Trail users mingled with trail stewards at the Regional Trail Mixer Wednesday evening, May 22, to talk about what’s in store on the region’s hundreds of miles of trails this summer.
Hosted by the Mountain Trails Foundation, the event brought together 17 trails and open space organizations from across the Wasatch Back at Park City Mountain’s Legacy Lodge. Among the organizations were Basin Recreation, the Utah Avalanche Center, the National Ability Center and more.
Wasatch Trails Foundation Executive Director Mia Yue said she’s excited for two major projects in the Heber Valley’s trail network.
“This is a project that’s been in the works for three or four years: the first connection between the Wasatch trail system and the Summit County trail system,” she said. “It’s going to be from the high point on the WOW trails to the Bonanza Flat recreation loop that Mountain Trails is currently building.”
The second project will connect the popular Wasatch Over Wasatch trail to land put under a conservation easement by Extell, the developer for the Deer Valley resort expansion. The new connection will link Wasatch Mountain State Park with trails being built near Deer Valley.
Yue said the goal is for both connections to be complete by the end of summer.
Mountain Trails Foundation trails manager Rick Fournier said summer projects are also in the works around Park City. Utah Open Lands and Park City Municipal are building a five-mile loop on Bonanza Flat. It’ll be the first bike-friendly trail in Bonanza.
Fournier said Round Valley will also get some attention: the soft-surface trails will be restored, and new trail markers will be installed.
“We’re going to reroute some existing sections that aren’t holding up very well and improve the user experience,” he said. “We’ll also rehabilitate and restore the old and unused sections of the trail to allow for the return of native vegetation.”
Lora Anthony, the executive director of Mountain Trails Foundation, said the trail mixer was a chance for anyone who enjoys the region’s open space to learn more about all the organizations that collaborate to keep the outdoors accessible for the public.
“We’re all sharing the same challenges and the same opportunities,” she said. “I think that the more we can come together as a community – which is one of the reasons we’re doing this evening – the better off we are.”
More information about trails in the Wasatch Back, and links to other trails and open space organizations, can be found on the Mountain Trails Foundation’s website.
