake (my Rocky Mountain Blizzard Minus 50) arrives at the upper
parking lot. Yes, that's snow on the posts. If you're starting out from
here, the trail is found at the south end of the fenced parking area.
Getting there, Dutch Hollow trailhead (also a fee area):
NOTE: Riding
WoW out-and-back when starting from Dutch Hollow is long and brutal! And
yes, I've done it. From Provo Canyon, drive east to
the end of Deer Creek Reservoir. Right where the water ends, turn left
(north) on U-113. Zero your odometer. Drive north 3.8 miles into Midway,
and turn right (east) as U-113 turns right in the middle of town. 0.4
miles later (mile 4.2), turn left (north) on 400 East (River Road). This
is the road that goes just to the west of the memorial hill. At
mile 5.4 you'll hit a traffic circle. Take the first exit (not the
driveway, though), so you'll turn from north to east. At mile 6.1, a sign points you to Dutchman Hollow
- Dutch Canyon. Turn left and drive 0.5 mile on pavement. The pavement
ends at a turnaround where the Dutchman Way trail begins, GPS N 40°
32.495' W 111° 27.224'. Turn right
downhill at the sign for Wasatch Mountain State Park. The preferred
parking area is 0.3 miles down the gravel road to your right. Trailhead
info (and bathroom) is at GPS N 40° 32.704' W 111° 27.187'
From Salt Lake City, go up Parleys Canyon on I-80, then turn right
(south) on US-40. Just after descending from the dam, watch for River Road
on your right. Drive about 2 miles, turning right at the Dutch Canyon
sign. Find the trailhead as above.
