round valley north

Believe it or not, after all these years of MTBing at Round Valley, we've found something new!  We put together a 16.7 mile ride, with 1600' of climbing - it was a great day, even with all the drifting smoke from the latest wildfires.  We got to the trail head a little before 10 a.m., at first a little taken aback at all the cars.  It was the final race of the the Park City Trail Series - a 13.1 mile trail run - and we knew we'd just need to keep out of the runners' way.  Fortunately, we were late enough that most of the runners were already heading for the finish line, and the route we had in mind didn't follow much of their course anyway.  Although it was sunny, it wasn't particularly hot so it seemed ideal for running (and MTBing too).  And whether it was the smoky air or the race, the trails were nearly deserted which was just awesome.

 Just finishing up Tin Man

We started on our regular route, pulling over and letting runners by whenever we saw them.  After cruising up Matt's Flat, we took Seventy 101 to PorcUclimb (much more fun with a working shifter, I thought) and then down Down Dog.  Then we went down and around to climb My Nemesis and out Round Valley Express to pick up a connector trail that brought us out to the North Round Valley trail head.  New to us!  We were as far from the truck as we could get and still be at Round Valley, with some sizable hills in between.  To climb those hills we went up Happy Gilmor (which was awesome: steady climbing on smooth dirt with good switchbacks) and Tin Man (which was a little more rocky but still pretty great).  This brought us to the top of Rademan Ridge where we had a choice: go back on Rambler to familiar territory or take Pulp Friction, a brand new, downhill-only trail and see how that was. 

It wasn't my favorite, to be honest.  Pulp Friction is a much more technical trail than the rest of Round Valley: steep and narrow with very tight switchbacks, and it's so new that the dirt isn't yet rubbered in.  At the bottom, we hopped back on Rambler (Rambler is EVERYWHERE), but a section we'd never done; it was very rocky and I ended up walking most of it.  Still, it got us back up to where we'd started on Rademan Ridge and from there it was well-known territory back to the truck, where our beers were waiting for us.  I don't know that I have much interest in Pulp Friction and that Rambler section but I would do Happy Gilmor and Tin Man again in a heartbeat and am psyched to have added some more fun climbs to our Round Valley repertoire.