Mill D North Fork

Mill D North Fork

The Mill D North Fork trail is a tad on the technical side, with many roots and embedded rocks, so it's best for strong-intermediate or advanced riders. It's a great downhill, but a bit of a beast to climb up. So most riders take the road up to Guardsman, then drop off the Wasatch Crest trail to complete a loop using Mill D as the downhill. But the uphill is nice, too, if you've got the leg for it.

Although the ride is mostly in forest, there are occasional eye-popping views of the Wasatch peaks. Here we're looking south. Photos June 16, 2002 by Bruce.

UtahMountainBiking.com is your source for bike trail info, repair instructions, feature articles, first aid, fitness, and goodies.

The lower half of Mill D is a forested ride, in quakies with occasional douglas fir. The upper half rolls past a few meadows, with occasional views of nearby mountains. There are lots of wildflowers in summer. It's a very pretty ride.

Mill D North Fork is very popular with hikers. On a Saturday, you'll need to be extra careful. Be considerate of other trail users.

Smoother trail sections give you a breather. Typical aspen and fir forest.

Loop 1: Most bikers ride a loop by climbing the paved road from the trailhead. Turning left onto the Guardsman Road, they ride to the Wasatch Crest trailhead and climb Puke Hill. Just past the Desolation Lake overlook, the trail forks left to drop down past the lake. Keep left at the Dog Lake trail intersection. This gives 4 miles of kick-butt downhill. Total climbing is 2700 feet. To avoid the road ride and 1700 feet of climbing, you can leave a shuttle at the Mill D trailhead and drive up to the Wasatch Crest trailhead.

The trail is a great downhill ride, but a little rough in spots for beginners.

Loop 2: A fun but challenging loop option is to ride Mill D uphill, climb to the Wasatch Crest, then turn left and ride down the Great Western in North Mill Creek. After descending a few miles, we keep left at the trail intersections to ride past Dog Lake. Half a mile past Dog Lake, we turn right downhill to complete the loop. The climb to the Crest is 2400 feet. Add another 400 feet of climb to get back past Dog Lake. NOTE: Upper Mill Creek trails are CLOSED to bikes on odd-numbered days!

Here's a bit of that rough trail. Log water-bars, roots, and rocks make it interesting.

Out-and-back: As an out-and-back to Desolation Lake, the trail is 3.8 miles each way, with a gain of 2000 feet. Starting altitude is 7300 feet. Add in a ride around the lake, and you've got a total of 8 miles. This option, and the Mill Creek loop option, are for strong climbers with good root-hopping skills.

Here we are at Desolation Lake. Take a victory lap. Desolation Lake is an example of a glacier lake, formed within a cirque dug by the moving glacier. When the glacier melted (around 10,000 years ago), the depression filled with water.

Epic Loop: For a truly worthy ride, head up-canyon on pavement to the Wasatch Crest as in Loop 1 above. But instead of dropping down the Desolation Lake Trail, continue north on the Wasatch Crest. Descend down the north side of Mill Creek, and when you hit the Dog Lake trail, climb 400 feet back up. Ride past Dog Lake, then turn right on Mill D after descending from the lake. NOTE: Upper Mill Creek trails are CLOSED to bikes on odd-numbered days!

Getting there: Go to Big Cottonwood Canyon (Wasatch Blvd and 72nd South) and drive 8.8 miles up from the traffic light. Park near the trailhead on your left. GPS N 40° 38.976' W 111° 38.884'.

Guardsman Pass trailhead: Ride up the road past Solitude Resort (about 6.5 miles). Just before you reach Brighton, the road to Guardsman Pass turns off on your left. Exactly one mile later (1.8 miles from the fork in the road), you'll see a dirt road on the left. GPS N 40° 36.817' W 111° 33.532'. Park along the hairpin turn and bike up the road.

Riding resources for this trail:
Single-page riding guide
GPS track files and route (right-click and "Save as..."):
Garmin National Geographic Google Earth GPX
Medium-res topo: View High-res topo (900 KB): View

For additional information, including nearby lodging, rentals, camping, and current conditions, may we suggest:
General info on visiting Salt Lake City: http://www.slctravel.com/ http://www.go-utah.com/salt-lake-city
Lodging in Salt Lake City: http://www.utah.com/lodging/saltlakecity.htm
Utah outdoor activities: http://www.utahoutdooractivities.com/
Camping: http://www.outdoorsinutah.com/bigcottonwoodcanyon-camping.htm
Solitude Resort: http://www.skisolitude.com/
Brighton Resort: http://www.skibrighton.com/
Ranger District (includes dog regulations, camping): http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/wcnf/unit/slrd/questions.shtml