 |
Le Tour de Forks American Fork Canyon For the rider who's looking for an epic ride in American Fork Canyon, here it is. The Tour de Forks hits North Fork, Mineral Fork, Dry Fork, South Fork Deer Creek, South Fork American Fork, and Tibble Fork in a monster 30-mile ride. Absolute altitude change is 3100 feet, climbing is about 4600. View into Mineral Basin and the Snowbird Ridge from Ridge 157. |
|
UtahMountainBiking.com is your source for bike trail info, repair instructions, feature articles, first aid, fitness, and goodies. |
| This ride should be considered only by very skilled and
conditioned riders. There's about 8 miles of rocky uphill doubletrack as a
warmup, then 22 miles of singletrack.
The connector from Dry Fork to Ridge 157 by the Ant Knolls is essentially a half-mile hike. And, depending on ATV traffic, you may have trouble picking lines uphill on the rough Dry Fork Road. If you're not up to the punishment, consider shortening the ride by skipping Dry Fork and the Ant Knolls section of Ridge 157. (Instead of forking toward Mineral Basin at Dutchman Flat, just keep cranking straight up the North Fork Road to Pole Line Pass. You'll drop about 2 miles of singletrack.) View on Ridge 157 north of the Ant Knolls. |
 |
 |
If you follow the ride instructions below, the climb from
Dry Fork to Ridge 157 is the only long hike-a-bike. There are a couple of
steep 50- to 80-foot sections of Ridge 157 between Forest Lake and the
Trail 181 fork that will probably make you get off and walk.
If you've seriously underestimated your leg power, you can bail out by skipping the southern loop and dropping directly down Tibble Fork. Bailouts are also possible at Forest Lake, Old Trench Road 181, and Mill Canyon. If you're not VERY familiar with these trails, take a full topo map and GPS unit with you. The descent from Rock Spring to the top of Mill Canyon is fairly steep (about 15% grade). Not horrible, but definitely not for intermediate riders. It takes good balance and descending skills, because the surface may be a bit torn up from motorcycles. View on the Ridge Trail as we near Forest Lake. |
| At Mill Canyon, the trail jumps onto doubletrack for 1/2
mile, then catches nice singletrack toward the Tibble Fork - South Fork junction.
When you reach the 4-way, turn left and descend South Fork. Cross the
paved road
and climb the other side, up to the Alpine Loop summit parking. Here, you'll grab the Horse Flat Trail up, then down, to the Great Western. On the GWT, you'll climb north past Salamander Flat, through Pine Hollow, and back to Ridge 157. Looking northwest on Ridge 157. We're at 9000 feet. |
|
 |
A hard left turn onto Ridge 157 will take you further north to
the 4-way where you descended South Fork. This time, turn left onto the
Tibble Fork Trail. Payoff time! Rock and roll down to Tibble Fork Reservoir, where your vehicle
awaits!
An open spot on the Deer Creek South Fork Trail, shortly after leaving Ridge 157, shows the fall colors in front of Mount Timpanogos. |
| Getting there: From I-15, take the
Alpine-Highland exit just south of Point-of-the-Mountain. Go east towards
the mountains on UT-92 and continue up American Fork Canyon. There's a $3
fee. About 6 miles up the canyon, turn left at the North Fork junction and
drive 2 miles to Tibble Fork Reservoir. Park, then ride straight past the
outhouse onto the gravel road that heads up along the river.
We've reached the Summit parking lot. Now we go across to find the Horse Flat Trail, which forks left a few feet after leaving the pavement.
|
|
 |
Ride Notes, from Tibble Fork Parking 0.0 Go straight onto dirt North Fork road 4.3 Dutchman Flat, find DT on R behind parking N40 31.626 W111 36.205 5.6 Fork hard R on DT (left = Mineral Basin) N40 32.579 W111 35.685 6.0 Fork L to Dry Fork (R = back to North Fork Road) N40 32.399 W111 35.546 7.8 R onto ST (GWT), hike-a-bike climb N40 33.770 W111 35.098 8.4 Top of ridge, go R (south) N40 33.671 W111 34.777 Keep R at all forks until you reach Pole Line Pass 10.9 At Pole Line Pass. Cross DT to Trail 157. N 40° 31.901 W 111° 34.243 11.5 Fork R (L = Pot Hollow) N 40° 31.404 W 111° 34.249 13.2 L uphill (R=Forest Lake), begin ugly section N40 30.347 W111 34.861 (continued...) Here's Jackie watching for squirrels as the trail breaks into a meadow. |
| 13.9 Keep L uphill at both Trail 181
forks N40 30.029 W111 35.182 14.8 Fork L (R = Holman Trail) N40 29.472 W111 34.938 15.0 Pass Rock Spring, keep R (157) at fork N40 29.479 W111 34.794 Begin descent toward Mill Canyon 16.4 Cross DT to southbound DT N40 28.436 W111 35.276 17.0 Fork R on ST (just before end of DT) N40 28.071 W111 35.660 18.6 4-way, fork L on Deer Creek South Fork N40 27.547 W111 36.894 20.2 Cross paved road to DT N40 26.822 W111 36.514 Find ST straight ahead 21.6 Cross paved road intersection to ST 21.7 Keep R, proceed to Summit parking N40 25.767 W111 36.804 Cross parking to Horse Flat Trail N40 25.848 W111 36.812 Fork L uphill 22.2 Fork R N40 25.688 W111 37.109 23.4 Cross paved road, join ST=GWT N40 26.151 W111 37.726 23.8 Keep L uphill (R = Salamander Flat) N40 26.442 W111 37.672 23.9 Fork L across bridge N40 26.471 W111 37.629 24.5 Keep R (GWT) at fork, trail climbs N40 26.752 W111 37.651 24.2 Hard L at fork onto Ridge 157 N40 26.668 W111 37.018 26.1 Fork R uphill (L=Mud Springs) N40 27.119 W111 37.366 26.8 At 4-way, fork L on Tibble Fork N40 27.547 W111 36.894 28.2 Straight as Mud Springs Trail crosses N40 28.158 W111 37.592 29.9 Descend, cross dam, R on road 30.0 Back at parking |
|
| [ Current Conditions, top of American Fork Canyon ] |
| Riding resources for this trail: Single-page riding guide GPS track files and route (right-click and "Save as..."): Garmin National Geographic Google Earth GPX High-res topo (Size Alert! 2 MB): View |
[Trails Options
Page] |
|
For lodging in the American Fork Canyon
area, as well as travel guides and information on other activities, may we
suggest: |
|
Page views since 2/15/07: |
