Sometime last year, I came across something on the Internet that said someone was developing mountain bike trails on Draper Mountain in town (very specific, I know). This further prompted me to dig for information, but there wasn’t much to find. It looked like something a group of people had been working on for years, though. I had been down the road where the entrance is located last fall, and it didn’t look finished. There was no signage or anything, just a random trail behind a gate that went off into the woods.
Then this past Sunday, after I finished running with Kim, Barry (who had come with me, but ran separately) and I decided to drive down there and check it out. This time we found a sign with a trail map! On Wednesday evening we headed back into town to check out the new trails.
No matter which trail you are going to run on, you start out down a dirt road that all of the trails branch off of. The sign didn’t indicate a name for the trail system, so I’m going to refer to them as the Draper Mountain Bike Trails, since that’s the mountain where they’re located.
Barry and I started off on a trail called Easy Street that was just under a mile long. It was a wide, two track trail that made it’s way up the mountain to a central landing where nearly all of the trails intersect.
When we reached the landing, we found that they had set up a number of practice apparatuses for the mountain bikers to practice on. Pretty neat!
From there, we ran briefly on another trail and connected onto a trail called McTwist. I think this was one of the first trails created.
This trail went mainly downhill, and had a lot of curves and switchbacks. It was pretty much all single track the whole way. It was more “traily” that Easy Street, if that makes sense, and I enjoyed it more. It was also a bit more technical than Easy Street, with plenty of roots and rocks. There was also plenty of mud, since it was raining throughout the entire run.
The McTwist trail deposited us back on the dirt road that connects to the small parking area. Just as we turned onto the dirt road, Barry spotted a turtle!
After saying goodbye to the turtle, we made our way back down to the parking lot. My Garmin didn’t start working until partway through the run, but we guesstimated we ran about 2.5 miles based on the mileage on the trail map. I’m excited to get back over there and explore more trails in the near future! I’m even more excited that we have discovered these trails in town, just a mere 15 minute drive away. Now if I can just get some trails on the mountains directly behind our house…
What should the turtle’s name be? Just in case I run into him again.
What kind of wildlife have you seen recently while out in nature?
Do you enjoy exploring new trails?
Turkey Runner 
I was surprised to run around a bend this week and see a deer looking back at me. I run into a lot of turtles, too. That’s great that you found some new trails!
There are so many deer out this time of year, since all of the fawns are being born! It’s funny when you encounter one on a run and they look at you like “what are you doing here?”
Totally awesome. My long runs are on mountain bike trails. They are nice and packed down making them really runable. Can’t wait to see pics of all the other trails. I always think turtles should be named after one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but that’s just me. Besides rabbits I haven’t run into any wildlife lately.
I think I will be doing a lot of long runs on trails during marathon training this summer and fall. Your trails sound nice!
Fun! I love exploring new trails. Glad you have a new set near you to explore.
New trails are fun to explore! But I also enjoy the old and familiar.
Myrtle. Myrtle the Turtle.
The W&OD is overpopulated with deer. They are getting so domesticated that they stand on the trail and eat the foliage. Last ride I caught myself say “passing left” when I came up on a group of three doe enjoying some honeysuckle. They didn’t move.
LUD.
I like Myrtle 🙂 I can’t believe the deer just stand there as you ride by on your bike! Sounds like they need to do something to get the deer population under control…
You have SO MANY great trails by you. My husband & son would love to live so close to so many MTB trails. How far do you drive to get to them, on average?
Hmm that’s a good question. These trails in town are only about an 8 mile drive. But the other trails I frequent are anywhere from 15 to 60 miles away. That’s why I typically only run on them on the weekends.
Oh gotcha. No wonder it seems like you have so many…we have quite a few within that distance but I hate driving to run! I should do so on the weekend like you do!
I’m so happy that you found a new trail system to run on! I need to find some technical trails near me. There probably are some that I’m just not aware of…
We saw a very young fawn behind our house as we were leaving for a walk yesterday. It was very cute!
I’m sure there are! Aww fawns are so cute, and there are so many this time of year!