Mountain Trails

Mountain Trails Foundation

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

Support and Membership

Work Trucks A Gift from Friends at Big-D Construction

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MTF’s Lora, Rick and Todd Henneman and Mike Kirby, CEO at Big-D.  All smiles on New Truck Day

For those of you who have seen us driving from trailhead to trailhead, you’ve probably noticed your donations aren’t going towards the latest vehicles. Our ’98 Toyota is a great example, providing 24 years of hard service and not winning any beauty contests.

With that context, it’s easy to imagine our excitement when Big-D donated two new-used trucks from their fleet to serve our mission. Thanks to their generosity, the money and time that would have gone into sourcing trucks will now go directly towards building, maintaining and protecting the trails we love! 

Support from local business is essential to our mission. If you want to discuss how your business can help trails, please email ian@ianmountaintrails-org

Thanks Again Big-D!

Give a Truck! Click Here to Support Trail Maintenance

MEET MORE OF THE TEAM

Meet the Team

We are passionate about the Park City Trail System.

Lora Smith

Lora@MountainTrails.org
Executive Director

Ian Hartley

ian@MountainTrails.org
Executive Assistant
435-655-5853

Ginger Wicks

Ginger@MountainTrails.org
Accounting

Rick Fournier

Rick@MountainTrails.org
Field Manager

2022 Trail Crew

IN THE NEWS: Vail plans six-figure donation to Wasatch Back trails

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Wasatch back trails are getting a larger-than-usual cash infusion this year from Vail Resorts Epic Promise grant funds.

Vail’s charitable giving arm announced it’s committed to spending about $200,000 to expand and improve trails where its employees live.

Lora Smith is the executive director of Park City’s Mountain Trails Foundation. She says since 2016, Vail Resorts has donated $1 through its Epic Promise foundation for every online Park City Mountain transaction.

The foundation has used the money for operating budgets and trail maintenance.

She says donations have increased over the last couple of years. As a result, Smith’s organization is now sharing the windfall, which should come by September, with other non-profits.

“And so we started out at you know, tens of thousands. And now we’re up into hundreds of thousands,” Smith said. “So the money has increased significantly. And so we feel like it’s just the right thing to do to spread that into the outlying areas, where the people who work in the resorts often live.”

READ FULL ARTICLE ON KPCW.COM…

MEET MORE OF THE TEAM

Meet the Team

We are passionate about the Park City Trail System.

Lora Smith

Lora@MountainTrails.org
Executive Director

Ian Hartley

ian@MountainTrails.org
Executive Assistant
435-655-5853

Ginger Wicks

Ginger@MountainTrails.org
Accounting

Rick Fournier

Rick@MountainTrails.org
Field Manager

2022 Trail Crew

2022 Trail Maps – Available Now!

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We are happy to report that 2022 Trail maps have arrived. Congratulations to our photo contest winners, Wyatt Shane and Britta Trepp!

These maps are the most durable to date, printed on waterproof and tear resistant material to withstand the rigors of your next adventure. Like last year, there are two separate maps. One map features the Old Town area and a large overview of the entire trail system. The other, shows detailed views of Round Valley, Skyridge and Snyderville Basin Trail areas including Summit Park and Glenwild. 

Whether it’s for your personal use or given as a gift every map purchase goes to support the trails you love. Available now through our website and select local retailers, get yours today.

GET YOUR TRAIL MAP

MEET MORE OF THE TEAM

Meet the Team

We are passionate about the Park City Trail System.

Lora Smith

Lora@MountainTrails.org
Executive Director

Ian Hartley

ian@MountainTrails.org
Executive Assistant
435-655-5853

Ginger Wicks

Ginger@MountainTrails.org
Accounting

Rick Fournier

Rick@MountainTrails.org
Field Manager

2022 Trail Crew

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

MEET MORE OF THE TEAM

Meet the Team

We are passionate about the Park City Trail System.

Lora Smith

Lora@MountainTrails.org
Executive Director

Ian Hartley

ian@MountainTrails.org
Executive Assistant
435-655-5853

Ginger Wicks

Ginger@MountainTrails.org
Accounting

Rick Fournier

Rick@MountainTrails.org
Field Manager

2022 Trail Crew

National Trails Day – Join us June 4th!

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Come celebrate National Trails Day with the MTF crew by putting the finishing touches on the new, Big Easy trail.

Wasatch Bagel and Grill will provide bagels for breakfast from 8-8:30. After breakfast, we will hike to the worksite for a morning of digging and fun.

When: June 4th 8am-12pm

Where: near Quinn’s Junction Trailhead (the gravel lot north of the maintenance building) 

What to Bring: Water, sunscreen, work gloves and sturdy shoes. We have a good-sized tool inventory, but if you have a hard rake, hoe or loppers, please bring them along. Pants are recommended. 

MEET MORE OF THE TEAM

Meet the Team

We are passionate about the Park City Trail System.

Lora Smith

Lora@MountainTrails.org
Executive Director

Ian Hartley

ian@MountainTrails.org
Executive Assistant
435-655-5853

Ginger Wicks

Ginger@MountainTrails.org
Accounting

Rick Fournier

Rick@MountainTrails.org
Field Manager

2022 Trail Crew

Support Our Friends at South Summit Trails Foundation

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South Summit Trails Foundation has succeeded far beyond expectations in developing an outstanding eastern Summit County trail experience. Thanks to a partnership with the Kamas District Office of the U.S. Forest Service, SSTF has built one of the first mountain biking trail systems upon Forest Service land in the country! 

The Slate Creek MTB trail is located adjacent to the Mirror Lake Highway, just 6 miles east of Kamas in the Uinta mountains. This is a family-friendly mountain biking destination with a variety of terrain for varying skills. Utah Mountain Biking says of the trail, “This is the trail that riders have been begging for – a bike-specific ride in the Uintah Mountains along the Mirror Lake Highway. It’s more than worth doing. It’s a great ride!”

To further meet growing non-motorized recreational demands in eastern Summit County, SSTF is excited to announce an expansion plan that will add 10 additional miles of trail in the Slate Creek area.  This will include a 5-mile upper elevation loop as well as beginner and intermediate, bike only, “flow” lines.  With Forest Service guidance, SSTF intends to greatly enhance area non-motorized trail offerings.   

As you can imagine, these and other non-motorized trail projects require significant funding and volunteer help.  While SSTF has successfully raised a majority of the funding for this and other projects, this is a challenging time of rising costs.  Now, more than ever, SSTF needs your support. 

Please consider a generous donation to southsummittrails.org or contact us directly for more detailed information on SSTF projects and how you can get involved. 

MEET MORE OF THE TEAM

Meet the Team

We are passionate about the Park City Trail System.

Lora Smith

Lora@MountainTrails.org
Executive Director

Ian Hartley

ian@MountainTrails.org
Executive Assistant
435-655-5853

Ginger Wicks

Ginger@MountainTrails.org
Accounting

Rick Fournier

Rick@MountainTrails.org
Field Manager

2022 Trail Crew