Mayflower

View from upper Rinse Cycle, looking east to Jordanelle. Trail review by Bruce on August 27, 2024.

Mayflower Area Trails

The Mayflower trails lie within the Mayflower resort area, which is still under construction at the time of this review. This area lies on a generally east-facing slope above US Highway 40 just southeast of Park City. The trails discussed here are newly open for riding in 2024, except for the old Spin Cycle trail which is now linked to the Mayflower trails. The plan is that the trail system will expand further to the south as development continues.

In August 2024, the trails include We'll Go From There and You Get It (connectors from parking to Rinse Cycle), Spin Cycle (expert DH trail, discussed in detail on another trail page), Rinse Cycle (climbing route to Spin Cycle plus access to all area trails), Midmountain Connector (linking Rinse Cycle to the Midmountain trail, with details on a separate trail page), an unnamed DH trail from the Midmountain Connector with a link over to Kaboom, plus the Kaboom and Call Sign Casa loop off Rinse Cycle.

Climbing Rinse Cycle through mature oak and maple forest.

Sample trail sign at the Kaboom trail fork.

Trail signs are installed at the trail forks along Rinse Cycle. They're easy to understand and well done -- and hopefully will be added to the other area trails soon.

The Mayflower trails start at 6700 feet elevation at the trailheads just off Deer Hollow Road west of US-40. The system ends at the Midmountain Extension at around 8000 feet. See the Spin Cycle and Midmountain Connector trail pages for more details.

The expected riding season for these trails will be late June through early October. Resort activity (preparing for the upcoming ski season) will usually close these trails in the fall, at a time when trails at similar elevations are still open for riding.

There are recurring views of Jordanelle. This view is from Call Sign Casa on the lower elevation of the slope.

Trails -- except for Spin Cycle -- are machined bench cuts with easy slopes.

Most of the trails in the area are suitable for beginning riders, although a climb through the system uphill to the Midmountain trail is more work than most early riders can handle. The Spin Cycle trail is an expert one-way DH route, and the new DH from the Midmountain Connector to Kaboom would be considered intermediate.

Trailheads and Connections

Looking west to the trail from parking.

Deer Crest (We'll Go From There) Trailhead
The Deer Crest Trailhead is located at the uphill corner of a three-section parking lot just off Deer Hollow Road. (This route is heavily impacted by construction in 2024. The directions here take you around a closed section of Deer Hollow Road.) Exit US-40 at Mayflower. Turn east toward the reservoir, then left on Jordanelle Parkway. Turn left under US-40 onto Mayflower Mine Road. Veer left to go south. Turn left to head uphill on Deer Hollow Road, then left again to pass between two large buildings. Now work your way left uphill to the far corner of the parking area, where you'll see the kiosk. Head uphill to start your ride on the We'll Go From There trail.

The trail entry is between the two vehicles. We're looking west.

Mayflower (You Get It) Trailhead
Drive to Deer Hollow Road as above, but continue uphill past the large buildings for another 100 yards. Turn to the left into a large parking area. Head toward the little wood-and-glass kiosk. Find a trail that heads away from parking. Keep to the right and uphill as the "We'll Go From There" joins.

Easy riding on the Midmountain Connector trail en route to the Mayflower trails.

Via Humdinger from Midmountain
In Park City, follow the signs toward Deer Valley Resort. To get to the upper (Silver Lake) lodge, turn left on Royal Drive just after the road divides -- before you actually see the Snow Park (lower) lodge. Drive 4 miles uphill, following the signs to the Silver Lake lodge. (I recommend parking at the lower lodge and taking the city shuttle bus uphill instead of driving to the upper lodge.) Once you're at the lift area, face the mountain and look around for trail signs. The northbound Midmountain Trail is to your right, coasting downhill to the underpass then left onto singletrack. The Midmountain Extension is to your left, beginning as a doubletrack. It will be 0.9 miles to the Humdinger (aka Midmountain Connector) trail, which descends 2.1 miles to a new DH trail before climbing to the Rinse Cycle trail at mile 3.3 from Midmountain.

Rinse Cycle

Heading south on Rinse Cycle after climbing up You Get It.

Rinse Cycle is the key to all the Mayflower area trails. It's 2.7 miles long, extending from the bottom of Spin Cycle to the top of Spin Cycle, with connections to other area trails along the way. It's an easier-intermediate route for climbing or descending.

Rinse Cycle is the obvious climbing route for doing laps down the expert DH Spin Cycle.

At mile 0.2 from the bottom of Spin Cycle, Rinse Cycle is joined by the You Get It trail from the trailhead parking lots.

If you started at these parking areas near US-40, you'll climb You Get It for 0.4 miles (and just over 150 vertical feet) to reach this trail fork. Turn to the left on Rinse Cycle.

Typical view on Rinse Cycle as the trail meanders through maple forest.

Trail fork with Call Sign Base. Note the nice trail sign.

At mile 0.2 from You Get It (0.4 from the bottom of Spin Cycle), there's a trail fork with Call Sign Base (see below). Keep to the right to continue your climb on Rinse Cycle.

As you continue uphill, the terrain will gradually change from oak and maple forest to aspen, chokecherry, and occasional fir. Then it will change back to gambel oak on the more sun-exposed slopes.

The trail will pass back and forth over a ski slope multiple times. The ski route is just dirt and rocks in summer 2024.

Heading into a turn descending Rinse Cycle. This is a two-way trail.

Looking from Kaboom as Rinse Cycle makes a hard turn at the trail fork.

Rinse Cycle is a bench-cut on smooth dirt. It zig-zags across the hillside with fairly tight turns between the traverses. While the turns are banked, they're not designed for high-speed downhill riding.

At mile 1.0 from You Get It (1.4 from trailhead parking), turn hard right to continue climbing. The trail to the left is Kaboom (see below)

After 2 miles from the trailhead connector fork, you'll reach the Midmountain Connector trail. The Connector is on your left at the apex of a right-hand turn of Rinse Cycle. If you find yourself going downhill here, you're NOT headed for the top of Spin Cycle.

Riders coming from the Midmountain trail will turn onto Rinse Cycle here, either for an intermediate-level descent on Rinse Cycle or an expert DH after climbing up to Spin Cycle.

Making the last bit of climb after passing the Midmountain Connector.

Making the last bit of climb after passing Humdinger (the Midmountain Connector).

At the top of Rinse Cycle looking east.

Rinse Cycle climbs another half-mile uphill. You'll reach a small metal gate in an area of open scrub near a ridgeline. To your right, Spin Cycle forks steeply downhill. If you continue straight for another 100 yards, you'll reach a small subdivision road. To connect through to other area trails (such as Outlook or Deer Crest), you'd need to pick your way through private streets -- which a lot of locals do.

Spin Cycle

Looking down the beginning of Spin Cycle from the Rinse Cycle trail.

Spin Cycle is an expert-level DH ride from the top of Rinse Cycle. As it reaches its lowest elevation, it becomes Rinse Cycle for the return back to the trailhead connector trail You Get It.

Spin Cycle is an older trail, very popular with the locals. It used to be hard to find and required a complex road-and-dirt uphill return route. Now with Rinse Cycle as the climbing route, Spin Cycle is easy to navigate. See the Spin Cycle trail page for more information!

Spin Cycle is 1.6 miles long, descending 800 vertical feet. Compare this to Rinse Cycle, which takes 2.7 miles to cover the same elevation change.

Spin Cycle is an old-fashioned, straight-forward ravine plunge. Last time I rode it, there were no tables, jumps or tricks engineered into it. Just whooshing back and forth from sidewall to creek to sidewall and back again.

Twisty trail in the trees as Straz flies down Spin Cycle. Photo by Phillymike.

A deluxe ravine crossing.

At first, you'll cross the ravine on dirt -- and occasional rocks and erosion ruts. As you get lower in the ride, there will occasionally be wooden bridges over the bottom of the ravine.

When the trail seems to flatten and you pass a small metal gate, you've completed Spin Cycle and you're entering Rinse Cycle. The trailhead connection via You Got It is 0.2 miles away on Rinse Cycle.

Another loop up Rinse Cycle and down Spin Cycle is 4.3 miles and 800 vertical.

The spot where old Spin Cycle diverts to become the new Rinse Cycle.

Humdinger (Midmountain Connector)

Looking through the fir forest on upper Midmountain Connector.

The Humdinger (aka Midmountain Connector) trail joins upper Rinse Cycle to the Midmountain Extension trail east of Deer Valley. This trail is 3.3 miles long, with 250 feet of descending followed by 800 feet of climbing when ridden from Rinse Cycle.

The Humdinger trail ends at just under 8000 feet elevation. It often traverses north-facing slopes in deep forest. So it usually won't be ready for riding until very late June or early July.

The Connector trail will link to additional trails as the Mayflower system is further developed. At this time, there's an intermediate-level DH ride that forks away at mile 1.2 from Rinse Cycle.

See the Humdinger (Midmountain Connector) trail page for full details on this trail.

Looking toward Jordanelle from the Connector, near the lowest elevation on the trail.

Call Sign Casa

Call Sign Casa is an easy ride. We're heading north through mature forest.

Call Sign Casa forks to the left from Rinse Cycle at mile 0.2 from You Get It. This trail can be your return route from Kaboom (see below), or a your path to go further east and downhill to civilization. It begins at 6900 feet elevation.

If your intention is to ride the Kaboom loop, I'd stay to the right on Rinse Cycle at this trail fork. Then you'll ride Call Sign Casa back to this spot as you return from Kaboom.

From Rinse Cycle, Call Sign Casa angles downhill through a couple of turns before traversing to the south.

At mile 0.4 from Rinse Cycle, there's a trail fork where (I presume) Call Sign Casa heads downhill to the left. The route was posted closed on the day of my ride -- and I could hear monstrous construction activity including a helicopter -- so I haven't added that route to this review page.

Looking east as the trail traverses southbound.

Approaching a downhill turn on Call Sign Casa.

So for now, the trail fork with Kaboom is the end of Call Sign Casa.

Most riders will use Call Sign Casa in the south to north direction, as a return path from Kaboom to lower Rinse Cycle.

Kaboom

On Kaboom looking toward the trail fork with Rinse Cycle. Uphill is on the left, downhill on the right.

Kaboom is an easier-intermediate trail that's usually done as a counterclockwise loop from the middle of the Rinse Cycle trail back to lower Rinse Cycle (via Call Sign Casa).

The upper end of Kaboom is reached on Rinse Cycle, 1.2 miles from the You Got It trailhead fork.

Kaboom is 0.7 miles long. When added to 0.4 miles of Call Sign Casa plus 0.8 miles of Rinse Cycle between Call Sign Casa and upper Kaboom, the loop is about 2 miles long with 250 feet of elevation change. This makes a nice "extra credit" loop-de-loop while heading uphill on Rinse Cycle.

Upper Kaboom is the trail to the left. The right-hand trail connects to a doubletrack (and the bottom of an intermediate DH) to the south.

Crossing a future ski slope.

Around 100 yards after upper Kaboom forks away from Rinse Cycle, you'll reach a trail fork (unmarked as of August 2024). The trail to the left is Kaboom. The right is a connector from the bottom of the intermediate DH (see below).

At mile 0.7 from Rinse Cycle, you'll join Call Sign Casa heading north. The trail that goes downhill to the right was marked "closed" on the day of my mapping ride. Based on the area trail plan, it heads southeast and downhill to the edge of the buildings.

Kaboom Connector

Heading west toward a doubletrack at the bottom of the canyon.

The trail that I'm calling "Kaboom Connector" ties the bottom of an intermediate-level DH route -- which originates on the Midmountain Connector -- to upper Kaboom. It's 0.4 miles long with very little elevation change.

The information on this page will evolve as the trail system matures.

On the southern end, the trail begins on a doubletrack, 100 feet downhill from the bottom of the DH trail. It runs to the top of a ridge -- with the faintest trace of uphill slope -- before joining Kaboom just 100 yards from Rinse Cycle.

Crossing a couple of tiny creek branches before hitting the doubletrack.

Rory of the Mountain (Intermediate DH)

Approaching a highly-banked turn on brand-new trail, looking south.

This trail seems open for riding, but has no designated name or trail markers in late August 2024.

The trail begins on the Midmountain Connector, 1.2 miles from Rinse Cycle or 2.1 miles downhill from Midmountain. When combined with a short connector to Kaboom, the ride would be 1.3 miles -- plus the miles involved in whatever route you took to the top.

On the uphill end, the trail begins at a wide spot on Midmountain Connector, where a "stand and get ready" spot has been created on the uphill side. After 0.9 miles, the singletrack dumps onto an old doubletrack. Keep to the right and go downhill around 100 feet to find a connector trail that climbs gently to upper Kaboom.

Origin of the trail on the Midmountain Connector.

Origin of the trail on Humdinger (Midmountain Connector).

In general, the trail is highly forested.

There are highly-banked turns that seem designed for speed. While I was able to climb the trail from the ravine doubletrack up to the Midmountain Connector, it seems clearly designed to be done downhill.

Getting there, Midmountain Extension at Deer Valley
In Park City, follow the signs toward Deer Valley Resort. To get to the upper (Silver Lake) lodge, turn left on Royal Drive just after the road divides -- before you actually see the Snow Park lodge. Drive 4 miles uphill, following the signs. Note that in 2017 the previous parking lot no longer exists, being replaced by a new building. So on weekends your chance of finding a parking spot aren't good. You can park at the lower Snow Park lodge and take the city shuttle bus uphill. Once you're at the lift area, face the mountain. Your ride will start by aiming right and coasting downhill to the underpass. As you pass underneath, turn left onto singletrack. This is the Midmountain Trail.