North Fork, American Fork Canyon

The North Fork of American Fork Canyon is a rocky dirt-and-gravel road, extending from Tibble Fork Reservoir to Pole Line Pass. The road continues on to Heber. Most bikers use this road as part of another ride -- for example, Ridge 157 . But it's a great ride all by itself.

The ride is fairly easy technically, but there's a steady climb that requires a bit of muscle and stamina. It's a good ride for mixed groups, including newcomers and kids. Because the road is a bit rocky and has a slope that requires brake control on the way down, it's not a good ride for very small children.

From Tibble Fork to Pole Line Pass is 8.3 miles, with 2500 vertical feet of climbing. Peak altitude is 8900 feet at the pass.

I recommend this ride on a weekday, when the road is deserted. The scenery is beautiful, the air smells clean, and it's quiet. On Saturday, you'll share the road with dusty noisy fume-spewing ATVs.

As you reach Dutchman's Flat at mile 4.4, the trail undulates up and down a bit. When the trail nears a shallow section of the creek on your right -- that looks like you could ride across -- that's the road to Forest Lake. This is a nice side-ride, but it's rough, steep, and rutted. Not kid material.

At Dutchman Flat, the road actually becomes smoother. Just past the flat at mile 5.3, the road forks. Keep right to continue up to Pole Line Pass.

If you're exploring, you can fork left and ride a couple of miles up to Mineral Basin. This (as you can probably guess) is an old mining area.

Reaching the top, you have options:
(1) Call it a good ride and backtrack, for a 16.6 mile day.
(2) Head north on singletrack to Dry Fork, a brutal ride, coming out in Mineral Basin.
(3) Go right on Ridge 157, looping down through Forest Lake to Dutchman Flat.
(4) Go on Ridge 157, but keep going all the way to Mill Canyon Trail or Tibble Fork Trail, and bomb down to the reservoir.
(5) Ride the Mill Canyon Peak Loop .
(6) Head on towards Heber on the road, then drop down to Cascade Springs and ride the road back over the Alpine Summit.

Getting there:
From I-15, take the Alpine-Highland exit just south of Point-of-the-Mountain. Go east towards the mountains on UT-92 and continue up American Fork Canyon. There's a $6 fee (as of 2009). About 6 miles up the canyon, turn left at the North Fork junction and drive 2 miles to Tibble Fork Reservoir. Park, then ride straight past the outhouse onto the gravel road that heads up along the river.