Riding the Bonneville Wave

A few photos from an early morning ride along the western foothills of the Oquirrh Mountains in Northern Utah. I never get tired of this area. Many of these dirt roads I grew up riding are now advertised by the Tooele County Trails Committee as the Oquirrh Wave/Serengeti Trail System. Kudos to the Trail Committee and partners for getting the word out on the fantastic riding here. I hope to see more bikers/hikers up in these foothills.

View to Farnsworth Peak from near the mouth of Pole Canyon. KSL and other major Salt Lake City-region TV stations have had transmitting towers on top of Farnsworth Peak for many years.

View from the highest Lake Bonneville wave-cut bench on the western slopes of the Oquirrh Mountains. The quilt-like pattern below is the small farming community of Erda. Few bikers know of the fading trail to reach this viewpoint. The BLM closed this once-Jeep road to motorized vehicles years ago and it makes an nice little bike ride. ATVs have now illegally poached parts of it. It's too bad this little spur didn't make it on the Trail Committee's map.

Another road that the BLM closed to motorized travel (but is still open to bicycles) is up Bates Canyon. This photo is from a couple of years ago, but is shows how the old Jeep road is becoming overgrown and slowly resembling single track. This spur road is shown on the Trails Committee map as an "alternate route". Another old road now closed to motorized use that would make a fine mountain bike trail is in Pass Canyon (not shown on the Committee map but would make a nice addition).