 | Jardine Juniper Trail The Jardine Juniper Trail is a nice hill climb, and worth doing just for the ride. At its end point there are great views, plus Utah's oldest tree -- the Jardine Juniper -- dated 3200 years of age. If you ride the circle at the end of the trail, plus the path down to the juniper, you'll cover 11.4 miles (round trip). Starting altitude is 5350 feet, peak 7200, for 1850 vertical feet of climbing. The trail is intermediate technical singletrack, and it's a fairly strenuous climb. |
| The first
two miles, the trail heads straight up the bottom of the canyon, with
some
undulation and big rocks to knock you around. Although not as steep (on
average) as the switchback sections that follow, this part actually seems
like harder work because of loose rock, rough trail, and constant
gear-switching. Once the trail turns back south, you're on a steady upward grade, gaining about 600 feet per mile. The trail is quite smooth here, so just drop into a low gear and grind on up. When you hit the Wilderness sign at mile 3.4, continue straight (right). |
|
| Near the top of the ridge,
at mile 4.8, you can fork left to the shady north slope
for a quicker arrival at the juniper, or you can climb further south to
enjoy valley views before turning back towards the ride's main attraction.
To the juniper turn-off, it's 0.8 miles if you keep right, 0.6 if you
turn
left. I suggest keeping right. If you kept straight (right) at the fork, you'll climb along the ridge, then turn back to the north before arriving at the turnoff to the juniper. Drop down to the right. The juniper is found 0.2 miles down some tight steep switchbacks. You can ride it on your bike, if you're good enough. There's some deep sand on a couple of turns that may bog you down as you struggle to climb back up. |
| Getting there: In Logan, turn east on US-89 towards Logan Canyon (about 2 miles). After you enter the canyon, drive 10 miles. Watch for the Woods Camp Campground on your left. Go straight up the gravel road to the parking area 0.1 miles later. Copyright 2002 Mad Scientist Software Inc
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