Beaver Creek Trail
with Pine Valley trail
The Beaver Creek Trail is a fairly easy trail in the western Uinta Mountains, suitable for beginners. The trailhead is located about 6 miles east of Kamas. Beaver Creek becomes free of snow in June, but the eastern portion remains swampy until early July. Starting altitude is 7,100 feet, with about 500 feet elevation gain over the 4.8 mile trail.
with Pine Valley trail
The Beaver Creek Trail is a fairly easy trail in the western Uinta Mountains, suitable for beginners. The trailhead is located about 6 miles east of Kamas. Beaver Creek becomes free of snow in June, but the eastern portion remains swampy until early July. Starting altitude is 7,100 feet, with about 500 feet elevation gain over the 4.8 mile trail.
View from the trail looking north. Original review June 1, 1999 by Bruce Argyle with latest update July 2, 2018.
The trail begins across from the Yellow Pine and Slate Creek trailhead, just before you reach the fee station
for the Mirror Lake Highway (trailhead GPS N 40° 37.552' W 111° 11.224').
Pay your
recreation fee before turning back to park -- you'll be pedaling into
the fee area and enjoying the trail that recreation fees help pay for.
The trail rolls along where the valley meets the hillside, passing countless beaver ponds. Here Jackie playing alongside a pond amid balsamroot and yellow fawn lilies. Photo from my original trail review June 1, 1999.
The broad, round-bottom valley is the work of a glacier that originated higher up near the
headwaters of the Provo River. From 1 million to about 10,000 years ago,
the Uinta Mountain
area was covered with massive glaciers. The action of the glaciers is
responsible for the rounded
valleys and multiple lakes seen in the higher Uintas.
Climbing the hillside above the many beaver ponds.
Most of the trail is easy hard-packed dirt, perfect for a first-time alpine bike ride. Except
for a not-to-tough hill right at the beginning, the trail is fairly flat.
More technical ATV
trails, such as the Cedar Loop trail, head uphill at several locations
along the Beaver Creek
Trail.
Handlebar view looking east. We're just past the Shingle Creek campground.
From the western end, the trail starts as a broad singletrack for about a mile before joining
the ATV route. There's around 1/3 mile on gravel campground road at Shingle
Creek. Then after
the Shingle Creek Campground, the trail narrows to true singletrack.
Single-track portion of the trail just beyond Shingle Creek.
A good spot to turn around is where the Pine Valley Trail forks off to the right at GPS N 40°
35.920' W 111° 07.217'. Or you can take a spin out-and-back on Pine Valley.
If you drop 1/4 mile downhill on the Beaver Creek trail, you'll cross a wide rocky creek-bed before climbing to the Pine Valley group campground. There's little reason to do this unless you want a longer ride. You can link up with the beginning-level North Fork Scenic Byway Trail from the campground and pedal to the nature trail and scenic overlook along the Provo River.
Heading back downhill, westbound.
There will usually be plenty of wildflowers along the way. The types of blossoms will depend on when you ride. Yellow Fawn Lilles along the trail appear soon after the snow recedes. This 5-inch flower is also called trout
lily, glacier lily, adder's tongue, and dogtooth violet.
These delicate flowers are around 5 inches high.
Beavers hard at work just before my arrival felled this quaking aspen. The leaves on the branches are still crisp.
What's the fine for cutting down a tree if you're NOT a beaver?
What's the fine for cutting down a tree if you're NOT a beaver?
Beavers hard at work just before our arrival felled this quaking aspen. The leaves on the branches are still crisp.
Pine Valley trail
The Pine Valley trail is 2.9 miles long, extending south from the Beaver Creek trail just west of the Pine Valley campground. It ends on the Cedar Hollow dirt road above the Provo River. The trail can be used to connect through from the Mirror Lake Highway 150 to the South Fork Highway 35.
The Pine Valley trail is 2.9 miles long, extending south from the Beaver Creek trail just west of the Pine Valley campground. It ends on the Cedar Hollow dirt road above the Provo River. The trail can be used to connect through from the Mirror Lake Highway 150 to the South Fork Highway 35.
Heading through a meadow southbound.
The trail is singletrack, rising slightly as it heads southbound. If you're heading for highway
35, there will be a final downhill on dirt road. If you're doing an out-and-back,
stop at the
ride's high point at mile 3.8. Take in the view, then turn around.
Looking east over the flat plain around the Provo River.
During my 2018 ride, there was a huge amount of deadfall. Not just "step-over" deadfall but
"bushwhack 100 feet off the trail to get around 3 big pines" deadfall.
But the trail is nice,
the views are pretty, and it makes a nice add-on to the Beaver Creek trail.
The terrain is a mix of conifer and aspen, with frequent small meadows.
Getting there:
In Kamas, turn east towards the mountains on the well-marked Mirror Lake Highway. Drive 6 miles to the fee station, then backtrack 1/4 mile to the Slate Creek and Yellow Pine trailhead parking area (The Beaver Creek trail starts across the road from the trailhead). As an out-and-back from the lower trailhead, you'll cover 9.6 miles.
Or, you can catch the trail at the second Shingle Creek Campground entrance (GPS N 40° 36.852' W 111° 07.800') for a shorter ride.
In Kamas, turn east towards the mountains on the well-marked Mirror Lake Highway. Drive 6 miles to the fee station, then backtrack 1/4 mile to the Slate Creek and Yellow Pine trailhead parking area (The Beaver Creek trail starts across the road from the trailhead). As an out-and-back from the lower trailhead, you'll cover 9.6 miles.
Or, you can catch the trail at the second Shingle Creek Campground entrance (GPS N 40° 36.852' W 111° 07.800') for a shorter ride.
A family of moose eyeball the biker suspiciously.
Riding resources for this trail:
GPS track file for this trail (right-click and "Save as..."):
GPX
High-res topo for printing:
View
Lodging, camping, shops:
Links to area resources
.
Most recent page update 2018.
Ancient hand-draw map from the early days of this web site.
