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Dowd Mountain Trail The Dowd Mountain Trail begins on the high plateau of the Uinta Mountains of northeast Utah. The trail passes through longleaf pine and juniper. There's very little elevation gain, and the trail is OK for strong novice riders. The trail is half singletrack and half double-track. If a rider gets tired, there's a "bailout" graded road back from the midway lookout point. Brian Argyle works his bike up a gentle grade through longleaf pines. August 29, 1998 by Bruce.
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The midpoint of the trail is this impressive view over Flaming Gorge. We'd rate the technical difficulty as novice and the aerobic requirement as light. This 11-mile loop trail is well marked with blue diamonds on posts and trees. Here Mike Engberson, chief exec of UtahMountainBiking and its parent company Mad Scientist Software, pauses overlooking the reservoir, with his old hardbody Giant Iguana. August 29, 1998. |
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UtahMountainBiking.com is your source for bike trail info, repair instructions, feature articles, first aid, fitness, and goodies. |
Looking north over the reservoir from the top of the mountain, notice how the exposed layers of rock tilt upward as they come towards you. The further north you look, the younger the rock layers are. The Uinta Mountains slowly rose up between 40 and 80 million years ago, warping the layers above them into a giant dome. As the overlying layers eroded away, the underlying Precambrian (over 500 million years old) rock is exposed below Flaming Gorge Dam. To the north, successively younger layers are exposed, from the Permian (age of amphibians, 280 million years ago), to the Triassic (later age of the dinosaurs, ending about 65 million years ago) just past the furthest northern corner of the reservoir.
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Getting there: On Utah Highway 44, look for the Dowd
Springs and Dowd Mountain Road signs about 14 miles south of Manila on the west side of
Flaming Gorge reservoir. The trail starts at the graded road across the highway from the
parking area. Just past the cattle guard, watch for the blue diamond marker as the
singletrack leaves the road.
For a one-page printable summary of this trail guide, click here. |
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Would you like to SCUBA DIVE in Flaming Gorge? |
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For lodging in the Vernal area, as well as travel guides and information on other activities, may we
suggest: |
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