Mountain Trails

Mountain Trails Foundation

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

Lora Smith, Executive Director

The Eightfold Path As Trail Strategy

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Lora Smith, Executive Director
Mountain Trails Foundation

Several weeks ago, I attended one of the more interesting meetings of the year. It was hosted by the Outdoor Adventure Commission, the Division of Outdoor Recreation, and the Institute of Outdoor Recreation & Tourism at Utah State University. The meeting gathered an array of 31 outdoor recreation stakeholders, Mountain Trails Foundation included, for the purpose of outlining The Utah Outdoor Recreation Strategic Plan. There, posted across walls and giant picture windows, were oversized maps of Utah’s mountain-lands region, illustrating an impressive inventory of recreational assets. In addition to assets, attendees and maps, what was also impressive were the vast areas of undeveloped, and undevelopable, land in this region. While population density increases, stressing precious resources, rest assured there will always be outdoor spaces for recreation in Utah.

A quote from the movie High Country, featuring a beloved local leader, Myles Rademan, about the evolution of Crested Butte’s growth rang true. “Progress isn’t always fitted with brakes or steering.” However, in the name of protecting Utah’s outdoor recreation assets, the above-listed organizations are taking conscious steps to add brakes and steering to progress.  

As we look toward a future population that, whether we like it or not, is growing, we can dig in our heels, pump fists of indignation and resist with all our might the changes that will, regardless of our disdain, still come because our children and others need places to live. Or, with intelligence, we can cast our vision up the road to foresee and capture opportunities to mitigate impacts, craft solutions and create harmony in our beloved communities.

By no stretch of imagination do I claim to be an expert on Buddhism, but I know wisdom when I see it. So as we cast the long view on what Utah’s recreation experience will be in 10 years, perhaps the Noble Eightfold Path of Right Understanding, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration is the Right Place to Start – I am confident we’re on the Right Path. 

Hope to see you out there!

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

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Sunset on the home front. It’s good to be back!

Travel is wonderful and practically everyone I know is doing it. Whether to other countries or neighboring states, travelers are once again on the move, expanding horizons – and spirits. Our freedom to roam the earth was for a time curtailed and now, with global borders flung wide open, wanderlust seems to be the new contagion. A reclaimed freedom to move has fevered humanity’s primal desire to explore the planet. And in this freedom, we see that we are more alike than we are different.    

But, for all the wonders of the world – its vibrant cultures, ancient cities, majestic mountains and sparkling seas – perhaps the very best thing about travel is. . . returning home. After more than two weeks traipsing Europe, arriving on US turf at JFK swelled my heart with an astonishing degree of patriotism. I mean, I’ve always loved my country and all – and I especially love my home in the Wasatch mountains – but this was next level. It’s not the first time I’ve traveled out of country and returned, glad to be home. But this time, gratitude filled every corner of my being for days that followed. After 22 hours of travel, arriving home to the bugling elk and cool, pine-scented air at 8000′, I laughed – then cried. Not from exhaustion (though I am willing to admit maybe that played a part), but from the pure joy of being Home. And it wasn’t just me, my partner and each of my four grown-men kids reported similar emotional experiences.

“What is different?” I mused while toppling into fitful jet-lagged slumber. Is it because, like barn-sour horses, we became so dangerously comfortable with  the home front during the past two and a half years that all we wanted was to be back? Or. . . maybe it’s just that that (political and societal drama aside), we are reminded that we live in one of the most magnificent places on this vast and fascinating planet. Either way, it’s good to be home. 

Hope to see you out there exploring the trails soon!

Pitch In Here for Tomorrow’s Trails

Spirit of Collaboration

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A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of informing two other nonprofit directors that, through its Community Partnership with Park City Mountain and Vail Resorts EpicPromise, MTF will be adding cash to their coffers. South Summit Trails Foundation (SSTF, Kamas Valley) and Wasatch Trails Foundation (WTF, Heber Valley) are small-ish nonprofits doing great work and, though their aspirations to improve trail access are admirable, their budgets are modest. Even as people in those communities rally and donate in support of down-the-street recreation, trail projects that greatly improve the quality of life in these communities are often stymied by lack of funding.

Depending on terrain and other factors, every mile of proposed trail demands an up front investment of $20,000+. Not including the cost of future maintenance, which in a changing/drying environment is increasingly important. Grant funding often covers only half the cost of a project. So, when you’re looking at, say, ten miles of trail . . . well, do the math. Small nonprofits have their hands tied.

Mountain Trails Foundation has a long history of experience and success in the fundraising, trail building arena. Thanks to visionary leaders, generous donors and unparalleled community support, we have the bandwidth to share. We are thrilled to step up, lend expertise where needed, financially invest in and collaborate with SSTF and WTF. As we unify efforts to improve quality of life on the Wasatch Back through responsible trail expansion and strategic connectivity, I pause to marvel at how the stars have aligned for this coalition. This opportunity expands MTF’s mission to build, maintain and protect trails and is one of the greatest honors we have ever enjoyed. 

Thank you Park City Mountain/Vail Resorts EpicPromise, South Summit Trails Foundation, Wasatch Trails Foundation and Trail Lovers like you!

Pitch In Here for Tomorrow’s Trails

What Is and What Should Never Be

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And if you say to me tomorrow ~ Oh what fun it all would be ~Then what’s to stop us, pretty baby ~ But. . . What Is and What Should Never Be

– Led Zeppelin
Photo Courtesy Dirt Coast Photography

Growing up in LA with hippy parents back in the 70’s pretty much guaranteed that I would turn out with rock n roll music and philosophy stitched into the very fabric of my being. So please, allow some grace here – rock n roll poetry is seared so deeply into the fissures of my brain that it spontaneously erupts in the most unexpected moments. . . like now, as I struggle to craft a message explaining in two short paragraphs, the strategy developed by no fewer than 12 stakeholders for Bonanza Flat’s management plan. And now I remember, Every Picture Tells A Story Don’t It? 

Below are two maps of one trail system at different points in time. . . is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say. . .  Look closely and you’ll see the first map resembles a spaghetti-bowl that was once the trail system (aka manmade disturbances) in Bonanza Flat. This was prior to the implementation, five years ago, of a hard-won, very expensive conservation/recreation easement. This map represents the ‘What Should Never Be’ Pretty Baby. 

What Is. . .  easy to see in the more recent map of the area is that illegal/social trails have disappeared. Those were the trails that Never Should Have Been. New trails – many of which, where appropriate, are improved/re-routed legacy trails – were constructed to avoid wetlands, calving/nesting grounds and steep terrain. This improved system creates loops and connectivity to disperse trail use, moving people to the places they’ll enjoy while preserving conservation values. This is What Is and What Should Be.

As we the modern-day stewards of an ancient land, now called Bonanza Flat in the legal documents of a municipality and a land trust, work toward sustainable, environmentally friendly use of the land, I contemplate Mick Jagger’s words of wisdom, “The past is a great place and I don’t want to erase it or to regret it, but I don’t want to be its prisoner either.”

The future will come, so let’s embrace it, preserve it and enjoy it!

Bonanza Flat Conservation Area Manmade Disturbances. Courtesy Utah Open Lands
Bonanza Flat Conservation Area Initial and Summer Trails Map – manmade disturbance mitigation and trails master plan. Approved and adopted by Utah Open Lands, Park City Council, Mountain Trails Foundation. Courtesy Utah Open Lands
MAKE A TRIBUTE TO TRAILS

Honoring Landowners

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Photo Courtesy Dirt Coast Photography

Did you know that much of the Park City area trail system is on private land? From Deer Valley, across Park City Mountain and over to the Utah Olympic Park, many of the summer trail faves like Charlie’s 9K, Mid Mountain, Armstrong, Jenni’s, and my personal favorites on opposite sides of town, Keystone/Apex and Flagstaff/Bowhunter, are all accessible to the public, free of charge, through the grace of private landowners. Sure, the resorts benefit from summer lift ticket sales, but unlike sales to affluent ski tourist, bike haul to a free public trail system is not a business enterprise that justifies the investment of considerable resources our trail system perpetually requires (this is where MTF come into play). That said, we acknowledge that Deer Valley invests significantly in its wildly successful downhill/flow park – and yet, to those who are willing to ride up to the top (and sign an online waiver), the downhill trip is still free.

Bridging the gap between landowner permission and funding the maintenance/building of Park City’s free trail system is where Mountain Trails sets precedence. Our community’s model for building and maintaining a world-class trail system is, well. . . world-renowned. In fact, last week, IMBA referred a New Zealand nonprofit in need of advice on the art of coordinating private donations for a public trail system. Their big hang ups: lack of coordinated funding and poor-to-impossible communication with landowners. I couldn’t help but rejoice in the great fortune that Park City’s trail system exists on private land, is built with friendly, hand-shake agreements and is supported by a widespread understanding that trails are good for people.

As we move toward a summer chockfull of projects that will improve safety, flow, sustainability and enjoyability of this unique trail system, the MTF board and staff proudly honor the cooperation of private landowners, land trusts and local government that make 400 miles of free trail available to all. With a willingness to collaborate and entrust MTF with the coordination of a trail system that provides public access to private land, our entire community is elevated. Lucky us. 

Gratefully, 

Lora Smith, Executive Director

Mountain Trails Foundation

Everyday Volunteers

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Volunteers are, by definition, those who willingly render service without expectation of compensation. While raising my sons, there came a summer when I forced them out of the house into the real world of volunteerism. In my household back in the day, the phrase ‘willingly render service’ was up for debate, but they were out of the house nonetheless. Challenged to find work for my young men, I thankfully discovered the good people at the Christian Center of Park City’s food pantry were willing to put to work a set of cantankerous teenaged boys. I know full well that my boys’ behavior improved as soon as I drove away – and I also know that the nice folks at the food pantry were patient and kind even while slowed down by their new helpers. Seven years later, those grouchy teenagers are wonderful young men (bias acknowledged), just barely enlightened enough to now admit the benefits they derived from getting out of their own heads and serving others.

So it is at this time every year, when MTF receives an abundance of requests from volunteers eager to work on trails, that I step back to consider the significance of volunteerism to MTF and to society. Volunteerism is strategically valuable not only in getting trial work done, but also in developing a positive trail culture. It is against these immense benefits that the challenges presented by volunteer events are weighed. Dig Days can be logistically challenging and also time intensive for our already overly-committed crew. Yet in acknowledging the societal gains and our duty to community, MTF has committed to monthly Dig Days and several Trailhead Meet & Greets throughout the coming summer.

Yet, never to turn away a set of helping hands, I hereby propose an addition to the way volunteers are utilized for the benefit of trails. It takes the management of volunteers out of the crew’s hands and puts it in the public’s hands. . . literally. It’s the Everyday Volunteer Program, organized by citizens at large and fully funded by goodwill and ambition. It works like this. . .

Everyday Volunteers, first and always, offer a friendly smile and a positive word to fellow trail users – this is the easiest part because it is highly infectious and already common practice. Everyday Volunteers can also bring a set of pruners to gently and modestly clip back that nasty overhanging snag or shin-grabber. Everyday Volunteers pick up extra dog waste, perform random 10-minute trailhead tidy-ups, submit beautiful photos for the MTF photo contest/content library, and stop to send MTF a pin drop where there is a blow-down or trail safety problem.

And the real glory of the Everyday Volunteer Program is that it is perfectly flexible, replicable, performed in a mostly-convenient moment by trail users of any age or ability and has enormous, meaningful and expanding impact. 

On behalf all trail users, we extend gratitude in advance to the Everyday Volunteers who make our trails what they are: wonderful community spaces!

I look forward to seeing you out there. . . every day. 

Lora Smith
Executive Director