Mountain Trails Foundation

We build, maintain and protect Park City, Utah's trails

Lora Anthony, Executive Director

We’ll Be Just Fine

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In this, my 44th newsletter message as the executive director, I thank you all for reading, caring about and donating to Mountain Trails Foundation. It is supporters like you who keep the crew rolling with confidence.

As you can imagine, the buzz around the dismissal of federal lands employees, especially trail maintenance crews, has our attention. And while the outdoor industry resets to a new reality, you can rest assured that the fate and care of Park City’s trail system remains in the stable, capable, and adequately funded hands of MTF’s professional trail crew.

It is through the consistent generosity of MTF’s donors, and a community that cares, that the Park City trail system is safe and secure. We also thank private landowners, Deer Valley, Park City Mountain, HOAs, land trusts, Utah Open Lands and Summit Land Conservancy, and local government for their commitment to trails. 

This season MTF will hire an additional five professional trail crew members to meet growing trail maintenance demands in Park City and, new this year, the care of Slate Creek trail system which sits on US Forest Service land just outside Kamas Valley.  

Words fall flat as I attempt to describe the gratitude we hold for our donors. I can only hope that when the MTF crew shows up, ready to work, whenever and wherever needed, it is an adequate expression of our thankfulness to you, the trail lovers of this great nation.

The Butterfly Effect

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Urban legend has it that the flit of a butterfly wing can cause a tornado on the other side of the planet. And, while science may have a thing or two to tell us about that legend’s validity, when one labors in the nonprofit world, like we do here at MTF, one has the privilege of a front row seat to a stage upon which small actions yield colossal impacts.

This month, the 2025 MTF budget was polished and memorialized. Anybody from the nonprofit sector can affirm that budgeting is something of an art in our world. There is very little predictability when it comes to the expenses side of the column, and even less when it comes to the revenue (read: donations) side. For instance, last year, MTF saw two major, unexpected repair bills for equipment critical to summer projects underway. And, as is always the case, financial markets, politics, grant competition, attitudes about charitable giving, and so on, seem to blow with the wind making income projection a moving target.

Enter the butterfly effect: it is because nearly one thousand smaller donations stack up each year that MTF has the capacity to weather unforeseen gusts, soar on windfalls and continue the mission to build, maintain and protect trails. It is the small shimmies of many donor wings that create an updraft which keeps MTF – and the trails we care for – aloft year after year.

On behalf of the board of directors, crew and trail lovers, I thank our donors, big and small, for their faith in this organization.  

Happy New Year!

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The other day, my husband, puppy and I were wandering Round Valley when we saw, on the ridge above Round Valley Express, a golden eagle – or maybe a juvenile bald? Today I saw a pair. 

On and off over the years, goldens have been present in Round Valley. If you’ve been lucky enough to spot one, surely you noticed that to quietly observe these majestic creatures is to allow one’s spirit to soar skyward, as if lifted on a warm summer thermal. It is clear why, from Greek and Norse mythology, to the traditions of indigenous peoples, to state and religious symbolism, the golden eagle holds a revered, even sacred, standing in the human psyche.

So, with that as an introduction, I pose this question: will 2025 commence a Golden Age? I recognize this is a loaded question, as the most famous person to make the claim recently is America’s 47th president. Still, whether you love or despise the source isn’t the point. The point is to reflect on an interesting notion. A Golden Age? How appealing, invigorating, inspiring!

Mountain Trails Foundation’s staff and board of directors are optimistic about the triumphs to come in 2025. We will expand carefully and efficiently to achieve the highest standard of trail maintenance, our professional trail crew will receive fair and livable wages, we will advocate for kindness on trails and, in doing all of this, we will lift up community health and wellbeing through trails. 

Our commitment to you, trail loving supporters, comes on wings of goodwill and hard work, as we exuberantly usher in a Golden Age for trails.

In the Business of Fun, Business is BIG 

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Last month, I attended the International Mountain Bike Association’s (IMBA) Lead Up Summit in Knoxville, TN. What I learned, aside from how genuinely nice people are in Knoxville, is that Mountain Trails Foundation, Park City and the State of Utah are models of extreme success in fostering access to outdoor recreation. Mingling through a conference hall full of government representatives, economic development people, lobbyists, professional fundraisers, trail builders and nonprofit leaders, I was assured that, in this great nation, the business of outdoor recreation is alive and well. In fact, it is a multi-billion dollar, yes, that’s billion with a B, industry.   

According to the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Office of Outdoor Recreation, “Outdoor recreation creates $6.1 billion in value-added for Utah, accounts for 2.7% of Utah GDP and includes 66,736 jobs.” (Austin, 2022). After 31 years in business, thanks to consistent community support, MTF proudly continues its contribution to the industry as we exemplify our role in trail development and maintenance.

By the time we close the door on 2024, MTF will have spent nearly $1M in donor and grant funding on winter grooming, routine maintenance and new projects across the Wasatch Back. We have employed an 11-person professional trail crew, and just two office employees, including myself. That balance clearly illustrates MTF’s priorities and the efficiency with which we run this business. Boots in the dirt first and forever!

MTF’s annual report is in the works right now, and as it comes together, a narrative of success unfolds. For that, MTF’s staff, board and I are immensely grateful to you, our donors and partners, for the part you play in making this business a model of success. Stay tuned – there’s much more to come. 

See you out there. . . 

Us vs. Them, No Please

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During the past month, the political muddle around e-bike access on Park City’s single-track trails has caused an inordinate amount of brain damage. And, while MTF’s 13-person board of directors, and 11-person staff, are experienced, educated and publicly supported in our position, there is also an overt acknowledgment that the issue is not two-sided. As with any political issue, the issue of e-bikes on old-school singletrack is multi-faceted, with each facet illuminating its own virtues – and shortcomings.

For MTF, the hardest, most frustrating element of this conversation is not the vitriolic rhetoric distorting facts. It’s not the tightly held beliefs – ignorant or meritorious as they may be. It’s not even the curveball 3/5 of Park City’s Council threw to the public on June 28th. No, the hardest thing to reconcile is the Us vs. Them mentality that has grown around this matter. Opponents in this conversation see them as competition. Them as stuck-up, elitist athletes – or lazy no-goods. Them as threatening a classic, analog way of life – or oblivious to the ways of the future. Them as ignorant. Them as the threat. In reality, let me say loudly and clearly, there is no us and them. There is just one asset: a 35-year-old, world-renowned trail system.

To one who has built a personal and professional life out of trails, it is astounding and heart-breaking that we – yes, we the trails community – are not coming together on a solution that will both protect and enhance what we have. We are fortunate to have in our town a long and well-loved legacy trail system, built over decades, with way-back technology, and the blood, sweat and tears of hundreds, that make for a very unique experience. The Park City trail experience is, in fact, so special that people travel from all over the world to enjoy it – or move here to weave it into their daily lives.  

Like it or not, the fact is that e-bikes are a disruptor, a new technology, both in the physical and mental/emotional spaces. And they are here for good. So now what? What are we as a trail loving community going to do?

MTF’s board and staff propose the employment of open minds, patience, understanding of other viewpoints and, above all, kindness as we adapt. Shouting from soapboxes about personal rights and entitlement will not move this community toward harmony. Neither selfishness, protectiveness nor self-righteousness will move us toward a solution in which every trail use, novel or historic, has a space to play in the specific way they want to. As with purpose-built pickleball courts, purpose-built trails take time to develop. And time we have.

Park City’s classic non-motorized trails have long been the backbone of a fun-loving, welcoming, passionate outdoor culture. Trails are the thread that knits the community together, turns neighbors into friends, and families into generations of outdoor enthusiasts. Next to, and not behind, world-class ski resorts, world-class trails are the reason many of us live in, and visit, Park City. Let’s spread the stoke, keep old-school single-track safe and build for the future.

After all, this is Park City: we can have our cake and eat it too.

Hope to see you out there!

Lora Anthony, Executive Director

More Than A Picnic Table

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In Round Valley there is a very special picnic table. It has been there, well-used, weathering winter snow loads and summer heat, since long before my boys and I first discovered it for ourselves more than two decades ago. Back in the day, prior to the development of the North Round Valley Trailhead (an area my children named The Boneyard for all the “dinosaur bones” lying in the sage), we’d stuff a backpack and hike from our home down the street, up to the picnic table for lunch. In a more recent and globally unforgettable era, that picnic table served as a place to hold socially distanced, BYO dinner gatherings, providing relief from the crushing isolation of a quarantine. 

The other day, I ran past the table and a tsunami of nostalgia stopped me cold. I remembered warning, “be careful of splinters” as the weather-beaten planks wobbled like a rocking horse beneath the wiggles of four little boys. Over time, the table became a little more sturdy, then sturdy and splinter free, and then for a time before they too rotted, the table top planks were wonderfully, colorfully painted with wildflowers and joy. It would be safe to bet that not a single part of the original picnic table still exists. 

And yet, today, a picnic table stands solid. It is not the same picnic table – it is something much more. You see, the object that now stands is not just two benches and a table top, it is also a testament to the goodness of people. Those who have used the table, cherish it. And over the years, probably unbeknownst to one another, they have hauled and installed new planks. Hiked in tools to tighten hardware. Painted and repaired. Care has been applied, layer upon layer. This is an ongoing story of the spirit of the trails community. 

It may be that I’m just a wistful older lady, but I can’t help wondering if there’s a lot more inspiration to unpack in this story. Let me know what you think. . . 

Hope to see you out there!

Lora Anthony, Executive Director