Looking north at the Big Pop descending route from the Lil Pop trail. Photos and review by Bruce on September 13, 2021.
Popperton Park
Popperton Park is located in the upper Avenues area of Salt Lake City. The park includes a grass area, a wild hiking area, and a small mountain bike area. There's 0.9 miles of nice beginner trail in a loop ride with two downhill options. It's an excellent choice for kids and first-time mountain bikers.
Parking is on Popperton Park Way just across from Shriner's Hospital. Take the paved path eastbound
for 0.2 miles. The first paths you come across are hiking trails (on your
left uphill). Stay
on the paved path. As the paved path turns right to cross the road, you
can keep straight onto
a dirt bike trail. In another 0.1 miles, you'll veer left and climb onto
the slope.
Looking east from the parking strip in Popperton Park. The paved trail connects to the dirt loop. There's no parking allowed near the actual singletrack trail entry.
Hop On Pop trail
We've just veered off the connector singletrack onto Hop On Pop and are ready to climb up to the trail fork where the loop begins.
The first trail is Hop On Pop. After the first 100 feet, Hop On Pop hits a trail fork. Turn
to the right (east). Hop On Pop now becomes a one-way climbing trail.
All the riding here is
one-way counter-clockwise.
The slope is gentle and suitable for beginners. The trail is brown dirt with some pea gravel
added to firm up the riding surface.Loops are only 0.7 miles around (with
100 vertical feet of climbing), so it's an easy trail
for brand-new beginners to test their legs and tune their bike-control
skills.
Looking west at downtown Salt Lake as the trail meanders back and forth.
Goathead (puncture vine, puncture weed, tribulus terrestris) typically creates its thorns in late October.
There are a lot of goathead (puncture weed) vines along these trails. I didn't pick up any
thorns on my ride. If the trail is patrolled to remove the vines in the
fall, you'll do fine.
But it's a good idea to set your kids' bikes up with anti-thorn measures
(tubeless with sealant,
slime, or anti-puncture belt) when you ride foothill trails.
The terrain is grass with an occasional sunflower or sage. The trail winds back and forth gently.
Hop On Pop is 0.4 miles long with 100 vertical feet of elevation gain.
Looking east toward the U Med Center as the trail passes through sunflowers.
We've arrived at the top. Left is Lil Pop; right is Big Pop.
At the top elevation of Hop On Pop, there's a trail fork. Straight ahead is Big Pop, a longer
but easier descent. To the left is Lil Pop, which has slightly steeper
slopes, more bumps,
and tighter turns.
Big Pop trail
Big Pop is 0.3 miles long, meandering down the slope in a counterclockwise loop. After losing
100 vertical feet, it ties in to the bottom of Hop On Pop so you can climb
again.
Looking down Big Pop. Easy cruising!
Rolling into a turn. Below us is Shriner's Hospital.
Curves on Big Pop are wide and gentle. It's one of the easiest downhills you'll ever do, but
the twisting layout keeps it from being boring.
Again on the downhill, the trail has been reinforced with course sand and pea gravel to prevent
rutting.
Sunflowers! No shade!
Lil Pop trail
Rolling up to a shallow tabletop bump on upper Lil Pop.
Lil Pop is 0.2 miles long. From the fork at the end of Hop On Pop, it twists downhill to join
Big Pop about 100 yards before Big Pop ends on Hop On Pop.
On Lil Pop, turns are banked for higher speed and are tighter in radius. There's a low tabletop
and a couple of low bumps that let the kids try a jump. The highest hump
is only about a foot
off the trail surface. So Lil Pop is still an easy trail.
At the top of a banked turn on Lil Pop.
Connector trail to Dry Gulch BST
Eastbound on the paved connector trail to Dry Gulch and the BST.
The paved Popperton trail connects through to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST) at the bottom
of Dry Gulch. When combined with 11th Avenue, it creates a popular road
return route when riding
the City Creek and Avenues sections of the
Bonneville
Shoreline Trail
.
From the paved trail's origin at the west end of the Popperton Park parking strip, it's 0.8
miles to the BST in Dry Gulch. The final 100 yards are dirt. As the connector
descends into
Dry Gulch, keep straight to climb the Dry Gulch BST. Or for the University
section of the BST,
hook to the right downhill for 100 yards, then turn sharp left uphill
and climb to the eastbound
BST.
Heading into Dry Gulch. Straight ahead to climb Dry Gulch or turn back downhill to go eastbound past the U Med Center (or drop down to city streets).
Map of Popperton Park
Getting there: In the Avenues area of Salt Lake City, drive to the intersection of the east end of 11th Avenue
with Virginia Street. Go onto Popperton Park Way, eastbound above Shriner's
Hospital. In 100
yards, find a parking spot on the uphill side of the street. Pedal east
on the paved path to
begin your ride. In 0.2 miles, keep straight onto dirt trail as the paved
path crosses the
road.
GPS track file (right-click and select "Save Target as..."):
GPX tracks area file
Lodging, camping, shops:
Links to
NE SLC resources
