Yellow Fork

Heading uphill on the Yellow Fork singletrack. Original review on May 7, 2002. This update by Bruce is September 9, 2023.

Yellow Fork Beginner and Intermediate Rides
(Yellow Fork, Big Rock, and doubletrack routes)
The Yellow Fork riding area lies in the foothills of the Oquirrh Mountains at the southwest corner of the Salt Lake valley. The trails are part of the Southwest Canyons Trail Network of Salt Lake County. This page discusses the easier Yellow Fork singletrack, Yellow Fork doubletrack, and Big Rock trails. See other pages for the Yellow Butter Bonneville Shoreline (BST) or for the more-technical alternate singletrack trails in Yellow Fork.
Original review May 7, 2002. This update September 9, 2023.

General Riding Area Information

The Yellow Fork network has around 15 miles of singletrack trail, plus over 10 miles of old doubletrack that has been repurposed as non-motorized trail. The singletrack trails originated as equestrian "social routes." They often run straight along the fall line and tend to erode readily. At the time of this update in September 2023, many of these trails have seen better days, but are still seeing heavy use.

Looking to the east where the Moon Ridge trail leaves Yellow Butter.

Beautiful forest on the Big Rock trail.

Riders take many paths when riding Yellow Fork, and a lot of these rides will involve some steep expert-level climbing. There are shorter, less-steep options for beginners and intermediates. Among them are the beginner out-and-back on the doubletrack in Yellow Fork and intermediate out-and-backs on the Big Rock and Yellow Fork singletrack trails, as discussed on this page.

For expert riders or intermediates with a high tolerance for push-a-bike, there are multiple possible loops, the most popular of which is a 7.3-mile lariat loop of Yellow Fork to lower Big Rock, Yellow Butter, then Yellow Fork downhill. This loop has 1500 feet of climbing.

Climbing up the doubletrack of the Yellow Butter trail, an old access road that has been repurposed as a trail.

Riding on the Horsin Around trail.

For those who want to stick to classic singletrack, there's a 9.5 mile suffer-fest of Big Rock, Breccia, Horsin Around, Upper Moon Ridge/DT/Wind Caves, and Yellow Fork down. This ride will have over 2200 feet of climbing, some of it coming at a rate of around 700 vertical per mile. It reaches a peak elevation of 7400 feet.

Much of the trail system is on a north slope and in ravines, so trails stay wet through early spring. The starting elevation is 5600 feet, with a high of 7400 in the Wind Caves area. The expected riding season will be mid-May through October.

You'll spend much of your time riding alongside small creeks in "riparian" habitat. I've seen deer, wild turkey, rabbits, and squirrel every time I've been on this trail. Overhead, maples and oaks (and a few quakies near the top) provide shade. In spring dwarf waterleaf and yellow fawn lily grow under the trees. It's a surprisingly pretty ride.

In maple forest on the upper portion of the Yellow Fork trail.

A group of horse riders heads uphill on the Yellow Fork singletrack.

Yellow Fork is a popular horse-riding area. Even weekdays, there are usually a few horse trailers in the parking area. Please be courteous when approaching riders on the trail. They were here first.

Trailhead and Connections

Paved parking lot. The gate on the right is the doubletrack beginner trail (Yellow Fork Road).

Yellow Fork Trailhead
The Yellow Fork Trailhead sits at the end of the Rose Canyon Road in southwest Salt Lake County. From the Bangerter Highway, go west on either 12600 or 13400 South and turn left (south) when you reach Rose Canyon Road (6400 West). The Rose Canyon Road will turn right just before 13900 South. Now follow the road around 5 miles southwest to the trailhead.

Even on weekday mornings, the main trailhead is often full. There's trailer parking across the creek (past the bathroom) that you can use as overflow.

Looking east at the bathroom and the trailer parking strip.

This bridge is your access to the Yellow Fork singletrack trail.

Singletrack entry
The doubletrack is to the right of the paved parking area; the singletrack entry for Yellow Fork is at the bridge to the left of the paved parking.

The Yellow Butter trail, formerly known as Butterfield Peaks Road, runs south from the parking entry.

Yellow Butter Doubletrack Entry
The Yellow Butter Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST) is the dirt road to the left of parking. There's a gate with a ride-around for bikes. Many riders use this as their climbing route for a quick loop down Big Rock to Yellow Fork.

On the Butterknife BST just above the Yellow Fork trail.

Butterknife BST Connector
You can pedal to the Yellow Fork trail from Butterfield Canyon via the Butterknife BST. This route (starting at the Butterfield Park trailhead) is 8.4 miles with 1200 feet of climbing to arrive at the middle of the Yellow Fork trail.

Yellow Fork Road (Doubletrack Beginner Trail)

Looking uphill on the gentle grade of the Yellow Fork doubletrack.

This is an out-and-back ride on doubletrack, 3.9 miles total. The old road is easy for kids and beginners, with a sustained but reasonable rate of climb and a smooth riding surface. You'll gain around 500 feet of elevation, for an average pitch of 5%. There are several small picnic areas along the road, with a larger group area at the top where the road ends but singletrack continues uphill.

From the parking area, go to the right and head west up the cindered road. Pedal around the gate. Now just continue straight. Around four times, the singletrack crosses over the road. This allows you to divert onto easier stretches of the singletrack. At mile 0.5, you'll see picnic tables on the left. (If you're headed for Big Rock, there's a connection here, south of the creek.)

Picnic tables are found at intervals along the trail.

The final picnic area, and the end of the doubletrack trail. The downhill Yellow Fork singletrack is behind the tree and across the creek. The uphill singletrack is behind us to the right.

Continue on to mile 1.9. The doubletrack ends here among multiple picnic tables, in a shady glen along the creek. From here, the bigger kids can try their hand at a bit of the singletrack, while the little ones play in the creek.

The Yellow Fork singletrack downhill is across the creek, left of the picnic area. (The uphill trail that seems to be a continuation of the Yellow Fork singletrack is actually Gunslinger. While it seems nice at first, it will become push-a-bike steep after 0.4 miles.)

The uphill limb of Yellow Fork is at the log fence, right at the top of the doubletrack -- to the right of the picnic area as you arrived via the road.

This is the junction between the doubletrack and the uphill Yellow Fork singletrack.

Yellow Fork Singletrack

Looking west as we head out on Yellow Fork.

The Yellow Fork up-and-back ride is 5.9 miles with 900 vertical feet of climbing. The trail follows the creek uphill, becoming steeper and cooler after you pass through the picnic area at the top of the doubletrack.

The Yellow Fork trail can also take you to the Butterknife BST to connect you to Butterfield Park, or to the Yellow Butter BST that circles to the top of the hill and around to the trailhead on the east.

At the trailhead, head toward the bathroom at the top of the trailer-parking strip. Now turn to the right across the foot-bridge, then immediately keep right at the fork with the Water Fork trail.

Looking east on the broad singletrack as we pass a picnic table during the downhill.

Approaching the trailhead area on the downhill. Hikers, horses, and wandering bike riders have made the trail very broad (and easy) here.

The first two miles of Yellow Fork gain elevation at a gentle pace on a wide heavily-used trail. Expect horses. You'll gain 500 vertical feet on this section. The trail will cross the doubletrack (and the creek) four times. When you find yourself on the road, continue across and look for the continuing trail on the other side.

Along the way, some unmarked alternate social trails -- often used by horses -- may fork away on the uphill side then rejoin later. In general, stay level and stay straight.

The singletrack has just crossed the creek and the doubletrack, so we're climbing on the north side of the canyon for a short distance before we cross back again. It's dryer here on the south-facing slope as we ride in juniper and oak.

Back to riding in maple forest.

At mile 0.6, the Big Rock trail forks to the right. Keep straight. You'll pass two more connectors to Big Rock 1/10th mile uphill, to your left. Again, keep straight.

At mile 1.6, just after you cross to the north side of the road and creek, the Butterknife BST forks hard to the right. Keep to the left and uphill to stay on Yellow Fork..

We've just crossed to the north side of the doubletrack again and are passing the entry to the Butterknife BST.

The doubletrack is to the left, and the singletrack trail is to the right -- past the picnic area and over the creek.

Looking downhill at the break in the fence. The doubletrack is to the left, and the singletrack trail is to the right -- past the picnic area and over the creek.

At mile 1.9, you'll see a large picnic area across the creek to your right. You'll approach a sign indicating that the continuing trail is now Gunslinger. At this spot, turn to the right across the little creek and pass uphill of the picnic area. As you reach the gravel road, look uphill to the left. The break in the log fence is the continuing Yellow Fork singletrack.

Yellow Fork now climbs 400 vertical feet over the next mile. On my last ride, there was severe trenching in the middle of the trail as run-off erodes down the fall-line. In some spots, an alternate trail has developed alongside the original. For other spots, you'll need to hug the sidewall to avoid falling into the pedal-trap trench.

Note the scooped nature of the upper trail.

Here the trail has become so steeply trenched that a new trail has sprung up alongside it.

Here riders are trying to stay out of the trench, so they've widened the path into one trail on each side of the rut.

Heading uphill on Yellow Fork.

Continue uphill to mile 2.9 from the trailhead. The upper trail is constantly shaded by tall maple, with occasional aspen.

Your turn-around for an out-and-back will be at the fork with Wind Caves and Yellow Butter, at an elevaton of 6600 feet.

Yellow Butter looks inviting, but it will get nasty in about 1/10th of a mile. If you're riding the 7-mile loop counterclockwise, you'll have a stretch of push-a-bike shortly. (See the Yellow Butter trail page for details.) Wind Caves also looks easy, but it will get very steep, and I absolutely do not recommend riding it in this direction!.

Looking east on the Yellow Butter BST from the end of Yellow Fork.

Big Rock Trail

We're on Yellow Fork looking west at the trail fork fork to Big Rock (on the left).

Big Rock forks to the left from the Yellow Fork singletrack at mile 0.6 from the trailhead. The trail runs through mature maple forest, with an occasional breakout meadow on the lower half. In my opinion, Big Rock is the best ride in the Yellow Fork area in 2023.

The Big Rock trail climbs for 1.6 miles alongside a seasonal creek to an elevation of 6350 feet. It's great for a quick 4.4-mile up-and-back with 700 vertical. For intermediate riders, this option would be my recommendation.

You can also connect to Big Rock from Yellow Fork a bit higher up. We're looking downhill on Big Rock. The trail to the left is the connector, to the right is Big Rock.

Passing through a meadow while climbing lower Big Rock.

Many riders climb the doubletrack Yellow Butter BST from the trailhead, then fork onto Big Rock at mile 2.9 for a descending singletrack ride. This loop will be 5.1 miles with 850 vertical feet of climbing.

The lower portion of Big Rock is also used as the climbing route for clockwise loop rides using Horsin Around or Yellow Butter. At mile 1.0 of Big Rock (1.6 from the trailhead), turn to the right. In 100 yards, the trail will split into the doubletrack Yellow Butter on the left and Horsin Around on the right.

Looking west from Big Rock at the path to Yellow Butter and Horsin Around.

The trail will briefly switch sides of the small dry creek.

Either of these options will involve some eroded and very steep trail. While you may think the doubletrack Yellow Butter will be the easier route, it's actually every bit as difficult. (On my last ride, Horsin Around had a much nicer riding surface with less loose rock. But it was easier to push my bike up the steeps on Yellow Butter.) See the Yellow Butter and the Yellow Fork Alternate Singletrack pages for more information.

The upper half-mile of Big Rock has some very nice undulating singletrack through mature forest.

Looking uphill as upper Big Rock winds through maple forest.

Looking downhill at Yellow Butter as we exit Big Rock.

Big Rock ends on the Yellow Butter BST route. Across the trail is the entry to the Breccia Connector. See the technical singletrack page for details on Breccia. A turn uphill on the BST will take you to a ridgeline where you'll find the Water Fork trail and the doubletrack BST back down to the trailhead.

Getting there:
The Yellow Fork Trailhead is at the end of the Rose Canyon Road in southwest Salt Lake County. From the Bangerter Highway, go west on either 12600 or 13400 South and turn left (south) when you reach Rose Canyon Road (6400 West). The Rose Canyon Road will turn right just before 13900 South. Now follow the road around 5 miles southwest to the trailhead. The doubletrack beginner trail is to the right of the paved parking area. The singletrack is left of the entry to paved parking, across the foot bridge. The Yellow Butter BST is the gated gravel road on the far left.

Getting there: From I-15, take the Bangerter Highway and head west. After the highway curves north, turn left on 126th south (traffic light and big pedestrian overpass) at mile 6.0. 126th becomes 131st. In Herriman, turn left on Rose Canyon Road. Set odometer. 0.9 mile later, turn right at stop sign, then keep left at 2.3 to continue on Rose Canyon Road. At mile 4.4, pavement ends at the creek. Find a parking spot. The trail begins right along the creek, going uphill. GPS N 40° 27.917' W 112° 05.075'