Deer Valley

View down the hill, looking towards Jordanelle Reservoir. Photo July 2002.

Deer Valley
Deer Valley offers lift-served downhill biking on a variety of trails. This ski resort has, arguably, the most popular and most variable lift-served biking trails in Utah -- if you feel like banging downhill without spending your day grunting uphill. Some riders climb above Deer Valley on the area's XC trails to descend through the resort's trails.
Trails undergo yearly tweaking and additions, so a current map is highly recommended. At the resort, you can get maps specific to Deer Valley's system, or for all of the Park City area.

The lift runs Wednesday through Sunday (subject to change). If you like to climb, it doesn't cost you anything to use Deer Valley's trails if you arrive via connecting area trails.
Note! Deer Valley may stop you from climbing uphill on their resort trails on days when the ski lift is running! This includes the gravel service road. On days when the lift is running, use some sense in selecting which singletracks you'll climb -- if you value your life.

Many trails are one-way downhill, for example Tidal Wave .

The lift is shared by hikers.

View along a forested trail section. This is a black-diamond section, featuring log drops, quick turns, and slalom-like pathways.

At the lower lodge (Snow Park) you can connect to the Deer Crest Trail system to climb uphill to the higher (Silver Lake) lodge. From the upper lodge, the best climbing plan is to head out on the Midmountain Trail , then grab Team Big Bear or Tour de Suds to climb uphill through Flagstaff to the back side of Bald Mountain.

You can also climb up the gravel lift access road from the bottom. To reach the doubletrack, head uphill past the lift, then veer across southbound and climb steeply up Little Stick. When you reach the Silver Lake Lodge, again hop onto the gravel lift road to ride uphill.

Note: You can connect to the Daly Canyon trails (such as Tour des Suds and Gravedigger) via the Rossi Hill trail .

Deer Valley connects to the west-side Park City trail system via the Deer Camp Trail. This trail will take you northwest to a high-altitude loop called the Flagstaff Loop. Continuing on, you'll arrive at the top of Team Big Bear From here, you can connect via the Moose Bone trail to TG , from which you reach the Park City Mountain Resort trail system.

The top of Deer Valley Connects to Tour des Suds, TG, and other Park City Trails via the Deer Camp trail, which heads northwest just behind the lift. This view shows the wide meadow through which Deer Camp traverses.

This handlebar view looks down a typical section of aspen forest on Naildriver, an easier singletrack route. This is near the connection to Twist and Shout.

Deer Valley has lift-served trails suitable for reasonably-able beginners, such as Naildriver. Yet for hardcore riders, it offers kick-butt technical downhills such as Fire Swamp, Aspen Slalom, and Freestyle. You'll find a lot to like.

Many of the trails have man-made features. Most of these tech challenges have easy ride-arounds. In 2011, features were well-marked.
Black diamond trails that don't offer ride-arounds are also marked at the entrance. Don't go tramping through the brush around obstacles. Either ride everything or stay off the trail.

A little roller coaster at the beginning of Homeward Bound.

Lots of log rides and balance stunts. Note the ride-around route to the left. (The dirt on the sides of the stunt isn't a ride-around -- it's from riders falling off the log.)

It will take you several trips down the mountain to find all the little side trails. On some of the stunt areas, such as Homeward Bound, you'll probably want to take a scouting and testing run first, then hit the obstacles seriously on a second trip down the mountain.

There are also some black-diamond runs down the face of the mountain to the lower lodge. These are less-traveled and not well-known. You can reach them by heading out eastbound on the doubletrack south of Silver Lake Lodge. After crossing the paved road and climbing up to the ridge ski slope, turn downhill (left) instead of entering Four Point. (Note: there's another expert-level run that branches off further down.)

Captains Log. Four feet in the air. But only difficult in your mind.

Nearing the lift, we hit this trackway. Great for building confidence on wooden structures.

Deer Valley is expanding, with new trails evolving. A new DH trail from Ruby Lift down to Midmountain near Empire Lodge will open in 2012. As a companion, a new trail links TG to Empire Lodge .
A connecting trail from Bald Mountain over to Ruby has been built in 2011.

Getting there: To get up to the Silver Lake Lodge and l lift, I suggest you drive, rather than riding from the bottom. Follow the signs in Park City to get onto Deer Valley Drive. After the road divides, turn right uphill just as the parking area for the Snow Park Lodge comes into view. Follow this winding road uphill, ignoring the multiple roads taking off at angles. Find parking at the lodge, and head towards the lift on the sidewalk. Note that in 2017 the previous parking lot no longer exists, being replaced by a new building. You can park at the lower Snow Park lodge and take the city shuttle bus uphill.

GPS track files (right-click and "Save as..."):
   XC riding loops combo file - GPX
   Race Loop - GPX
   Naildriver Loop
   Snow Park via Deer Crest to Silver Lake
   Tidal Wave w Homeward Bound uphill
   Team Big Bear to Bowhunter
   Big Bear to TG2
   Park City multi-track area file
Topo maps for printing:    Race Loop
   Big Bear - TG2 small loop
   Big Bear - Flagstaff - Naildriver - Deer Crest loop
   Deer Crest - Midmountain - TG loop
   Deer Crest - Naildriver - Flagstaff - Thieves & Fire
   Team Big Bear - Flagstaff - Bowhunter
Lodging, camping, shops: Links to area resources

Deer Valley map, subject to change...

From the bottom: If you, for whatever insane reason, decide to ride uphill from the Snow Park Lodge parking area, there are several routes, but they aren't easy to navigate: (A) As you face the lodge from the parking area, there's a doubletrack on the right side. Follow this up through two turns, then keep heading as close to straight south as you can when you hit any forks. Eventually, you'll drop down across a road and come around the south side of the lodge. (B) A bit up the doubletrack, a singletrack heads straight uphill. Try to keep heading uphill and southward until you reach the top of the hill, where you can connect to doubletrack to roll down past the lodge. (C) Up the Gap Trail (see the Solamere Trail ), but connecting southward onto Deer Crest. Eventually, you wind up on top of the mountain, where you catch a doubletrack down past the lodge. This is the "long way round" but it's actually my favorite route uphill. See the Deer Crest to Silver Lake track GPX file.