Sheepherder Hill can be done as a 12-mile out-and-back (although I recommend skipping the last 1/2 mile so you don't have to push your bike back up the hill). This route gains 1100 feet to a top altitude of 8000, but up-and-down riding makes the total climbing about 1600 for the round trip. You'll cross five creeks as you climb up-and-around three hills.

Westbound (going uphill for an out-and-back) there are some pretty tough but short climbs. You might have to push the bike up a couple of turns in loose rock areas near the top.

A nice loop ride combines Shram Creek, the west end of the Rock Spring trail, and the Santaquin Canyon road. Going counterclockwise puts much of the climbing (about 600 feet of it) on the gravel road, but you'll have more fun on the Sheepherder Hill trail if you use it as your downhill (clockwise loop). The choice depends on how much you hate descending versus climbing on a gravel road.

For the loop, peak altitude is 8400 feet. Total climbing will be about 2300. The climb up Shram Creek is fairly steady and occasionally stiff, averaging about 400 vertical per mile. As you reach the top of Shram, turn right and continue climbing up the western end of Rock Spring. Once you hit the Santaquin Canyon road, bomb down to Santaquin Meadows and turn right on the doubletrack.

If you're riding clockwise on Sheepherder, there's one critical turn just after you climb that brutal little hill. 0.4 miles from the wood gate, what appears to be the main trail (but isn't) continues straight while the smaller Sheepherder trail forks 90 degrees right. There should be a carsonite post with a diamond on it here. I missed this fork and enjoyed two lovely north-bound miles going the wrong way before reversing direction.

Getting there:  Going south, take the Payson exit 250 from I-15 and turn left. Head into Payson on U-115 to the traffic light, then turn left (100 North, U-198). About 1/3 mile later, at the top of a small hill, turn right at 600 East. Zero your odometer here. Drive 9.1 miles up the Nebo Loop Road. (Pass the Grotto Trail and Bennie Creek Cutoff Trail.) As you approach a cattleguard, there's a dirt road on the right. Parking is at the wide area on your left. The Shram Creek trail starts about 150 feet down the dirt road, just across the cattleguard, on the left. The lower trailhead for the Sheepherder Hill trail is 0.7 miles up the dirt road, on your left just past a log-fenced parking area.