Northern Utah Bountiful Canyon (Old Ward)

[Paige]

Hey guys, I tried doing a night run up Old Ward trail in Bountiful last night to test my new lights out. Looks like it will be closed to anything wider than an ATV for quite some time. This landslide happened roughly 1/3 of the way up and it looked like a 10’ drop to the steep hillside below.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

This has been discussed a bit on FB. I'm not sure if anyone has actually made contact with the FS/city/county to see what they know or are planning to do with it.

 

[Houndoc]

I suspect this year we will see a lot of slides with the wet spring.

 

[Gravy]

I'm heading up tomorrow to scope it out. I'll snap some shots of the damage

 

[gertsch]

There have been talks with dnr and fs about this issue. I'm not sure where its at, but hopefully we will hear something soon. especially since a guy attempted to drive past it in his jk and rolled down the mountain side.

 

[rholbrook]

A 4 door JKU rolled off of it the other day with a man and his 3 yr old inside. Thankfully, no one hurt

 

[Gravy]

It's a pretty bad washout. I'd say there's only 40"-50" of width left in that section. I wouldn't even run a ATV up without having to bank the sidewalk. No chance I'd run a UTV up that. It's a pretty nasty 200 ft+ downhill

 

[Gravy]

I have had a conversation with Forest service and 3 seperate DNR officers and they're each saying it's the other's jurisdiction and more interested in giving tickets, harassing teenagers and stupid garbage then they are actually fixing this dangerous problem that has already injured a number of people and is preventing people from enjoying recreation in this area- they've expressed no intention or plan to fix this in the future.
Bureaucracy is beyond foolish sometimes.

 

[moab_cj5]

I have had a conversation with Forest service and 3 seperate DNR officers and they're each saying it's the other's jurisdiction and more interested in giving tickets, harassing teenagers and stupid garbage then they are actually fixing this dangerous problem that has already injured a number of people and is preventing people from enjoying recreation in this area- they've expressed no intention or plan to fix this in the future.
Bureaucracy is beyond foolish sometimes.

It doesn't surprise me. The wash out is on private property, so they aren't too motivated to fix it.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

The wash out is big enough that we can see it from our backyard and have watched it get worse with each storm it seems, a neighbor who rides up there a lot said it has been bad since around February. Even if they don't repair it they should at least post a sign down below and/or place boulders across the trail to limit it to bikes.

 

[Gravy]

 

[rholbrook]

Wow, I can’t believe someone actually tried to take a JKU through there

 

[Jesser04]

Wow, I can’t believe someone actually tried to take a JKU through there

Duh it’s a rubicon they can go anywhere.

 

[Hickey]

I suspect this year we will see a lot of slides with the wet spring.

Lake Fork is closed for a massive slide.

 

[Spork]

So to repair do they try and defy gravity on the one side or dig out the uphill side?

 

[Kevin B.]

The quick way is to dig out the uphill, but that's just going to keep washing out. The right way is to shore up the downhill side and address the drainage issue that's causing the washout in the first place.

Gravy or somebody might be able to correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it's a sanctioned road, on the FS road map, with budget allocated for maintenance and repair. And getting it sanctioned might do more harm than good, in terms of the studies and red tape needed to make it official. On the flip side, if it's off the radar and the needed repairs are indeed on private property, maybe we get the owners permission and then talk @Chocflip201 or somebody into taking a skid steer and a bunch of guys with shovels up there and make it right and we don't have to hassle the FS at all.

Or, just leave it like it is and then we MTB dweebs will shuttle the shit out of it. I've always thought Old Ward had potential as a downhill route.

 

[Gravy]

I've ridden it a bunch on mountain bikes and it is super super rocky not that much fun without a bunch of suspension. At least that section

 

[Gravy]

It's rock on the high side. I should have snapped a picture of it. I'll take one next time I'm through there.

 

[Corban_White]

Looks like it's a singletrack now!

 

[moab_cj5]

Here are the pics I took back in May.


And here is a map of the wash out


And a snap shot showing the land owner