New Mountain Bike Trails In Park City

Dropping off of Charlie’s 9k underneath the majestic Jupiter Peak, Change Reaction is one of the best new downhill trails built in Park City in years. Built by local digger, Derek Thomson, Change Reaction has a ton of character—featuring braided stretches, big jumps, unique features, and tons of line options. Strava times won’t matter here because this trail was built for fun. With all the different line options and rolling terrain, this descent is perfect for hiking back up for more and linking different sections.

It’s a hoof to get up to 9k and ride over to Change Reaction. The easiest way would be to catch the bus to Empire Lodge or book a ride on Transit to Trails. You can also park at Empire Pass and pedal across 9k or pedal up from town or from the top of the Crescent Lift. Regardless of your route, remember that Change Reaction is an expert-level trail with large jumps and steep terrain!

• Ride length: ~1 mile
• Total Climb: N/A
• Total Descent: 602 feet
• Difficulty Level: Expert
• Closest Parking: Empire Pass trailhead
• Closest Bus Stop: Empire Lodge, Purple Bus route

If you’ve ever ridden Spiro, you know that it was a fast and fun descent. But the trail wasn’t designed for the kind of speed and it has degraded a lot. The decision was made to make Lower Spiro uphill only. The Mountain Trails Foundation knew what was being given up though and built the new Seldom Seen descent. This intermediate ride has all the hits: fast flow, medium-sized jumps, and big berms. It’s also an adaptive trail—ensuring riders with disabilities can access and navigate the trail with ease.

• Ride length: 2 miles
• Total Climb: N/A
• Total Descent: 598 feet
• Difficulty Level: Intermediate-Advance
• Closest Parking: Park City Mountain
• Closest Bus Stop: Park City Mountain

Sparky is Park City’s first designated e-mountain bike trail. Because e-bikes have motors and carry more speed, the trail was designed with longer lines of sight and bigger, wider turns—making the trail safer for all riders. The main Sparky loop is a quick ride at three miles, an easy choice if you need to fill an hour of your day. It’s fast and smooth and only moderately difficult, allowing you to maintain speed.

At the top of the climb are two new directional flow trails: Cousin Eddie and Family Truckster. Cousin Eddie is an expert-level jump trail with large gaps, big berms, and wooden features for added flavor. If that’s not your cup of tea, Family Truckster is more approachable, featuring smaller table tops and a more moderate grade. Both of these loop options are fairly short at less than two minutes in ride time each. And with Sparky being a chill climb, you’ll be wanting to lap them a few times to capitalize on the extra fun. And don’t worry, you don’t have to have an e-bike to ride Sparky and these awesome new flow trails.

• Ride Length: ~3 miles
• Total Climb: 360 feet
• Total Descent: 359 feet
• Difficulty Level: Intermediate-Advanced
• Closest Parking: Clark Ranch Trailhead
• Closest Bus Stop: N/A

Slate Creek is a new riding area nestled into the foothills of the Uinta Mountains. Beginning at the Yellow Pine trailhead, the ride starts on a very mellow three mile climb and a true alpine descent across creeks, rock gardens, and alpine meadows. The smart trail diggers added in lots of flowy jumps and berms as well for diversity and fun. And the trail is in active grazing land—so, don’t be surprised if you come across a few bessies. No worries though, cows tend to move quickly if they’re surprised and will head off the trail. At six miles and with such a mellow climb, a fit rider could easily do this loop two or three times.

The recently completed Left Hand loop and White Fir DH add a whole new element to this growing trail network. Left Hand Loop splits off from the main Slate Creek Trail after about 3 miles, climbing to the west and into an incredible aspen grove. At the top you can cool off in an old growth conifer forest before descending the White Fir DH trail, a 3 mile descent of insanely smooth flow, fast berms, moderate rollers, and small jumps. This trail was built for speed to take advantage of the unique drainage and steep, rolling terrain.

Slate Creek and the Yellow Pine Trailhead are about 25 minutes east of Park City by car. Keep that in mind if you have an event to get to after riding. And this summer they are opening up an even longer and yet to be named loop above Slate Creek!

• Ride Length: ~9 miles
• Total Climb: ~1200 ft
• Total Descent: 859 ft
• Difficulty Level: Intermediate-Advanced
• Closest Parking: Yellow Pine Trailhead
• Closest Bus Stop: N/A

Charlie’s 9k was completed in the last few years, making it a more recent addition to the Park City trail network. Beginning at Empire Pass and ending at an intersection with Blazing Saddles, this is an excellent high-alpine connection. This six mile stretch of singletrack has loop options like Cyn Cyndy, Black Forest, and Change Reaction, letting you vary the length of your ride and squeeze in some really fun descents. We recommend riding Charlie’s 9k from Empire Pass. There is ample parking but it’s best to book a ride using Transit to Trails or take the city bus to the Montage Hotel and pedal up from there.

This is another not-so-new trail, but Mojave had a major refresh in late-summer 2023. Featuring even taller berms, drops, and better drainage, this fast paced trail has been rebooted for better flow and will maintain into the future. At just under a mile in length and one of a rapidly growing network of sanctioned downhill-only trails in Park City, Mojave has always been a local’s favorite and will persevere as one of the best rides in Park City for a long time to come. This trail requires pedaling (or a Crescent lift pass) up Jenni’s and Tommy Two Steps to the Viking Yurt on Park City Mountain. Soak in the views on the deck of the yurt before ripping Mojave down to Mid Mountain.

Starting right next to Mojave, Silver Queen also got a nice refresh in fall 2023. The same brain behind Change Reaction gave it a facelift—adding faster flow, rollers, and jumps, and improving drainage. Silver Queen is quite short, about one mile long. And it ends on Mid Mountain underneath Crescent Ridge in Park City. From here you can head north toward Seldom Seen or south toward the “Noodle Bowl,'' the area of densely packed trails above Old Town, Park City.

The Trailside Bike Park is a long-standing staple of the Park City trail map. Basin Recreation does a great job of maintaining this community bike park. In recent years they have added new trails featuring wooden features and medium-size jumps. The existing trails, skills areas, and pumptracks have all been given a facelift to keep them riding great! It only features a couple hundred feet of vert making it easy to lap. Trailside is a popular spot—many kids camps and NICA teams regularly practice there. And with ample parking and easy access to the Round Valley area, it's a great warmup spot before you link up a longer ride!