Mountain Trails Foundation

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

Lora Anthony, Executive Director

Here’s what we’re going to do with your donations in 2022

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On behalf of the Mountain Trails Foundation crew, board and all Park City area trail users who logged over a million trail days, I warmly thank each and every one of our 1,676 donors for their trust in us. These are the trail users who stepped up last year and put money where all of our feet, wheels, skis, snowshoes and furry-friends’ paws go. Trails are a privilege supported by generous, grateful people who care. Thank you!

Before getting to the big reveal on 2022 projects, we want our donors to understand that every project MTF undertakes has a strategic purpose, carefully considered within the context of the greater trail system. Whether the objective is to disperse trail use, increase safety or add connectivity between routes, before commencing works, a great deal of thought is invested by some of the best minds in the business. Cue applause for MTF’s professional trail crew. A few of 2022’s projects are estimated to take 1-2 seasons to complete and progress can be followed on social media and our website.

Here are the highlights from our 2022 strategic plan:

Clark Ranch eMTB Trail: 4+ miles connecting Clark Ranch to the SkyRidge eMTB-friendly trail system;

SkyRidge Milky Way Trail: 2 miles added to complete the Milky Way Trail. Multi-use and eMTB-friendly;

Mother Urban Trail: 4 miles, started last year on Treasure Open Space, top of Lowell Ave. to Mid Mountain Trail, directional-up for bikes. Takes pressure off Jenni’s and Armstrong trails;

Cyn City: 2.5 miles of intermediate, directional-down, flow trail between Charlie’s 9K and Mid Mountain Trail. Creates route options using two main arteries;

Chainge Reaction: 2 miles of expert (with upper-intermediate opt-outs), directional-down, flow trail between Charlie’s 9K and Cyn City. Serves expert riders in terrain that can sustain steep trail;

Maintenance – thanks to 80 Adopt A Trail sponsors! Chainsaw clear 200-300 blow downs, repair winter trail damage, side-veg 10’s of miles of trail, repair/re-route several old or loved-to-death trails and, yes, even waste management at select trailheads. 

These are just the projects we can talk about today. Stay tuned to our monthly newsletter, on social media or frequent our “projects” page (coming soon!) at www.MountainTrails.org for up-to-date announcements on additional trail projects, fundraisers and events. 

Despite the challenges faced by trails organizations locally and nationwide, what more satisfying job could be had than creating a product that brings people together, contributes to healthy lifestyles, fosters a connection to Nature, and for which people share our passion?

We are thrilled, honored and so very grateful to share this journey into 2022 with you!

See you out there,

Lora Smith

Executive Director

December Message from our Director

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Sun comes up, it’s Tuesday morning. . . a thought dances at the periphery of  foggy consciousness. It comes into focus – a question. In the recent promo video for MTF, I asked an unseen audience to, “think for a moment what your life would be without trails.” The question has since blossomed into something of a life philosophy. Coffee pours, a quick triage of email and I attempt to tune out NPR – it’s 0-dark:30 and already I’ve had my requisite 15-minutes of bad news. World news. It’s all the same. Again. Time to hit the trails.

Lucky. Just in time. Phone pings somewhere in the distance. It’s a query from the running partner I’ve known the greater part of my adult life. “Meet in the middle, 8:00?” This welcome invitation is from that rare running partner who always shows up on time, prepared, no drama and seldom with an agenda. Hence, this is also one of my closest friends. We rarely see one another except out on the trails anymore. With all of our boys grown, summer days at the kiddie pool, and popcorn-pillow-movie nights are distant, fond memories. A few times since our kids outgrew us, we have tried to hang out, but it was just awkward. So now we stick to the trails. She is a witness to my life – as I am to hers. She knows my secrets and keeps them – for what is said on the trails, stays on the trails. I solemnly keep hers too. We calculate our friendship not in years, but in miles. Today it’ll be nine.

It’s a crisp fall morning. Or is it winter? I can’t tell. Trails are still brown and the snow hasn’t accumulated to any skiable degree. Let’s call it fall. Today, we are meeting “in the middle” which is short for the designated intersection of trails that lies precisely midway between our homes. It’s a place with a view of the Park City ridgeline, and where once a sad, decaying coyote carcass hung up in a shrub oak, far too high to have been placed there by Mother Nature. So weird. Always wondered if that was Steve, the super-sized coyote some speculated was part wolf. He’s gone now. 

From the middle, we run, talk and, sometimes, cry. This is the way it has always been: nonjudgmental, mutual, enduring support consecrated by the shared experience of being outdoors. What would life be without trails? There it is again, the question that keeps gratitude front and center – what would life be without trails?

Parting ways back to our respective neighborhoods, lives, we laugh, rejoice, this time in unison as one grateful voice singing out to the open space, at the undeniable good fortune and privilege we enjoy for having trails. . . and one another. 

May open space and trails be the place you find freedom and friendship this month.

Hope to see you out there!

Lora Smith, Executive Director

Seasons and Change

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The season of color and change is upon us.

Singletrack through the aspen forests has transformed, once again, into glittering tunnels of gold. Wet leaves, as if precious bullion strewn, decorate the ground and, what is left of the canopy, glows gently, illuminated by that peculiar, long autumn light.

It’s also the time of year when our seasonal trail crew members begin to depart, one by one, each one taking with him a small part of our organization’s spirit and somehow, simultaneously, expanding it. The moving on of the seasonal crew leaves emptiness where dirty boots, work gloves, backpacks and laughter once filled our office.  Their departure plucks at my heartstrings, reminding me that nothing in life is constant but change. It is bittersweet for those of us who stay behind, year after year, as we envy and applaud our co-workers’ fluid, adventurous lifestyles and plans for long desert expeditions or world travel. 

This time of year, flitting moments of introspection seep quietly into the day, and that familiar speck of melancholy over another summer’s passing is replaced with the tickle of anticipation for the coming snow – corduroy under skis, squeaky singletrack underfoot, the soft rumble of snow bike tires. Hoar-frosted sage and pines. What is to come is as beloved as what we’ve already passed through.

The blistering heat and intermittent days of suffocating smoke have finally dissipated with the shift in atmospheric patterns. A bite in the morning air tells us it is time to move equipment off the mountain before the snow falls, making exit dangerous or impossible. Half of the trail crew is quickly withdrawing thousands of trail signs from the upper elevations, while the other half gets to work marking cross-country ski track and winter singletrack before the ground freezes. In the garage over the next few weeks, the year-round crew will prep the snow-cats, snowmobiles, grooming drags and four wheelers that’ll keep our winter trails alive until spring. We just keep rolling on, one season to the next. It is wonderful to be in this work.

In the 2021/22 snow season, Mountain Trails will groom more winter trails for cross-country skiers, snow bikers, snowshoers and trail runners than ever before: Round Valley, Clark Ranch and, depending on snow conditions, Bonanza Flat, will all get daily attention, as Mother Nature allows.

Even as we scramble to prepare for the change that is soon to come, there is one constant: our gratitude for the support of the donors that make this work possible. Maybe it sounds sappy, but it’s true – we couldn’t do what we do, year after year, without the financial support of Trail Lovers like you!

With gratitude and excitement for what comes next,

Lora Smith, Executive Director

The Anatomy of a Trail Build

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During the many days Mountain Trails staff and Ambassadors have spent talking to trail users at trailhead meet and greets, we have learned one thing for certain: most trail users have no clue how trails come to be. And that’s perfectly wonderful because it means we here at Mountain Trails Foundation have done our job in providing a public amenity that demands little thought on the part of the public. Trail users show up, have fun, go home. But, for those who are interested in understanding how trails materialize under Mountain Trails purview, read on.

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Surprisingly, there’s a great deal of coordination that goes into each and every trail project. It’s not like when we were kids and took to scratching in trails on the neighborhood dirt lot. Trails that will see millions of enthusiastic trail users over the course of decades, take careful thought, planning and expert execution. The anatomy of a trail build consists of three basic elements, each of which has a laundry list of chores propping it up. Here’s the short (short is a relative term) story on how a trail build generally rolls out. 

First, the WHY. A compelling reason to build a trail needs to exist. Trails are far too expensive to just throw in, willy-nilly. A determining factor could be reducing pressure on old, tired trails – think Spiro. Or creating new routes by connecting already existing trails like the ones off Charlie’s 9K or the Big Easy trail in Round Valley. Both of those created fresh route options for various trail user types and skill levels. The exploding popularity of non-motorized trail recreation has driven the need for directional and single user-type trails to the top of the priority list. Point is, trail builds are always strategic.

Next, the WHO. Landowners, whether private or public, need to give permission. Often this involves explaining to the stakeholder why a new trail is a good idea. Here in Park City, we are fortunate, SO fortunate, to work with ski resorts (aka the private landowners named Deer Valley and Park City Mountain), land trusts (Summit Land Conservancy, Utah Open Lands) and the local municipality, Park City Municipal. All of these landowners comprehend the intrinsic value of trails and almost always support MTF’s carefully considered proposals. We acknowledge the unique and very fortunate position we are in and thus work diligently to foster the long-game of collaboration in the interest of public service. Oh, and it helps that MTF is willing to fund projects – which leads to the next element: funding.

Funding for trails comes from myriad sources. Easiest to identify are donors, grants and work contracts. A work contract, like the one with SkyRidge, where MTF is developing an e-MTB-friendly trail system, is an example of a work contract that yields great public benefit and also benefits Mountain Trails. 

As to grants and donors, a superb example of how we strategize funding for the maximum impact is the relatively new, Charlie’s 9K trail. Funding for that trail required the orchestration of four funding sources: Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation, Utah State Parks Recreational Trails Program, Park City Municipal Corp. and Mountain Trails Foundation donors. The hard cost (does not include necessary overhead like insurance, rent, payroll taxes, etc.) of that project exceeded $125,000. By leveraging  private donations against grant money, Mountain Trails was able to cover the entire cost of not only the build, but its long-term maintenance as well – shout out to Adopt-A-Trail Sponsors, Mike and Lynn Lee, here!   

Now the HOW. Once need, permission and funding are secured, the fun part begins. Our crew of professional trail builders goes bushwhacking. For real. They scramble the terrain – remember there isn’t a trail yet – to identify and flag the trail’s alignment upon the landscape. This is where the “art of trail building” begins and the character of a trail is born. Flagging guides the hand crew as they clear a corridor (with chainsaws, brushcutters, etc.) for the machine operator to follow – kind of. Oftentimes, the environment offers up surprises and alignments are re-routed to avoid old growth, extensive rock bands and, yes, even little birds’ nests. Because we do care about the environment. 

As the machine work motors along, day after day, the hand crew follows behind. It’s tedious work, buffing out the newborn trail by hand – de-berming, lopping roots and removing obstructive rock and debris. This is where we can use a few extra hands and often recruit the help of dig-day volunteers. Depending on terrain, length of the trail and weather, a build can take anywhere from several weeks to several months.  Larger projects can span over years as the building season is only as long as the snow is absent.  

Once the thinking, permitting, fundraising and buffing have culminated in a sweet piece of singletrack, it’s time to open the trail to the public, dust off the work boots, crack open a cold one and celebrate!

It’s a long-winded story, but I hope this helped you appreciate what it takes to make your trail experience a reality. I also hope you will be inspired to support our work by making a donation today!  

Trails: It Takes a Village

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Message from the Director

In recent weeks, I have had the good fortune to work with an array of people who, in one way or another, have a hand in Park City’s trail system. They come from entities and spaces within the community that might surprise. For example: did you know that the Park City Chamber of Commerce is keenly supportive of the trail system? Or that the slightly less surprising, but still-not-obvious, Park City Fire District has a hand in the trails game? And what about that cool outdoor adventure teacher at Park City High School who takes kids out for trail work days and teaches trail etiquette? Seems everywhere I look, there is evidence that trails are an integral part of this Village. 

In 1992, Mountain Trails Foundation was founded to quell tensions and pave a smooth path between Park City’s private landowners and an enthusiastic, but rogue, group of trail builders. The sport of mountain biking was in its infancy and a few visionaries, bandit trail builders though they were, imagined a whole new world. In their narrative of our town-to-be, outdoorspeople used flowing ribbons of singletrack to wander the enchanted open spaces rather than grind away on steep, loose, gravely, service roads.  

Time warp 30 years to a place where there are now nearly 400 miles of sweet (and legal) singletrack entirely free to the public. Even more extraordinary, and unique in the world of trail access, is the fact that most of Park City’s world class trail system exists on private land – or land that has been preserved as open space. Do I hear a round of applause for Deer Valley/Alterra, Park City Mountain/Vail Resorts, Summit Land Conservancy, Utah Open Lands and select real estate developers? Thank you, thank you very much.

This remarkable community asset didn’t just appear. It happened intentionally, collaboratively and with a great deal of monetary investment by people like you and me. It took a village to make this happen – and to keep it happening decade after decade.

That is why, here at Mountain Trails, we honor every donor. From the $10 donor to the $100,000 donor, you are all part of the team that builds, maintains, grooms and protects Park City’s trails. In nearly nine years with MTF, what I’ve found to be true – and what keeps me smiling – is knowing that a person’s love for trails is not necessarily commensurate with the means to donate. The college kid who flips us ten bucks can be just as enthusiastic – and feels just as vested in the trails – as our major donors. How cool is that?

So, the next time your heels or wheels touch upon a trail, I hope you’ll remember that you are enjoying the fruits of a great, village-wide collaboration – landowners, donors, private business, government and Mountain Trails working together for the greatest trails on earth.

See you out there!  

Lora Smith, Executive Director 

July Message from Lora, Director

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The 10 Seconds of Kindness, or rather lack thereof, came up several times this month as our team grappled with best responses to a myriad of trail behavior problems presented to us by the public.  With eyebrows raised, I keep thinking, didn’t we all learn how to play nice in kindergarten? Be kind, wait your turn, say please and thank you, clean up after yourself and show respect to others, were the universal rules we discovered to be useful. And there is, perhaps, no place more important to employ these kindnesses than in the great outdoors. 

In keeping with the spirit of 10 Seconds of Kindness, I’d like to point out that everybody has bad days from time to time. Maybe, just maybe, that guy in his super speedy kit blew by without smiling because he was fired that day. And maybe the lady hiking with earbuds in was escaping from some private devastation. Point is, you never know what a person is going through and none of us is perfect all the time – none of us.  After all, the trails are where a lot of junk gets worked out. 

So, on those days when we’re on our game, perhaps we can give a little more grace than feels natural to those who are having an “off” day.  Pick up an extra poop bag, step aside even if you don’t technically have the right-of-way, and smile even when that fast guy isn’t looking. Be nicer than normal and see what happens.  

Below  you’ll find an article written by an “old burnout.” I have to admit that his recurrent use of a cuss word is deeply gratifying.  Why? Because in many trail lovers, myself included, there lives a not-so-polished side that is satisfied with well-curated profanity when it reflects what 99% of us are thinking.  

In closing, be clear: there are NO good excuses for foul trail behavior. That said, we are all part of the human family – fallible, forgetful, sometimes self-absorbed. Please join the MTF crew in taking the higher road to make the trails a safe, uplifting, positive place to be. It’ll make our job a little easier – and who knows, maybe you’ll make a friend.  

See you out there!