Northern Wasatch Front

Mostly trails in the mountains north of Salt Lake.

Great Salt Lake area

Ogden area

Skyline Trail
Northern Skyline - Ben Lomond Trail

Antelope Island

Island in the Salt Lake. It is rather hilly, especially its southern part. Good riding when the Wasatch trails are wet or covered with snow. There are two different trails. One on the east side, the other on the west sice. Major disadvantage is the $7 entrance fee to the state park. The pictures below are from the west side loop in the middle of November.
Here is Gregg Bromka's account on the trail.

View on the flatter southern part of the island.

.View to the southwest, with Oquirgh Mtns. on the horizon, on the southernmost place we got.

Trail to the other side, i.e. north.

View to the east, across the Salt Lake to the snow-covered peaks of the Wasatch Mtns.

Skyline Loop Trail

How does 29 miles of singletrack on a 40 mile loop sound like? That's what the Skyline Loop is. The recommended start from Gregg Bromka's book is at the Pineview Trailhead at the eastern side of the Ogden Canyon. I have learned to take his advices seriously, so I did the loop according to his directions. As usually, his way was the most reasonable. I started at about 8.45 am. The trail does not waste elevation and starts climbing immediately. It does not look too much travelled, as there are shrubs hugging it all the time. I was about 1 mile up when I bent a rear derailleur. A stick (from those damn shrubs) got into the wheel and before I realized, it acted as a lever on the derailleur. I spent the next hour trying to fix it with the stone age tools (actually, I had the tools to take it our, I just tried to unbend it with two stones). The repair was semi-successful. The frame bit holding the derailleur was bent as well, which I found out only during a more involved repair at home. I was able to use the highest and lowest rear gears, the middle ones were skipping. Back to the trail. I did not have much time to think about my misery, as the trail continued to climb for another 8 miles to the Lewis Peak, total elevation gain 3100 ft. The last 2-3 miles were pretty mellow, though, going up and down on the ridge. After a break and first powerbar, I went on, better to say, down, to the North Ogden Pass, 6 miles away, dropping about 2000 ft. The trail was alright (more travelled), but there were two tricky rocky sections. I got here at about 12.15 pm, and went on to another grind, 6.5 mile 2500 ft. climb to the base of Ben Lomond Pk. I had to take several brakes, as the legs were already feeling the distance and elevation. They were not dead, though, so I ended up going up Ben Lomond. I went considerably slower, and pushed more, than a week before, but ended up there at about 2.15 pm. I left at bout 3 pm, and it took me good 1:15 hr to get down to the North Fork Trailhead. The trail down was pretty wicked, especially the last mile before the trailhead, the trail was covered with loose rocks. I rehydrated at the adjacent campground and set off for a 10 mile road ride to the car. It ended up to be quite pleasant ride, mostly downhill, so it took me only about 1/2 hour. Total time 8 hour, a bit under 6 hours of that riding.
Here is a trail map (565 kB).
Here is Gregg Bromka's account on the trail.

Pineview Trailhead.

Panorama from Lewis Peak (395 kB).

Me on Lewis Peak.

Zoomed up view to Ben Lomond.

Zoomed up view to Mt. Ogden.

View to the North Ogden Divide from the to of South Skyline switchbacks.

One of the rocky sections in the descent to North Ogden Pass.

Steep and rocky switchbacks in the middle of climb to Ben Lomond. This and the section right before the summit are the only ones that require a longer push.

Trail to Ben Lomond above these switchbacks.

Views from Ben Lomond:

Panorama from Ben Lomond (350 kB).

Zoomed up view to the Willard Bay.

Zoomed up view to the North Fork Trailhead.

Zoomed up view to the South, Mt. Ogden and Ogden.

Zoomed up view to the North, Willard Pk. and Cache Valley.

View to the North Fork Trailhead from about half the descent.

View to the North Fork Trailhead from almost down.

Pineview Reservoir from the Pineview Trailhead.

My car and bike at the end of the ride.

Northern Skyline - Ben Lomond Trail

This trail starts at the crest of North Ogden Canyon at ca. 1885 m. First it switchbacks up north to the ridge, at ca. 2500 m, then it flattens up once in a while or moderately climbs to the base of Ben Lomond Peak, about 6.6 miles from the trailhead and about 2650 m. Then there is the last 1.5 mi. to the Ben Lomond summit at 2960 m. The trail switchbacks up, but there is not too many spots when it's necessary to push, maybe 200-300 m. in total. The ride down the ridge was a blast, definitely worth the climb. Timing at moderate speed a bit under 3 hours up, a bit over 1 hr. down (including prolonged discussions with other bikers, and fixing a flat tire).
Here is a trail map (200 kB).

View from the first switchbacks to the No. Ogden Pass with the trailhead parking lot.

The trail up to the ridge.

View from a bit higher to the western portion of the No. Ogden Canyon.

Reaching the ridge, slightly imperfect panorama towards the east.

Western flank of Ben Lomond from the trail on the ridge, near the Chilly Pk..

Misha on the ridge.

Ben Lomond (left) and Chilly Pk. (right) from the ridge.

View south with the trail visible on the ridge and Mt. Ogden in the background.

A snake that visited us on the summit of Ben Lomond.

Misha on the summit (we had to drag the bikes up about 20 m. from the trail to the summit in order to take these pictures).

Me on the summit.

U of U / CHPC / Cuma / Mountain Bike / Nothern Wasatch Front
URL: http://voth.chem.utah.edu/~mcuma/bike/ut_north_wf.html