Trails around Salt Lake

[CCP]

Hi all--

Once my Cruiser gets out of the shop, I'm plannig on taking it off road for the first time. Are there any easy dirt trails that aren't snowed in at the moment around the Salt Lake area?

 

[utah340six]

5 mile out by ceder fort

 

[CCP]

Thanks man! I'll have to check that out. Is it a beginner trail?

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Skyline Drive from the Bountiful end is open, I live just below it. Not sure about from the Farmington end though, they had some slides the other day.

 

[CCP]

Skyline Drive from the Bountiful end is open, I live just below it. Not sure about from the Farmington end though, they had some slides the other day.

I think that's the closest one to me. Is it too muddy? I don't even have all terrains on at the moment, so I don't want to do anything too serious

 

[jeep-N-montero]

I think that's the closest one to me. Is it too muddy? I don't even have all terrains on at the moment, so I don't want to do anything too serious

You might be best to stay home if you are trying to venture out with bald tires.

 

[JL Rockies]

We often go out west and have a campfire. During the winter wed did a lot a snow bashing out there and I had bald tires... I have mad KJ skillz though.

 

[CCP]

They aren't bald--previous owner used it as a daily commuter, so he put highway low rolling resistance all seasons on. Work great on the road, but off road...thinking about getting a set of Pirelli Scorpions on it

 

[jeep-N-montero]

They aren't bald--previous owner used it as a daily commuter, so he put highway low rolling resistance all seasons on. Work great on the road, but off road...thinking about getting a set of Pirelli Scorpions on it

Scorpions are pretty low on the ladder, if you are looking for a great tire for highway and off-road duty go with the BFG A/T's.

 

[CCP]

I went up to the Bountuful B this morning in my Subaru Forester (pretty good off road for a car based 4x4), just to go see it. There was a big gate blocking the way and a sign saying "closed till further notice" :/. Are there any other trailheads that are open.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Wow, they must have had some water damage.

 

[ozzy702]

I'm new to the area and am still trying to find places to wheel within a reasonable drive of Salt Lake. So far I've heard of the following.

- The bountiful B (sounds easy)

- Little Moab (fun but very small)

- 5 Mile (I still need to do constrictor but rattlesnake is meh after awhile)

- Hanging Tree (sounds really fun but it's what a 2.5 hour drive from Salt Lake?)

- Delta Trails (sounds fun but once again 2.5 hour drive?)

I'm really amazed at how few trails northern utah has to offer. In Vegas and up in Idaho Falls we had GREAT wheeling within an hours drive (most of the time within 30 minutes). Here it seems like it's a minimum hour drive and even then it's just 5 mile or little moab.

Not trying to sound negative or anything but why doesn't Utah have more trails? The land is certainly there. Do we not have a strong lobby here for land use?

 

[Venture13]

Ya, Utah is a bust for wheeling compared to other states. When I lived in AZ I was way spoiled with the trail network. MOAB is OK, but finding other year round trails can be difficult. Seems like Utah is a privately owned state. Also I have yet to see any challenging trails up in Northern UT. I did go to Vernal this past weekend and found some really good slick rock though..... Only like 4+ hour drive... LOL

 

[dentedvw]

Ya, Utah is a bust for wheeling compared to other states.

LOL wut?
This is wheeling heaven compared to Michigan.

If it's within a half days drive, it is close, in my opinion. In Michigan, if you wanted to do some fun trails, count on driving almost two days to get there.

Besides, I am having to work to keep the Jeep on two wheels on some of these off camber freeway corners. That's almost like trail riding.
Might have to put anti sway bar back on. Would have to buy one first though. Didn't need that in Michigan (flatlandia).

 

[ozzy702]

LOL wut?
This is wheeling heaven compared to Michigan.

If it's within a half days drive, it is close, in my opinion. In Michigan, if you wanted to do some fun trails, count on driving almost two days to get there.

Besides, I am having to work to keep the Jeep on two wheels on some of these off camber freeway corners. That's almost like trail riding.
Might have to put anti sway bar back on. Would have to buy one first though. Didn't need that in Michigan (flatlandia).

Yeah but liberal Michigan is a no brainer. Utah is conservative and yet there are no trails despite TONS of land.

Anything more an hour and you can rule out night runs which is a blast. So then you're talking only wheeling on the weekends and that really limits how many times you can wheel in a year.

Seriously though, did there used to be a bunch of decent trails in Utah and they all got shut down?

 

[sixstringsteve]

Seriously though, did there used to be a bunch of decent trails in Utah and they all got shut down?

I haven't been here as long as most, but there did used to be more legal trails (pittsburg lake up AF canyon, for one). If you're new to the fight here in Utah, SUWA is a big offender. They're trying to close a ton of trails down in Moab, and their proposals are rather drastic (ie no mountain biking, no motorized vehicles, etc). We have some great people on this forum who are fighting hard to keep our trails open to the public, but we could always use more people willing to put in the time and energy to keep our trails open.

I am in no way a land use expert, but I'm slowly learning more and more about it. Like sparticus said, join a local club and attend their meetings, they talk about land use a lot.

 

[Corban_White]

Seems like Utah is a FEDERALLY owned state.

Fixed it.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Ya, Utah is a bust for wheeling compared to other states. When I lived in AZ I was way spoiled with the trail network. MOAB is OK, but finding other year round trails can be difficult. Seems like Utah is a privately owned state. Also I have yet to see any challenging trails up in Northern UT. I did go to Vernal this past weekend and found some really good slick rock though..... Only like 4+ hour drive... LOL

Utah has the 2nd most public lands in the US, behind that of Nevada. 70% of Utah's land is owned by the federal governement, add state land and that number is likely closer to 80%. We have routes that people come from all over the world to enjoy. There are tens of thousands of miles of routes in the west desert that are passable year round. To the east you deal with seasonal closures that happen to be far worse than they have been in the past due to the high elevations and the massive snowfall we received. Constrictor, Cat Canyon, Chainsaw, Little Moab, Prov Canyon, etc all offer technical trails within a few hours of SL. Expect to see less and less technical trails in the future. If that is your sole love, your likely not going to enjoy living in Utah short of Moab, Delta and St George.

Most come to Utah because it has one of the largest trail networks... some don't know about it

 

[cruiseroutfit]

... Utah is conservative and yet there are no trails despite TONS of land..

Where do you come up with this stuff?

...Anything more an hour and you can rule out night runs which is a blast. So then you're talking only wheeling on the weekends and that really limits how many times you can wheel in a year.

You move to a populated metropolis yet want trails less than an hour away? Hell your not out of the subdivisions in an hour of rush-hour traffic. If you want trails in your back roads move to the other 97% of the state that isn't the Wasatch Front

There are thousands and thousands of miles of off-road routes in Utah's West desert that start with the 5Mile Pass Area just west of the Wasatch Front. One can drive on dirt from 5MP to Reno, 5MP to Vegas, 5MP to Idaho, etc. We have plenty of routes.

 

[JL Rockies]

In all fairness, SLC is not the kidnapping capital of N America that Phoenix is and you're far less likely to get shot at by our coyotes. AZ skiing sux too and John McCain is the Senator and there's a bit of a hippy pob too.