Riding in Full Color - American Fork Canyon in the Fall

Fall biking is always an interesting time for those who ride. The leaves begin to turn, the heavy heat of summer gives way to the crisp coolness of fall. It is a fantastic time to be outdoors.

 It has been awhile since we put tires on Dirt in the canyon. Inspired by some pictures put up by Josh M., and with the fall colors at their finest we decided this weekend would be best spent on the trails where our riding began; American Fork Canyon trail system.

Friday night my brother Gavin called and wanted to get out on a night ride. This is the four way junction where the ridge meets the Tibble fork trail and deer creek south fork.

Driving up the canyon the roads were packed with Roadies, Cars, and fishermen searching for their sweet spot. Remarkably, when we hit the trails we only saw two other people. It was a fantastic ride.

The colors are beautiful throughout the ride, but they really begin to show when you hit the Mud Springs and Lower Tibble fork trail. Like mother natures gives a reward to those who are willing to put in a little more work.

Nearing the meadow where there is a short trail to an AF canyon overlook. We skipped it today.

A camera Just cannot do this justice.

This part of the trail was amazing. The trail was literally covered by a red and pink carpet of fallen leaves.

This was a sweet day on a bike.

The weather was perfect.

The trails were good.

The trail crowds were small.

The Mountains were beautiful. 

It's a great time to be out exploring one trail at a time.

Here is the Ride if you are interested.



Mile Creek to Sheep creek... Backcountry adventure

This past weekend, we went to Island Park on a family vacation. The intent of the trip was to spend time with the family and ride ATV's on some trails, but I did what I always do and look for some places to go biking. After some research and help on MTBR, I was pointed to Mile to sheep Creek and was lucky enough to be staying about 30 min from the trail head on the south side of Henry's lake.

Since I was riding solo, in what I was told was bear country, I thought it would be a good thing to find bear spray. I stopped at several shops/gas stations to see if they had it and the conversation generally went like this....

Me: " Do you have bear spray?"

Retailer: "No, we just sold out."

M: "How important is it to bring you think?"

R: "Well, if you're in a group on ATV's around here, you should be okay."

M: "What if I am going biking alone?"

R: "Where you going?"

M: "Mile creek/Sheep creek just past the Montana border"

R: "You're going there by yourself?!?" " I would HIGHLY recommend finding some; actually, yeah, you need to find it.."

After two days of riding the ATV's I was ready for some pedaling, but got a bit nervous after everyone saying it wasn't the best idea to do alone. I was kind of hoping to see a bear, but at the same time I was hoping I wouldn't... Just in case, I packed a few more things in case of a bear encounter and decided to head out on Monday morning. I woke up at 6:30, got ready and headed over to the trail.

Generally, I think people do it with a shuttle vehicle, but since I didn't have one, I drove to sheep creek TH and rode about 7 miles to mile creek TH. I started riding at 7:43 am and the view from the trail head was pretty impressive.

Mile creek is a nice section of climbing. As you start into the canyon after the meadow, you get into a few more scattered trees. It was just super quiet and peaceful. I spun up and was expecting to hit some switchbacks. Little did I know, there were about a million switchbacks awaiting me with some really spectacular views.

After an eternity climbing switchbacks and my legs begging for a break, I was nearing the top... or at least I thought... There I was at an elevation of 9333ft and still not at the top... HOLY CRAP! I still had about 700 feet to go and 12 switchbacks according to the trimble outdoor website. By the time I hit the last few switch backs I started questioning my fitness, my head, genetics, bike, the altitude, the stress of maybe being a bears' dinner and any other excuse I could come up with.. It was a brutal, but the views were crazy! All I could think was I needed to get in better shape...

After a little snack of peanuts and dried berries, I finally got to the top. 10,000ft.. There were pretty amazing views on both sides and all I could think about was the 9 mile descent that was coming.

The next nine miles was a blast. It started out with some really fun, tight, rocky switchbacks, opened up in the field with a few pedally sections then entered some trees down to watkins creek. I was the only one out there and it just felt like a back country exploration with big mountains, meadows, forest and everything else you could think of. As I was ripping through the meadows and groups of trees, I started thinking about coming around a corner, scaring a bear, and him thinking his dinner just arrived. But I couldn't help just enjoying the scenery, the adrenaline and the adventure.

The descent was a mixture of just about all the mountainous singletrack I had ridden. It was fast, flowy, rocky, steep, little lips to launch, had some creek crossings, and all the other singletrack goodness I have come to love. It was just a blast! After the descent, I got a second wind from the adrenaline just in time to start climbing again.

The second climb started right after a really nice area next to the creek. It went through a lot of trees and was just super scenic. As I came to one of the first openings on the incline, It was definitely a hike-a-bike for me. Not only was it steep, but my legs were screaming by this point. I pushed the bike for a bit on the steeper sections then rode the flatter sections and then came to this meadow. Gorgeous.

I went through the meadow and picked up the trail. I came through the meadow with a renewed energy of knowing the rest of the ride was about a 5 mile downhill section to the car. This downhill was a BLAST and had a few challenging parts, but pretty fast for the most part.

This ride was awesome. The climbs were brutal and I could do without riding steep switchbacks for awhile, but the descents and the views were seriously awesome. I did not use the GPS for the entire ride on the road between the two trail heads, but did for the entire trail. It was a total of 27.5 miles, 4 hours and 45 minutes of riding and 7 hours total for the entire loop including the road. I left sheep creek at 7:43 and returned at 2:45.

I didn't see any wildlife or a single person the entire trail except the last mile.. I saw a dog and three ladies that just got done camping at a lake and were hiking out. It was a good day to be in the mountains and awesome to ride a new trail in an unfamiliar area.