Mountain Trails Foundation

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

Lora Anthony, Executive Director

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!