Dowd Mountain Trail
The Dowd Mountain Trail is a 10.5-mile loop ride on the southwest corner of Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The trail is 1/3 singletrack and 2/3 double-track. The trailhead is on the plateau south of the reservoir at 7500 feet elevation. Peak altitude is around 8000. Overall climbing will be about 1000 vertical.

The trail is OK for strong novice riders. Most of it, in fact, is downright easy. Beginners may not be able to ride the singletrack west of the viewpoint due to loose and embedded rock in the trail. This depends on the amount of TLC given to the trail versus erosion and horse-traffic conditions.
Beginners can ride the counterclockwise loop to the viewpoint, then bail out on the graded road from there. Fast expert riders will be able to hammer the whole loop ride in around an hour.

I recommend riding the trail as a counterclockwise loop. As you head uphill on the dirt road from the parking area, watch for singletrack on your right about 100 yards past the cattle guard. The trail heads fairly straight northeast. The trail passes through ponderosa pine with an under-story of grassy meadow as it climbs uphill.

After a mile, the trail becomes less distinct. If you loose the trail in grass, pine needles or rock, look for a blue diamond on a tree. If you don't see one, just keep heading straight and you'll pick up the trail in 100 feet or so.

Navigation wasn't too tough, but wasn't straightforward, either. I suggest you print the topo map (see below) or ride with your GPS using my track file.

At mile 1.5, the trail joins a faint old doubletrack, then forks right on a larger, well-traveled doubletrack trail at mile 2. (Note: there were NO diamond markers and carsonite posts at this intersection in June 2010. But once you go the right way, you'll spot a blue diamond within 1/4 mile.)
The slope goes away and you'll do some high-speed cruising for a few miles on the doubletrack.

At mile 4.7, the doubletrack forks to the left then turns northwest toward the viewpoint. At mile 5.7, turn right on the main gravel Dowd Mountain Road and pedal 1/2 mile to the overlook.

At the overlook, there's a bathroom and picnic tables. The continuing trail is the singletrack on the left. The terrain gives way to juniper and sage. The trail surface becomes rocky. Follow the ridgeline west for about a mile, then turn back southeast at the fork. (The right fork at the westernmost corner of the singletrack goes down to the reservoir. Unless you have a boat meeting you, I don't think you want to go there. 1700 vertical down and back up.)

To the west are the peaks of the Uinta Mountains. These mountains slowly rose up between 40 and 80 million years ago, warping the layers above them into a giant dome. Looking north over the reservoir from the top of the mountain, notice how the exposed layers of rock tilt upward as they come towards you. The further north you look, the younger the rock layers are.

As the overlying layers eroded away, the underlying Precambrian red rock is exposed below Flaming Gorge Dam. This quartzite is over 500 million years old. To the north, successively younger layers are exposed, from the Permian (age of amphibians, 280 million years ago), to the Triassic (later age of the dinosaurs, ending about 65 million years ago) just past the furthest northern corner of the reservoir.

At mile 7.4, the trail approaches the Dowd Mountain Road, right where you turned onto it near the viewpoint. Just before the road, fork hard right on Forest Road 613. Climb gently uphill for a mile. A short distance after the road begins to descend, it will turn 90 degrees to the left at mile 9.2. Keep straight and enter the descending singletrack.

The trail will now head in a straight line downhill toward highway 44. It will hit the gravel Dowd Mountain road right by the cattleguard.

Getting there:
On Utah Highway 44, look for the Dowd Springs and Dowd Mountain Road signs about 14 miles south of Manila on the west side of Flaming Gorge reservoir. If you're coming from Vernal, it's 11.5 miles west of the turnoff to the Red Canyon visitors' center. The trail starts with the graded road on the north side of the highway. Just past the cattle guard, watch for the blue diamond marker as the singletrack leaves the road.