| Thanksgiving Point Race Loop |
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| Update July 2007: We hear that the course is highly overgrown with vegetation; difficult to follow and tough to ride. The trail has had no maintenance, no race, and few riders this year. Unless the Point steps up and maintains this trail, it will soon disappear. |
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The Thanksgiving Point Race Loop was built for the 2006 Intermountain Cup race. This twisting singletrack packs an
unbelievable 10.1 miles of riding into a small package between the freeway
and the railroad, in the still-undeveloped area of Thanksgiving Point.
Trail is dirt, heavy in clay that will stick after the rain. The trail is
very flat, with only 50 feet of absolute elevation change, for around 150
feet of total climbing over the whole 10 miles. There are a LOT of hairpin
turns, wavy turns, and back-and-forth meanderings.
Dominic rides the race course with Timpanogos in the background. May 2006. |
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| The trail tends to overgrow with vegetation quickly. Some
areas could be a little faint in the spring. As the trail becomes more
well-known, bike traffic is
packing it down and smoothing the turns. Watch out after rainstorms -- the mud is very sticky. The
trail dries fast, and is pretty firm within 24 hours of a heavy rain.
Ben Hutchings at the races!
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Riding Notes: The trail is fairly easy to follow except for two spots: (1) The second time you cross paved road, DON'T go into the obvious singletrack on the right. Stay left on doubletrack (heading toward the railroad tracks) for about 60 feet before veering right on singletrack (the ST on the right is the return route). After a short distance, you'll be back on the doubletrack heading west. (2) As you approach the tracks, don't go under the underpass -- head right and follow the tracks north. The area has been torn up a bit by bulldozers. Keep close to the tracks (including riding on an old paved road) until you see an obvious trail branching right toward the building under construction, about as far north as you can go. |
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Getting there: Take the Alpine-Highland exit from
I-15 (just south of Point of the Mountain). Turn west (away from the
hill), then left at the traffic light to go south on the frontage road. Go
past the buildings of Thanksgiving Point, then turn right just after the
big neon sign. Go into the parking lot on your right, or just flip a
U-turn and park along the south side of the road. The trail runs
along the south side of the road. Start by heading uphill towards the
freeway.
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Larger-scale Satelite view with superimposed trail.
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