View south to Jordanelle Reservoir from the HooDoo trail. Initial Tuhaye review June 21, 2020 by Bruce with this update October 5, 2022.
Tuhaye Trail System
West Oak, North Star, HooDoo, Kings Light plus flow trailsThe Tuhaye trail system lies in a private community north of Jordanelle Reservoir. The 11 miles
of singletrack is open to the public. The most popular route among local riders has been a
loop ride -- consisting of a mix of road and trail -- called the Tuhaye Loop. Newer trails
have added enticing ride options, making this area worthy of your attention.
The trails lie at an average 6800 feet elevation, for a riding season of late May through November.
With the exception of HooDoo -- the more-difficult route downhill to the
Jordanelle Perimeter
Trail -- the trails are easy-intermediate in technical and aerobic requirement,
and are suitable
for experienced beginners.
Looking east as the Kings Light Loop climbs the hillside on a counterclockwise ride.
View to the west on the North Star trail as we ride the Tuhaye Loop counterclockwise.
In 2022, there is extensive construction underway within the community of Tuhaye. This has
resulted in the temporary closure of the southern end of the West Oak
trail, with a detour
onto residential streets. Road construction also affects other routes,
such as the usual path
between Uintah Court and the Old Kamas Road at the southeast corner of
the Tuhaye Loop. While
this update reflects current status, GPS tracks and descriptions may become
inaccurate.
Trailheads and Connections
The West Oak trailhead from Longview Drive (gravel road at the time of my latest visit), looking west.
Tuhaye West Oak Trailhead (West Oak and western North
Star access)At the highest elevation of Highway 249 between Park City and Kamas, turn south into Tuhaye. Keep
to the right at the road fork immediately after entering, and drive 1/10th
mile downhill on Longview Drive. The trailhead is on your right, with the West Oak trail at
the far end of the trailhead parking. The west end of North Star is back
at the road fork, on the uphill side of Tuhaye Park Drive immediately
after the roads separate.
Looking west down the Link trail. The green is golf course that surrounds Moondance Park.
Moondance Park Trailhead (quick access to Kings Light
Loop and flow trails)Tuhaye is a private gated community. You'll need to check in at the
entry gate for permission to park at this trailhead. As you enter Tuhaye,
fork left on Tuhaye Park Drive. Stop at the guard station. Now drive 0.3 miles downhill and
turn right on Uintah Drive. Stay on Uintah for another mile, then turn
left at Midnight Court and park in the lot below the clubhouse.
To reach the Link Trail (which will take you uphill to the Kings Light
Loop), backtrack to Uintah Drive, turn left and climb over a hill. At mile
0.3 from parking, find Link on the right side of the road.
Looking west in the small-boat launch parking lot. The trail is just to the right of the bathroom.
Jordanelle Rock Cliff State Park TrailheadOn the far southeast corner of the Jordanelle Reservoir is the Rock Cliff
trailhead. The parking is at the end of the campground road within the
state park, next to the bathrooms at the small-boat launch area.
There's a campground and picnic area along the road through the park.
(Parking here requires a fee.) Pedal 1.8 miles on the Jordanelle Perimeter Trail, then turn to the right
uphill in a shallow canyon. This is the HooDoo Trail. It will connect
uphill to the other Tuhaye trails.
North Star doesn't look too promising from this end, but it gets better. In this photo the singletrack's entry is seen near the middle of the trail sign post, center of the picture.
North Star Old Kamas Road TrailheadAbout a mile west of Kamas on Highway 248, turn south onto Old Kamas
Highway. The road will head west and turn to gravel. At mile 2.2 from Highway
248 watch for a dirt road on your right, just after you pass a fenced
commercial area on the right side of the road. Go 100 yards to a fence and
find a spot to park. The singletrack is on the left side of the dirt
road.
South ( Jordanelle Area) Trails
Looking toward Jordanelle as we begin the descent southbound.
The HooDoo trail is a fun and interesting ride, with great views of the surrounding mountains
and the Jordanelle Reservoir. The trail is named after the igneous hoodoos
seen at the midpoint
of the ride.
The HooDoo trail connects the
Jordanelle
Perimeter Trail
to the southern side of the Tuhaye Loop. It's 1.3 miles in length with 500 feet of elevation
change. This trail would rank upper-intermediate in technical requirement
and is a fairly strenuous
climb.
The trail has some switchback riding to mellow the pitch. We're about to pass through a grove of bitterbrush.
Looking west from the Tuhaye Loop trail. The HooDoo trail forks to the left here.
The upper end of the trail lies on the Tuhaye Loop singletrack, just downhill from the Moondance
Park trailhead, at a well-marked intersection.
The lower end forks away from the Jordanelle Perimeter Trail 1.8 miles west of the Rock Cliff
trailhead.
The trail hugs the side of a shallow valley descending from Tuhaye to the Jordanelle Reservoir.
The terrain is dry sage with groves of scrub oak and bitterbrush.
The surface of the trail is a crumbly volcanic breccia that tends to erode easily. When the
trail becomes loose due to storms or aggressive riding, it makes the traction
slippery.
The trail is fully sun-exposed on a south-facing slope. Small groves of oak are visually interesting but provide no coolness or shade.
The trail makes a turn above a set of igneous hoodoos.
This trail is fun to ride. In the downhill direction, it has the best views of any trail within
the Tuhaye system.
Most riders will do this trail as an out-and-back, first climbing uphill from the trailhead
at Jordanelle, then hitting the Kings Light area trails before descending
back. It's also possible
to ride the Jordanelle Perimeter out to the Keetley trailhead and take
the shoulder of Highway
249 back to the Tuhaye entrance.
A shorter option is to descend from the Tuhaye Loop 0.5 miles on HooDoo to sample the views,
then loop back uphill on the newer Lone Peak trail (see below).
Approaching the reservoir, looking west toward the main body of the lake.
Climbing Lone Peak. In this photo, the trail is new and hasn't seen enough riders to suppress grass growth.
The Lone Peak trail joins the middle of the HooDoo trail to a residential street off the Lone
Peak Drive loop. This trail would mostly be of interest to local riders.
It's an easy-intermediate
ride on bench-cut trail.
Lone Peak forks away from HooDoo at 0.5 miles below the Tuhaye Loop. It's 0.8 miles in length,
with 150 feet of elevation change. At the top, the trail falls onto a
utility corridor, where
it becomes both steeper and more eroded.
Cranking uphill on the utility corridor.
View of the upper end of Lone Peak from the subdivision street.
Once you arrive at the subdivision street, turn to the left. You'll need to climb up and over
a hill, turning to the right when you reach Lone Peak Drive. The Tuhaye
Loop singletrack crosses
Lone Peak just above Uintah Drive. (This crossing isn't well marked in
2022, so you'll probably
coast past it. You can find your way back to the Tuhaye Loop on Uintah
Drive.)
Kings Light Loop and Flow Trails
View up the trail as Link climbs through three switchbacks.
The Link trail connects Uintah Drive to the Kings Light Loop. There's a plan to have the singletrack
of the Tuhaye Loop connect directly to Link, but at this time you'll need
to spend 0.2 miles
on the pavement. Link and the lower Kings Light trail are considered part
of the Tuhaye Loop.
From the Moondance Park trailhead -- or from where the temporary end of the singletrack Tuhaye
Loop diverts on doubletrack up to Uintah Drive -- take Uintah Drive 0.2
miles east and find
Link on the right side of the street.
Link is 0.3 miles long, with 100 feet of elevation gain. The trail lies in a dense forest of
gambel oak. Just before the top of Link, a connector to Shadow Ridge Circle
forks to the right
as the trail turns left. Shortly after this turn, Link ends as it hits
the Kings Light Loop.
The left fork is the lower limb of Kings Light and the Tuhaye Loop. Forking
right takes you
uphill to the top of the flow trails.
Almost to the Kings Light Loop.
Looking west at the entry to the Kings Light Loop from Link.
The Kings Light Loop begins at the top of Link. There are connector trails to the loop from
subdivision streets: On the west, Shadow Ridge Circle sends a trail to
Link near the western
Kings Light loop fork, and Twin Peaks Drive on the east has a connector
trail to the loop that
doubles as a piece of the Tuhaye Loop.
The loop is 1.6 miles around and can be done either direction. Two flow trails (see below)
link the top limb of the loop to the bottom. There is only 100 feet of
elevation difference
between the top and bottom limbs of the loop.
Looking east on the upper limb of Kings Light.
This is the connector trail to the Kings Light Loop as seen from North Twin Peaks Drive. Note the prominent trail signage. This is typical of the Tuhaye system.
The connector trail at the far eastern side of the loop is your route to join paved roads to
continue the Tuhaye Loop ride.
The terrain on Kings Light is sage with groves of scrub oak. The surface is smooth dirt but
with a region of bumpy volcanic rock on the eastern side. The loop is
suitable for beginning
riders.
Returning to the west on the lower limb of Kings Light on a counterclockwise ride.
Photo from Kings Light, showing Flow heading left and Roll heading right.
On the upper side of the Kings Light Loop, 0.5 miles from Link and at the ride's highest point,
two DH flow trails fork away side by side. The left trail is called Flow
and the right is called
Roll. Both are one-way downhill flow trails.
The Flow trail is an easy ride. While the signage indicates an intermediate rating, the slope
and tech factor are very suitable for beginners. Turns are wide and banked
on a dirt slope
in a sea of sage brush.
Typical trail, looking west, with gentle slope.
Trail fork where Flow joins Kings Light.
Flow descends 100 vertical feet over 0.5 miles. The bottom of Flow merges into the lower limb
of the Kings Light Loop, with the direction of the trail fork tending
to push you counterclockwise
(westbound).
Looking to the east as Roll makes a turn in the sage brush.
The Roll DH flow trail is on the right from the common entry from Kings Light. Roll is slightly
shorter than Flow at 0.4 miles. It descends the same 100 vertical feet.
Roll is a bit more exciting than Flow -- which isn't saying a lot -- because the turns tend
to be tighter with higher berms. But it's still a trail that beginners
can ride.
Roll ends on the lower limb of Kings Light with the trail fork tending to send you east (clockwise)
on the Kings Light Loop.
Another sample banked turn on Roll.
Looking east as the North Star trail follows the ridge on a clockwise ride.
The main trail of the Tuhaye Loop is North Star. This trail runs from the Old Kamas Highway
to the Tuhaye entry road. There is parking on each end of the trail: a
tiny trailhead off Old
Kamas Road on the east (see below), and a trailhead on Longview Drive
1/10th mile downhill
from the end of the North Star trail on Tuhaye Park Drive.
The trail runs parallel to a ridgeline on the northern side of Tuhaye. It tends to stay a bit
below and north of the top of the ridge, no doubt so the ridgeline can
be turned into homes.
On the eastern half, there are two short connectors from North Start to
paved roads (see GPS
track file).
The terrain is sagebrush and low gambel oak. The trail surface is mostly smooth dirt, but with
occasional erosions and bumpy rock sections. The ride would rank early-intermediate
but should
create no problems for experienced beginners.
Pedaling through a stunted area of oak heading west (counterclockwise ride).
A rare moment where the view is better! We're looking at Timpanogos on the skyline.
When done from east to west, the ride angles gently uphill until just before you reach the
Tuhaye entry area. At the Old Kamas Highway trailhead, you're at 6150
feet elevation. You'll
climb to 6600. For a ridgeline ride, there aren't a lot of open views.
Mostly, you'll be looking
into a small valley between the trail and Highway 248.
At the eastern end, the trail winds down through a set of turns near the Tuhaye entry, with
around 100 feet of elevation loss. Once you reach the road, turn right
then immediately left
to descend Longview Drive (currently a gravel roadway) 1/10th mile and
turn right into the
trailhead to continue the ride on West Oak.
That's the main entry area below us, with Deer Valley's ski runs forming a backdrop.
Entry to the trail for an eastbound ride. Note the trail sign in front of the pine, typical for Tuhaye-area trails.
To find the west end of North Star for a clockwise ride, look for the trail sign on the uphill
side of Tuhaye Park Drive just after it forks away from the main entry
road. Don't look for
a "trail," because it's covered with landscaping material. Just go to
the sign and you'll spot
the singletrack 20 feet away.
Heading south on West Oak.
The West Oak trail starts at the West Oak trailhead, just off Longview Drive 1/10th mile downhill
from the Tuhaye entry. It heads generally south, winding around and through
small valleys in
the oak. It will cross a couple of roads.
The West Oak trail is narrow singletrack with multiple sets of turns. It has some nice views
of Timpanogos to the south and Bald Mountain to the west. The oak here
tends to be taller.
When combined with the twisting alignment of the trail, West Oak has a
different feel from
other Tuhaye trails.
Heading into an uphill turn to the left as we reach a set of turns.
Timpanogos forms our background as the trail breaks out of oak forest.
West Oak angles generally downhill when done from north to south, but with frequent short gentle
climbs. I would rank this trail as intermediate but suitable for experienced
beginners. The
trail is 1.6 miles long. The Tuhaye Loop will join Uintah Drive eastbound.
At the time of this update, West Oak has been interrupted for road construction for future
homes. At mile 0.8, a detour sends you up to Uintah Drive. Turn right
on the road. I'm not
sure what the future holds for this bypassed section of West Oak. It will
either have to go
through a subdivision piecemeal, or be rebuilt downhill from the subdivision
perimeter.
Detour on West Oak. Bummer!
Here's the continuing Tuhaye Loop at the western limb of Lone Peak Drive.
Follow Uintah south and east until you see the trail again on your right. Cross Lone Peak Drive
and keep left at the trail fork with HooDoo, then resume road riding on
Uintah Drive. Link
will be on your left in 0.2 miles.
Roads used for Tuhaye Loop from the end of the connector trail on the eastern end of Kings
Light (see above): Twin Peaks uphill right; left on Uintah Drive; right
on Uintah Court; at
circle, ride down utility corridor then keep left as you reach new road
construction; right
on Tuhaye Hollow as it becomes Old Kamas Highway; 0.7 miles to West Oak
trailhead entry. I
recommend GPS navigation, as the road system can be confusing!
Map of Tuhaye
Getting there:West Oak trailhead: From US-40, take the Keetley exit and
go east on Highway 248. After around 5 miles, the road will crest a hill.
On your right is the main entry to Tuhaye. Immediately fork right again on
Longview Drive and drive 1/10th
mile downhill. The trailhead is on your right, with the West Oak trail at
the far end of the trailhead parking. The west end of North Star is back
at the road fork, on the uphill side of the eastbound road immediately
after the roads separate.
Moondance Park: Fork left immediately on entering Tuhaye
onto Tuhaye Park Drive. Stop at the guard station to check in. Now drive 0.3 miles downhill and
turn right on Uintah Drive. Stay on Uintah for another mile, then turn
left at Midnight Court and park below the clubhouse. To reach the Link Trail (which will take you uphill to the Kings Light
Loop), backtrack to Uintah Drive, turn left and climb over a hill. At mile
0.3 from parking, find Link on the right side of the road.
North Star Old Kamas Highway: About a mile west of Kamas on Highway 248, turn south on Old Kamas
Highway. It will head west and turn to gravel. At mile 2.2 from Highway
248 watch for a dirt road on your right, just after you pass a fenced
commercial area on the right side of the road. Go 100 yards to a fence and
find a spot to park. The singletrack forks is on the left side of the dirt
road. Note that Old Kamas Highway will be your return route for the Tuhaye
Loop, and it's heavily and constantly trafficked by huge construction
vehicles in both directions.
Jordanelle Rock Cliff State Park: Just south of the dam on
US-40, turn east at the light on Highway 32. After six miles, just as the
road drops to the valley floor and crosses the Provo River, turn left to
Rock Cliff. Proceed to the pay station. Keep straight until you reach the
small boat launch parking.
