The trifecta of trail euphoria—thrilling terrain, high-alpine coolness, and access to tremendous mileage across zip codes—is making its debut this summer. The long-awaited and much-anticipated WOW-to-BLT connector trail (technically, a quartet of new trails) delivers a stunning Wasatch Back track that spans ability levels, and, for the first time, county lines.

“Most of the trail feels like a true backcountry experience. You’re not that far away from Pine Canyon Road at any point in time, but it still feels like you’re out there in the wild,” explains Rick Fournier, whose team designed and built the trails during his tenure with Mountain Trails Foundation.

The new singletrack traverses old-growth aspen groves, conifer forests, alpine meadows, and boulder gardens, and it serves up challenging climbs and descents. The main connector, Tall T, tops out just west of its eponymous peak’s 9,360-foot summit. In addition to views of the Heber Valley, Midway, Mount Timpanogos, Box Elder, Cascade, and Provo peaks—and, on a clear day, Mount Nebo—this ridge-straddling trek, featuring a massive glacial moraine, delivers a Big Cottonwood feel. And, according to Wasatch Trails Foundation Executive Director Mia Yue, “It’s going to be the best leaf-peeping trail we have. Hands down.”

Leaning into designated trail use, the four-part connector has a hand-built, hike-only option; a downhill-only, bike-only section; and a multiuse, uphill-for-biking piece. As Fournier puts it, “This project really checks a lot of boxes to accommodate a variety of trail users.”   

The mountain-biking set can start at either Heber’s Wasatch Over Wasatch trail (WOW) or Park City’s Bonanza Loop trail (BLT) and string together a ride involving Tall T, uphill-only Wowza Up, or Wowza Down. Riders can connect into Charlie’s 9K and beyond on the Bonanza Flat side or the Pine Canyon Bike Park and Dutch Hollow on the Wasatch State Park side. Notably, Wowza Down has what Yue describes as “bike park-esque” options for advanced-level riders who choose to rise to the challenge. Think wooden ramps, drops, gaps, and rock features sprinkled throughout the flowy descent—all of which a beginner or intermediate rider can opt to bypass. In the future, a 20-mile, high-alpine option will loop from WOW trail up and over to BLT to the Deer Valley East trail system and back to WOW via another new trail, Tricky Pickle (located on the Forty-Fifth Star Conservation Preserve).  

Hikers and trail runners can choose out-and-back treks of varying distances involving the quartet of new trails (minus the bike-only option) or do a three-mile lofty loop via Boulder Basin trailhead, linking hike-only Boulder Dash, WOW trail, and Wowza Up.

This project’s journey from idea to fruition was long, arduous, and fraught with obstacles. “There were multiple times when I thought, ‘It’s not happening, we’re not going to be able to do it…we’re not going to get this across the line,’” recalls Yue.

BY THE NUMBERS

Wowza Up 1.1 miles, multiuse/uphill for bikes, +/-300 feet of elevation
Wowza Down .85 miles, bike only,  downhill flow with features/B-lines

Tall T (south side) 2.5 miles, +/-700 feet elevation
Tall T (north side) 1.5 miles, +/-500 feet elevation

Boulder Dash .7 miles, hand-built, hike only  

As Fournier puts it, “There was nothing straightforward about it.” 
The spark for a Pine Canyon–via–Wasatch State Park connection to Park City and Dutch Hollow dates to 2011 and was the brainchild of Don Taylor and his fellow Wasatch Trails Alliance founders. The WOW trail gained some momentum a few years later with Wasatch Trails and Mountain Trails Foundations, chipping away at a lower and upper section, respectively—until a mineral rights roadblock suddenly halted work.

In 2017, with Park City’s acquisition of the Bonanza Flat Conservation Area, the connector was back on the table and BLT work began in 2019. In 2021, Wasatch Trails Foundation (WTF) received a Utah Outdoor Recreation grant and brought on Mountain Trails Foundation (MTF) as the design-build contractor. 
As plans unfolded, various obstacles cropped up, ranging from trail rerouting due to goshawk habitat to state-required archaeological survey delays, as well as a few landowner and political hiccups in between. The trail-building work was no joke either.

“Beyond the human factors, the terrain was the most challenging of any project we had taken on in my 20 years at Mountain Trails,” recalls Fournier. Some days, working uphill through boulders and dicey terrain, he would barely carve out a couple of hundred feet of trail in four hours.

Both Yue and Fournier attribute the eagerly awaited trail’s completion to shared vision, collaboration, persistence, and support from all the entities involved: WTF, MTF, Utah Open Lands, Wasatch Mountain State Park, Park City Municipal, and the Division of Outdoor Recreation. Ultimately, Fournier describes the hard-won, team effort as a “legacy project for all.”

PUPS & E-BIKES

Be aware of where and where not to take your four-legged friends. Dogs are allowed on the Wasatch Mountain State Park side; however, watershed rules prohibit canine adventurers on the Bonanza Flat Conservation Easement. Similarly, e-bike regulations differ in the state park and conservation easement.