| Description: | Session Mountains is a subrange of Wasatch north of SLC and east of Bountiful. Great Western Trail goes on their ridge from Skyline Drive to Big Mountain Pass. We did the whole thing as a loop counterclockwise. It is supposedly better done in the other direction, but, I wanted to explore alternate ways down to Bountiful, which was easier on the way down than up.
Rode up Emigration Cyn. and then hopped on Little Mountain trail, down to Affleck Park and on Mormon Trail to Big Mountain Pass. From here first tough climb up Big Mountain on GWT, then ups and downs pass Swallow Rocks and steep descent before reaching City Creek Canyon pass. From here it was quite bit of hiking to a ridge east of Grandview Peak, the trail on the climb is quite eroded and overgrown. A bit of ups and downs till dropping to another pass over Mill Canyon, another hiking on a loose rocky trail up from here, and then snowy switchback descent to pass above Holbrook Canyon. Here the trail was alredy getting messed up by the ATVs and motorcycles and what follows from here all the way to Skyline drive is a wide eroded track that swarms with noisy beasts. We opted for a quieter descent on a ridge north of Holbrook Canyon, following a trail next to a pipeline. There were two very steep rocky descents that we had to walk, the rest was rideable, but, I would not recommend this route. We were blessed to turn out right above the Mormon temple in Bountiful, down there is a trailhead with toilets and water, which we refilled since we were pretty low. Then some road riding on sprawling Bountiful Blvd. to Shoreline Trail and on that back to SLC. |
