Rademan Ridge
Rademan Ridge (ray-duh-man) is one of Round Valley’s original trails.
This double track once served as a ranch and mining road girded with barbed wire fence. Nowadays, it is a staple for connectivity in the Round Valley trail system. At its northernmost end is the “hub” intersection where Pulp Friction peels off, Tin Man tops out, and Rambler sails through both sides. To the south, Rademan Ridge pitches steeply toward the Cove trailhead.
We reached out to the trail’s namesake, Myles Rademan, and this is the story he tells –
“Long before there were too many committees and rules, I was hired as Park City’s Planning Director in 1986. I came from Crested Butte, one of the birth places of mountain biking, and brought my ‘fat tire’ bike with me and started riding in Round Valley which was then sheep grazing land and fenced off. My new friends Harry Reed and Jan Wilking started to accompany me when I convinced them of the joys of biking. At the same time I started frantically buying open space for the city, often in the dark of night. I always told people that the public must be able to use their open spaces in order to feel a sense of ownership. Luckily, Mountain Trails formed to provide exactly those opportunities. When Matt Twombly, the city’s landscape architect, was preparing some of the initial maps of our public lands and trails in Round Valley, he asked me what I called the old double track mining road along the western hill in Round Valley that I always took potential local landowners to when I was trying to convince them to sell the City their land. I said, “Harry Reed called it ‘Rademan Ridge’ .” And that’s what Matt put on the map though he preferred to call it ‘Myles From No Where’. We didn’t hire consultants or do test marketing! We just did it, which proves that sometimes luck and being in the right place at the right time leads to immortality. Just ask Amerigo Vespucci!”
Trained as an attorney, Myles is a well respected, much loved, bike pedaling figure around Park City. Serving as the Planning Director, Public Relations Director and founder/director of the Leadership Park City program, Myles has always been an advocate for community leadership, open space and trails. Rademan Ridge, one of Park City’s original trails, is a worthy tip of the hat to a man who has left a positive mark upon the civic arena and the world of outdoor adventure.
With help from Myles Rademan all those years ago, the Round Valley open space is owned by Park City Municipal and forever preserved as open space with multiple conservation easements held by Summit Land Conservancy and Utah Open Lands. Mountain Trails Foundation maintains Round Valley trails, including Rademan Ridge.
