| Thanksgiving Point Race Loop
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| Update July 2007:
We hear that the course is highly overgrown with vegetation; difficult to
follow and tough to ride. The trail has had no maintenance, no race, and
few riders this year. Unless the Point steps up and maintains this trail,
it will soon disappear.
THIS TRAIL NO LONGER EXISTS! It
has been replaced by buildings. The page has been left here only because
there may still be some links to it.
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The Thanksgiving Point Race Loop was built for the 2006 Intermountain Cup race. This twisting singletrack packs an
unbelievable 10.1 miles of riding into a small package between the freeway
and the railroad, in the still-undeveloped area of Thanksgiving Point.
Trail is dirt, heavy in clay that will stick after the rain. The trail is
very flat, with only 50 feet of absolute elevation change, for around 150
feet of total climbing over the whole 10 miles. There are a LOT of hairpin
turns, wavy turns, and back-and-forth meanderings.
Dominic rides the race course with
Timpanogos in the background. May 2006. |
| The trail tends to overgrow with vegetation quickly. Some
areas could be a little faint in the spring. As the trail becomes more
well-known, bike traffic is
packing it down and smoothing the turns. Watch out after rainstorms -- the mud is very sticky. The
trail dries fast, and is pretty firm within 24 hours of a heavy rain.
Ben Hutchings at the races!
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Riding Notes: The trail is fairly easy to follow except for two spots:
(1) The second
time you cross paved road, DON'T go into the obvious singletrack on the
right. Stay left on doubletrack (heading toward the railroad tracks) for
about 60 feet before veering right on singletrack (the ST on the right is
the return route). After a short distance, you'll be back on the
doubletrack heading west. (2) As you approach the tracks, don't go under the
underpass -- head right and follow the tracks north. The area has been
torn up a bit by bulldozers. Keep close to the tracks (including riding on
an old paved road) until you see an
obvious trail branching right toward the building under construction,
about as far north as you can go. |
| Getting there: Take the Alpine-Highland exit from
I-15 (just south of Point of the Mountain). Turn west (away from the
hill), then left at the traffic light to go south on the frontage road. Go
past the buildings of Thanksgiving Point, then turn right just after the
big neon sign. Go into the parking lot on your right, or just flip a
U-turn and park along the south side of the road. The trail runs
along the south side of the road. Start by heading uphill towards the
freeway. |
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| To download a file, right-click it and "Save
target as..." |
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Larger-scale
Satellite
view with superimposed trail.
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