Saturday afternoon we decided to take a drive up Farmington Canyon. I wanted to take my dirt bike up to some of my favorite trails and the kids felt like a drive and some hiking. Shelly had done some research previous to heading up on the "skyline drive" road, a 26 mile drive from Farmington to Bountiful on top of the mountain. We decided to try to complete the loop by taking our F350 super duty and stopping on the way to do some dirt biking and hiking near Francis Peak/Farmington Flats area. The riding was good, but really dry and silty. I made the climb up one particular hill that use to spit me out with regularity because of the steep windy rocky climb at the top that throws the most difficult climb at you when you are already spent from the climb up to that point. I climbed it twice successfully in part due to me being a better rider, but in part also to having a better bike. The rekluse and the flywheel weight made it easier, but in no way is the climb easy even with the improvements.
After a short ride and hike we continued onward with our quest to complete the skyline road across the peak and down to Bountiful. It was definitely a little white knuckle at some parts with the narrow exposed road in our bigger than average crew cab truck. The scenery was awesome and we saw many trails that I had not seen before that will require further investigation on my dirt bike or bronco in the near future. The road starts at an altitude of roughly 4500 feet and QUICKLY climbs to near 9300 feet near Bountiful peak. This skyline drive is much steeper than the one we are use to in Ephraim. Being steeper makes it less friendly at the top and therefore there seems to be less terrain to play on/camp on. We saw a few lakes that may or may not have fish in them, but there were people hiking in the area, so we will have to go back and see what the attraction is. The road came out very near to my work. I had searched for Bountiful canyon before from Bountiful, but was never able to find it. It is very well hidden behind the many houses in the area. Now that we know where it is, I plan on taking my dirt bike with me to work and riding up after work to investigate! There is a large parking area with places to unload at the mouth of the canyon and a trail head for atv's called "old ward canyon road" The climbs look really sweet and I have often looked up from my office wondering if these climbs were still open to ride on.
Please enjoy these pictures until next time. Hopefully we will have news of more trails that we had not known existed so close to our home the next time we go up this canyon.
Getting there, Farmington: Exit I-15 in Farmington. Get to the corner of 600 North and 100 East. Turn north (left if you're going up the hill) on 100 East. Keep right at the fork. Park on the left just past the fork (trail information sign) GPS N 40° 59.808' W 111° 53.060', or go up to the parking area on the Bench Road (on your right another 0.4 miles from the fork) at GPS N 40° 60.000' W 111° 52.750'.
Bountiful Trailhead: From I-15, take the Bountiful 400 North Exit and head east towards the mountains. Turn on left on 1300 East, which will curve around east to become paved Skyline Drive. This road will turn R to become Eagle Ridge Drive. About 0.1 mile after the road turns to dirt (directly under the big "B" on the mountain, it will turn sharply left and begin climbing the hill. GPS N 40° 53.739' W 111° 50.752
