UTAH LOCAL'S GO-TO ROUTES:
DNA STAFF PICKS
Utah, with its rugged mountains, vast deserts, and breathtaking scenery, offers an unparalleled landscape for biking enthusiasts. The state is renowned for its diverse terrain and offers a variety of biking trails and routes that cater to cyclists of all skill levels. Whether you’re looking for a leisurely ride through a scenic byway or an adrenaline-fueled adventure through challenging mountain trails, biking in Utah has something for everyone.
The DNA Staff put together our favorite routes to help you explore our home state on road, gravel, and mountain bikes. Click on the Strava routes to download the GPX files to guide your next adventure.
THUNDER MOUNTAIN
Located just outside Bryce Canyon National Park, you will be hard-pressed to find a more scenic bike ride in the world. Most people ride the trail as a loop clockwise. There are two ways to ride this trail. First, you can start at the bottom and ride up the paved Red Canyon Bicycle Trail that parallels UT-12 to the top. Alternatively, you can start at the top of the trail with an excellent downhill dirt section and finish the loop with a smooth paved path to the end.
The first time I rode this with my kids, I told them it was a super fun downhill trail. However, they felt like the first few miles of rollers at the beginning of the ride were NOT downhill. They soon forgot about that part of the ride when the trail opened up with red rock canyons, hoodoos, and views for miles surrounding them. Completing the loop is around 15 miles and approximately 1800 feet of elevation gain. If you’re feeling fit and have the time, ride the loop more than once to take in all the beauty the Bryce Canyon Area offers.
– Seth Bradley (DNA Partner)
CORNER CANYON
Corner Canyon, Utah, has impressive gravel routes if you know where to look. Dave Harward of Plan7 Endurance Coaching put together one of our favorite Monday morning mashers. Everything you want for a gravel ride, steep descents, bits of single track with punishing uphills.
This diverse route is perfect to increase your uphill fitness, test your descending skills, and prepare you for the upcoming gravel races. These trails usually dry out quickly and are generally rideable by mid-April. Once you’ve given this route, there are plenty of other sides chutes you can add to this route to make it your own.
– Joe Sepulveda (DNA Partner)
AMERICAN FORK CANYON
American Fork Canyon has become one of my favorite canyons to ride mountain bikes. The climbs are punchy and technical, but the views and descents are well worth the short suffering.
There are a variety of trails to access from multiple trailheads, but one of my favorite “after-work” rides has been in the Timpooneke area. Although it may initially seem like type 2 fun, the descent is well worth the sweat. You have high-speed singletrack mixed with technical roots and rock sections. Plus, not to mention the fascinating wildlife you can typically spot while biking up there.
American Fork Canyon can be challenging, exhilarating, and truly awe-inspiring. If you haven’t had the chance to explore this amazing area yet, I highly recommend giving it a try.
– Josh Beck (DNA Marketing)
DRY CREEK TO CITY CREEK
To start, it’s easiest to ride this loop if you either ride to the trailhead or park your car at Popperton park, which has a lot of parking spots. If you park and ride, you’re immediately hit with a short but steep road climb to get to the mouth of Drycreek, which helps to get your legs warm, but it also can sap a little bit of energy as you climb a short 15% sidewalk climb. Drycreek is a very popular section of singletrack trail, with runners, hikers and bikers using it both directions throughout the day. It doesn’t matter if you go at 6am or 9pm, it always feels like people are using the trail and for good reason. The views you receive once you make it out of Drycreek that look out over the entire valley are spectacular.
I think one of the reasons this trail is so popular is that although it has some challenging climbs, be it riding up Drycreek or The Grassy Knoll, for the most part this trail has a great flow to it. It’s easy to maintain your speed and rip in and out of berms. With the inclusion of new Hiking/Biking only sections of trail, I think this helps to keep everyone safe and give the cyclists a little more freedom to ramp up some speed without the fear of running into a hiker around a blind turn. That being said, a little too much speed can be treacherous as I found out two years ago, when I was maybe a little too confident and wrecked on a quick switchback, loosing traction on my front wheel and slamming into the ground breaking my collarbone. That was a fun 2 mile hike down to the road…
All and all I love this quick loop, it’s great for training, but also just riding and enjoying a fun MTB loop. It’s well labelled and I believe a cycling stable in the Foothills of Salt Lake City.
– Todd Erickson (DNA Design)
UTAH LOCAL'S GO-TO ROUTES:
DNA STAFF PICKS
Utah, with its rugged mountains, vast deserts, and breathtaking scenery, offers an unparalleled landscape for biking enthusiasts. The state is renowned for its diverse terrain and offers a variety of biking trails and routes that cater to cyclists of all skill levels. Whether you’re looking for a leisurely ride through a scenic byway or an adrenaline-fueled adventure through challenging mountain trails, biking in Utah has something for everyone.
The DNA Staff put together our favorite routes to help you explore our home state on road, gravel, and mountain bikes. Click on the Strava routes to download the GPX files to guide your next adventure.
THUNDER MOUNTAIN
Located just outside Bryce Canyon National Park, you will be hard-pressed to find a more scenic bike ride in the world. Most people ride the trail as a loop clockwise. There are two ways to ride this trail. First, you can start at the bottom and ride up the paved Red Canyon Bicycle Trail that parallels UT-12 to the top. Alternatively, you can start at the top of the trail with an excellent downhill dirt section and finish the loop with a smooth paved path to the end.
The first time I rode this with my kids, I told them it was a super fun downhill trail. However, they felt like the first few miles of rollers at the beginning of the ride were NOT downhill. They soon forgot about that part of the ride when the trail opened up with red rock canyons, hoodoos, and views for miles surrounding them. Completing the loop is around 15 miles and approximately 1800 feet of elevation gain. If you’re feeling fit and have the time, ride the loop more than once to take in all the beauty the Bryce Canyon Area offers.
-Seth Bradley (DNA Partner)
CORNER CANYON
Corner Canyon, Utah, has impressive gravel routes if you know where to look. Dave Harward of Plan7 Endurance Coaching put together one of our favorite Monday morning mashers. Everything you want for a gravel ride, steep descents, bits of single track with punishing uphills.
This diverse route is perfect to increase your uphill fitness, test your descending skills, and prepare you for the upcoming gravel races. These trails usually dry out quickly and are generally rideable by mid-April. Once you’ve given this route, there are plenty of other sides chutes you can add to this route to make it your own.
-Joe Sepulveda (DNA Partner)
AMERICAN FORK CANYON
American Fork Canyon has become one of my favorite canyons to ride mountain bikes. The climbs are punchy and technical, but the views and descents are well worth the short suffering.
There are a variety of trails to access from multiple trailheads, but one of my favorite “after-work” rides has been in the Timpooneke area. Although it may initially seem like type 2 fun, the descent is well worth the sweat. You have high-speed singletrack mixed with technical roots and rock sections. Plus, not to mention the fascinating wildlife you can typically spot while biking up there.
American Fork Canyon can be challenging, exhilarating, and truly awe-inspiring. If you haven’t had the chance to explore this amazing area yet, I highly recommend giving it a try.
-Josh Beck (DNA Marketing)
DRY CREEK TO CITY CREEK
To start, it’s easiest to ride this loop if you either ride to the trailhead or park your car at Popperton park, which has a lot of parking spots. If you park and ride, you’re immediately hit with a short but steep road climb to get to the mouth of Drycreek, which helps to get your legs warm, but it also can sap a little bit of energy as you climb a short 15% sidewalk climb. Drycreek is a very popular section of singletrack trail, with runners, hikers and bikers using it both directions throughout the day. It doesn’t matter if you go at 6am or 9pm, it always feels like people are using the trail and for good reason. The views you receive once you make it out of Drycreek that look out over the entire valley are spectacular.
I think one of the reasons this trail is so popular is that although it has some challenging climbs, be it riding up Drycreek or The Grassy Knoll, for the most part this trail has a great flow to it. It’s easy to maintain your speed and rip in and out of berms. With the inclusion of new Hiking/Biking only sections of trail, I think this helps to keep everyone safe and give the cyclists a little more freedom to ramp up some speed without the fear of running into a hiker around a blind turn. That being said, a little too much speed can be treacherous as I found out two years ago, when I was maybe a little too confident and wrecked on a quick switchback, loosing traction on my front wheel and slamming into the ground breaking my collarbone. That was a fun 2 mile hike down to the road…
All and all I love this quick loop, it’s great for training, but also just riding and enjoying a fun MTB loop. It’s well labelled and I believe a cycling stable in the Foothills of Salt Lake City.
-Todd Erickson (DNA Design)