BEST VIEWS. We both agree this ride had the very best views of any ride we’ve done in the states. Wasatch Trail Loop was 18 miles, 4,310′ of climbing, topping out at a staggering 13,053′!!!!! That’s higher than any ride we’ve done I think.
The Climb
From town, we rode east up a rugged jeep road to Bridal Veil Falls. We turned right up at the power plant and continued climbing. Basically, the first 10 miles is all climbing, hiking in a few places because it’s so steep and rocky. We definitely felt remote and loved it. The high alpine scenery is unreal. Continuing up, we missed a turn and had gone at least a half mile UP into the snowline before we both realized this couldn’t be the trail. We turned around and ended up hiking across the mountainside to join back up with the proper route. One false summit and another hiking section had us at the top finally. OH MY GOD. If only everyone could stand atop this mountain and see what we saw. Amazing.
The Descent
This is definitely double black diamond, as in, if I could capture the look of terror on my face at certain points, you’d get the picture. It’s extremely narrow, rocky, and steep, steep, steep. Still, worth it. Even though we hiked down some sections, I’d never trade this experience for a million years. At times I felt like I was back in the Alps! The technical sections give way to fast meadow jaunts and then dove back down to stream crossings, exposed rocky switchbacks, and narrow traverses.
This loop ended on the Bear Creek Trail, depositing us back downtown where we started. ALIVE.
Best ride experience of our 8 months so far.
WOW!! Stunning pictures.