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Trailside Loop and Skills Park
Trailside Park is located about a mile south of I-80 and a mile west of
US-40 near Silver Creek Junction. There's a one-mile, well-groomed
singletrack loop. But the main reason to come here is the Skills Park,
located on top of the ridge at the southern end of the loop.
View from the ridgeline toward The
Canyons. Photos May 23, 2006.
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Here's a nice toy in the photo on the right. Start with the
balance beam, then the ramp. Take your choice of teeter-totter (route
furthest from the camera), or the gnarly stairway.
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Or let's start a little
easier. Go to the low-altitude, minimum-tip teeter totter nearby, seen in
this photo. |
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Want to practice jumping? Drop over the edge and pick your
line. The artificial ledge features a low route (green circle) with a ramp
rock so you can't mess up too badly.
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Then there's the intermediate ledge
(blue square) in the middle. At the far right side of the jump, there's the black diamond (bike
shown for size comparison). In the photo above, note the bermed runout at the bottom. |
| There are several balance stunts. On the left, this is a
fairly tough one, with a bit of elevation to make it scarier. Note the
log-pile on the trail above. In the photo at right, you see the end of a
ground-level beam on the left side of the photo and a broader boardwalk
with a "slippery log" and a nice low wheelie-drop edge. |
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There are a couple of practice rockpiles for control and
balance. |
| Several logs and logpiles are there for your riding
pleasure, so you can work on your crank-clearing
technique.
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A couple of bermed turns at the downhill end of the Skills
Park take you into these dirt jumps. Launch off the high side, touch down
on the downside. Each one gets a little broader. At the bottom, a bermed
turn rockets you back uphill.
The quickest way to the Skills area is to keep left at the first trail
fork, but either way will get you there.
The park has bathrooms, picnic area, and a big playground. The whole
family can have fun here. The singletrack loop is very wide and smooth,
perfect for pulling a trailer full of kid. Warm up on the one-mile loop,
then go nuts on the fun stuff while the non-bikers hit the playground. |
| Getting there: From Salt Lake City, go east on
I-80 over Parley's Summit. Skip the Park City exit, and exit at the US-40
(Heber, Silver Creek) exit a couple of miles later. Turn right on US-40.
1/2 mile later, exit at Silver Summit and turn right on Silver Summit
Parkway. A mile later, you'll come to a stop sign. Here the main road
turns right, and you'll see a parking area straight ahead. Look left, and
you'll see a dirt trail going uphill alongside a paved trail. (The dirt
trail's the one you want.) Go through the stop sign and find a spot to
park, then backtrack to the dirt trail and start uphill. |
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