Park City Mid Mountain Trail

Some riders still call this trail the "Eight Thousand Foot Trail," but its official name is Mid Mountain Trail. This is an awesome singletrack ride that rocks up and down at the 8000-foot level, from Park City Mountain Resort to The Canyons Resort. This 8000-foot portion of the trail is 11.3 miles long. Add 4 miles to descend on The Canyons' lift road, plus the mileage (at least 3) for one of many ways of climbing to the trail. The official ride using the Spiro Trail is 18.8 miles point-to-point, 22 loop.

Here's Mike J of Park City riding the Mid Mountain Trail, high above the city. Photos June 17, 2002 by Bruce.

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Altitude change is 1400 feet, but with the up-and-down on the Mid Mountain Trail, total climbing will be close to 3000. This is a big ride.

There are some rocky sections, earning it an upper-intermediate rating. The trail itself is aerobically taxing because it's long, and there's a good climb to get up to it. A ride of this size deserves plenty of water and calories packed along.

This is a beautiful ride, mostly forested with either aspen or fir. There are periodic views over Park City and The Canyons. Occasional meadows are covered with wildflowers, mostly penstemmon and balsamroot. Choke cherry bushes thrive among the aspens.

Trail surface varies greatly. This is a smoother section among the aspens.

This trail has a VIDEO.

You can get to the Mid Mountain Trail via Spiro, Sweeney North or Sweeney South, Daly Canyon, or Deer Valley. Spiro is a direct route, and is the "official version."

The trail passes over a divide at Iron Canyon, where you can see the Wasatch Crest. Here Bruce cruises through a flower-filled meadow.
Spiro Trail Option:  Point-to-point using Spiro uphill would be 18.8 miles. Heading south Park City, turn right towards Park City Mountain Resort. Turn right again to drive past the parking lot, towards the mountains, on Silver King Drive. Turn right on Crescent Road and follow it to the trailhead. Keep left at the first fork and climb the switchbacks. The trail will turn south-southwest. The Mid Mountain Trail forks off, heading back north, at about mile 3.5.

You can complete a loop by catching the Paved Olympic Trail (near the highway as you exit The Canyons) and follow it back into town. This will add about 2.5 miles.

Gravedigger Trail Option: Point-to-point, this is 20.6 miles. Go south in Park City until the road dumps onto Main Street. Follow it uphill into Daly Canyon. When you hit dirt, park and head uphill. Navigate through Lower Des Suds and Daly Grind, keeping right until you find yourself on Gravedigger. Gravedigger heads north to King Road, and will meet John's Trail. Follow John's to the top of Payday. Head southwest up the dirt road that parallels the Bonanza lift (on your left). Turn right on singletrack, the Steps Trail. At the Yurt at the top, continue straight onto Thaynes Road. Just past the mine tailings, turn right on singletrack (Spiro). 0.6 miles later, turn left uphill onto the Mid Mountain Trail.

Packing the bike over the creek.
Tour des Suds Option: This will be about 26-30 miles (construction in the Deer Valley area is constantly changing these trails). You'll need a good map, and probably some current information from the bike shop. The object is to navigate from Tour through TG1 and TG2 to find Sams Trail, which connects to John's 99, which takes you to the top of Payday. From there, you take Steps (as above) and Thaynes. Good luck.

Mike J. looks over the view from the northern end. The Canyons is on the left. I-80 is the horizontal line just before the distant hills.

Wasatch Crest Epic Loop Option:  For real hammerheads, consider riding the Wasatch Crest starting at Spiro and looping back via the Midmountain Trail. Climb Spiro and continue up to Scott's Pass. Ride the Crest north to the junction with upper Mill Creek Canyon, but go right to The Canyons. Drop back to the Midmountain Trail and continue south to Spiro. (See GPS files and map options below.)
Getting there: I recommend using the Spiro Trail. Drive past the parking area of Park City Mountain Resort on Silver King Drive. Turn right onto Three Kings. The next left will be Crescent Drive. Park on Three Kings, then ride 0.1 mile up to the trailhead. The trail is the singletrack next to the gravel road where Crescent Drive turns left. N 40° 39.390' W 111° 30.895'

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Ride notes:
0.0   Start at Spiro trailhead singletrack
0.8   Eagle trail comes in from L
0.9   Armstrong Bypass rejoins on R
1.6   R off Claimjumper road
3.4   Fork R
3.5   Hard right to reverse direction
        Mid Mountain Trail, N 40° 37.917' W 111° 32.171'
RESET to 0.0
1.7   At pass Iron Canyon, drop over ridge
4.1   Switchback
6.8   Cross creek and doubletrack
7.5   Cross paved road
8.0   Cross paved road
9.1   Cross a singletrack, keep straight
9.2   Cross bridge in meadow
        Continue on uphill side of building and gondola
        Trail on uphill side of clearing, continuing north
10.2  Doubletrack, trail continues to your left
10.4  Lift area, continue straight on DT
         Trail on R about .1 mile later
11.3  Singletrack turns sharply downhill on DT
         Joins gravel road, continue downhill.
15.1  Fork R uphill past lift
         Work down through The Canyons Resort

Riding resources for this trail:
Single-page riding guide
GPS track files (right-click and "Save as..."):
   Garmin     GPX
High-res topo map (200 KB):   view
Option, loop including Wasatch Crest from Spiro:
GPS loop ride Spiro-WC-MMtn:
   Garmin     GPX
Topo maps of loop with Wasatch Crest:
    Medium-Res   High-Res (1.5 MB)

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For additional information, including nearby lodging, rentals, camping, and current conditions, may we suggest:
Park City area info and lodging:  http://www.parkcityinfo.com/ 
Deer Valley Resort:  http://www.deervalley.com/ 
Park City Mountain Resort:  http://www.parkcitymountain.com/
The Canyons Resort:  http://www.thecanyons.com/ 
Utah outdoor activities:  http://www.utahoutdooractivities.com/ 
Camping:  http://www.outdoorsinutah.com/camping.htm 
Utah website:  http://www.utah.com/ 
 General info on visiting Salt Lake City:  http://www.slctravel.com/
FAQ, National Forest:  http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/wcnf/unit/slrd/questions.shtml 
Ranger District, Wasatch-Cache National Forest:  http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/wcnf/