Fango Trail

Bruce hits the first mini-summit westbound on the Hog Hollow side of the trail. Lone Peak is in the background. Trail review and photos August through October 2019.

Fango Trail

The Fango trail links lower Hog Hollow to lower Mercer Hollow and to Woods Hollow . It's 3.3 miles long and is an easy trail to ride. For this discussion I will divide the trail into two segments: eastern and western. The two sections are different in character and are often done alone. The average elevation is 5300 feet. The expected riding season for this trail will be early May through November.

Trailheads and Access

There's no trailhead that directly serves Fango. You'll need to arrive there via another trail.

The eastern end of the trail starts on the old Hog Hollow trail, just 50 feet below the exit from Achtung Baby From the Angel Gate trailhead on the border where Alpine, Highland, and Draper touch, it's 0.4 miles on Hog Hollow to reach Fango.

When riding westbound, the western section begins as Fango splits in two as it approaches the Mercer Hollow doubletrack. The uphill fork crosses Mercer Hollow and climbs around the hill. (The downhill fork descends to the Mercer Hollow trailhead.) Fango crosses Suncrest Drive then continues uphill to Woods Hollow .

To start from the western end, you'd use the South Maple Hollow trailhead and take Woods Hollow to Fango.

The fork from lower Hog Hollow, found just below the end of Achtung Baby on the western side of the hollow.

The trail access to Mercer Hollow on Highland Blvd (Suncrest Drive). The trail skirts the tires on the left. Fango is on the right side, just where the doubletrack disappears from sight in this photo.

In the middle is the Mercer Hollow trailhead. If you start from the Mercer Hollow trailhead, the trail forks away from the Mercer Hollow doubletrack just uphill from the road. (When driving uphill from Utah Valley, the small parking spot is on your right about a mile after you started climbing the hill.) Just pedal around the gate and watch for the trail on your right in around 100 yards. If you miss it, the trail crosses Mercer Hollow about 0.3 mile uphill.

If you continue uphill on the doubletrack Mercer Hollow, the second (uphill) entry to Fango is at mile 0.3 from Suncrest Drive. A right turn is for Fango eastbound. You'll join the connector from the trailhead in about 1/10th mile. A left turn uphill puts you westbound on Fango. When the trail reaches Suncrest Drive, turn left and ride 100 yards to make the connection uphill to Woods Hollow .

Entry to westbound Fango from Mercer Hollow.

In the hollows, the trees are tall enough to give some shade and hold the early-morning cool.

And here's how things work if you're descending Mercer Hollow. The singletrack turns to doubletrack at mile 1.2 where Two Hollows forks away. Keep heading downhill on Mercer Hollow. At mile 1.8 from the top, 0.6 miles on doubletrack, Fango's western segment will cross the trail.

The Fango Trail

It's 2 miles from the Hog Hollow end of the trail to the connector descending to the small trailhead in Mercer Hollow. This section contours the hillside around a couple of small canyons. There's only about 100 feet of elevation gain as you ride east to west. Up-and-down riding adds about 150 feet of overall climbing to the trip.
The western segment forks away from the eastern trail as it approaches the trailhead in Mercer Hollow. From here it climbs steadily, gaining 320 feet in 1.3 miles. It will cross Suncrest Drive and end on the Woods Hollow trail.

Westbound toward Woods Hollow. We've crossed Suncrest Drive and are about to dip through a small creek.

Looking southwest at Utah Valley, Utah Lake, and Lake Mountain.

The trail alternates between open brush on the ridgeline areas, and tall gambel oak in the hollows. When done east to west (from Hog Hollow to Mercer Hollow), you'll climb uphill through a long oak grove, then get out onto a ridgeline with open views. Then you'll traverse into two more hollows with tall oak.

There are views of Lone Peak to the northeast. And to the south, you'll be looking over Utah Valley.

Cranking gently uphill while the camera looks southeast at the Wasatch range forming the east border of Utah Valley.

After the initial climb out of Hog Hollow, the trail is fairly flat, even as it passes through two more hollows.

The riding isn't at all technical. This is an easy trail. It makes a nice out-and-back for a beginner from either the Hog Hollow or Mercer Hollow ends.

A good loop ride combines Mercer Hollow (plus or minus upper Mercer Hollow and Mercer Mountain) and Two Hollows for the climb, then Achtung Baby downhill, with Fango joining the two sides of the loop at the bottom.

Breaking out of the forest as we climb away from Hog Hollow.

Descending from Woods Hollow on western Fango as a rider approaches heading uphill with Lone Peak in the background.

Navigation on the eastern segment is straightforward. Just pedal until you hit the trail fork. Left downhill takes you to the trailhead; right uphill puts you on the trail to Woods Hollow.
On the uphill fork, the trail will steadily climb around the small hill and end on the entry road to the subdivision. Cross Suncrest Drive and go downhill about 100 yards, then turn right onto the continuing singletrack. The trail will continue to climb. When you reach Woods Hollow, you can fork hard right uphill to get to Eagle Crest and the DH trails or keep left downhill to descend to the South Maple Hollow trailhead.

Fango from Hog Hollow to Mercer Hollow...

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Bottom Line!
Nice easy addition to Draper's south-side trail system. Will be a major attraction to Alpine and Highland locals because it creates a loop on the south side of the mountain. Also good as an out-and-back for a quick ride.

Heading toward the Mercer Hollow trailhead on the lower fork of Fango's west end. (The upper fork climbs across Suncrest Drive to end on the Woods Hollow trail.)

Fango map

Getting there:

Angel Gate at Spring Hollow (Hog Hollow side): On Westfield Road, turn uphill (north) on Beacon Hill Blvd. Drive 0.5 miles, then as Beacon Hill turns to the right (east), turn left on Lighthouse Drive to continue straight north uphill. Lighthouse will become Angel Gate. Keep straight until you pass the irrigation facility, then park. At the northeast corner of the fence, a doubletrack descends east across the hollow. Immediately after crossing the creek, turn left on Hog Hollow.

Suncrest Drive (Mercer Hollow side): There's room for 3 or 4 cars at the bottom of the doubletrack portion of Mercer Hollow on Suncrest Drive.

Brookside Drive Trailhead (South Maple Hollow): Brookside Drive turns to the west off Suncrest Drive, just uphill from the Maple Hollow subdivision. This is about a mile uphill from Utah Valley. Drive past the homes and uphill to the end of the road and the trailhead. The rightmost trail (Woods Hollow) will take you uphill to Fango.

Riding Resources:
GPS track files for download (Right-click and "Save as..."):
    Fango track to Mercer only
    Fango Mercer to Woods only
    Hog Hollow area multi-track file
    Corner Canyon area multi-track file
Higher-res satellite map for printing:      View map
Lodging, camping, shops:     Links to southern SLC resources

Click for Corner Canyon area trails overview page updated 2020