Mountain Trails Foundation

 

Mountain Trails Foundation was fomed 12 years ago when Park City visionaries realized the importance of the trails 12 years ago when there were only 10 miles of trail in Park City. Momentous advocacy and hours up hours in Planning Commission, County Commission and City Council meetings led to a wide spread acceptance of trails as part of the exploding development in Park City. Now there are over 335 miles of trails and the number is growing. Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District is a significant player and they continue to create connecting trails in our sprawling, spider web of trails in Summit County. None of the trails in the Park City/Summit County network would be possible without Troy Duffin who is the legendary previous Executive Director of Mountain Trails and the architect, advocate, builder, maintainer, promoter and Executive Producer of this comprehensive trail system

 

Perhaps one of the most magnificent achievements is the splendid Mid Mountain Trail which connects three world class resorts, Deer Valley, Park City Mountain and The Canyons.  This spectacular 26 mile trail at 8000 feet provides high altitude mountain town vistas, enchanted forests and glimmering aspens along the way.  Also the three resorts offer lift served access so almost everyone can enjoy the trail. Not to mention the restaurants, bathrooms and other amenities along this rustic backcountry trail. The Mid Mountain Trail is indeed our signature trail and has become legendary in trails across the country as it was named an International Mountain Bike Epic Trail in 2004 and this designation will last forever.

 

 

Over the past two years we have been on a mission of connecting trails in our system. We work with Park City Municipal Trail Planner Matt Twombly, Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District Trail Planner Senta Byer and Trish Murphy constantly. We have strong trail advocates in our City Council as well as Sally Elliott our County Commissioner who is truly the Queen of the Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail. I can honestly say that both Summit County Commission and Park City City Council completely support our trails

 

Mountain Trails actively advocate for trails and trail connections. Now we are working with the Emigration Canyon Trails Committee and hoping to work with Salt Lake County  and Utah County to connect our Park City trails and the emerging Wasatch County system with Salt Lake, Provo and Orem. We can envision connecting the northern terminus of the Rail Trail with the Mormon Pioneer Trail and with Morgan and Weber Counties. We are sure the new Legacy Highway will incorporate trails in the construction. The loop can be completed and in the next 15-25 years there should be a magnificent trail network right out our door.

 

We are strong advocates of liveable, walkable, bike-able communities. Mountain Trails Foundation was set to take the next step in trail development after years of backcountry accomplishments and more trails coming online    This is underway via the Alternative Transportation committee.  It started with four of us on a mission to secure three “Share the Road” signs on the new Browns Canyon Road.  It has developed into a full on very active group with members from the State Government to concerned Park Meadows parents. We have reached some early goals with UDOT’s help with Share the Road signs in Summit and Wasatch County. A “Roadie” map has been developed outlining “Great Road Rides” for locals and visitors and a program to encourage more folks to seek alternative transportation when venturing out of their homes to their destination.

 

The partnership and collaboration with Basin Recreation, Park City Municipal, Summit and Wasatch Counties, our ski resorts and the developers is a treasured relationship. The cherished role of Mountain Trails as a non-profit in the area is a constant joy as our membership continues to grow, the level of awareness of the trail system continues to expand across the country. And more and more trails are created, connected and completed.

 

 

Our mission is to preserve, promote, advocate and maintain trails and encourage connections with our neighboring counties.

We preserve our trails by meeting constantly along with our partners Basin Rec and Park City Municipal and developers who are more than willing to replace, relocate or realign during construction.  Wasatch Trail Planner Trish Planner has been extremely successful in requiring developers in Wasatch County to include public trails in their projects as well.

 

 We promote our trail system through country wide media, our Chamber of Commerce and word of mouth. Our website mountaintrails.org is constantly updated and our events are clearly public relations driven. We partner with Basin Rec in many of our events and this year we are working with Park City Marathon to create the Triple Trail Challenge. If a runner completes all three events they will be rewarded with a specially created vest at the awards ceremony of the Mid Mountain Marathon on September 9th at The Forum at The Canyons.

 

Our advocacy efforts are clearly effective and our organizational efforts to help communicate, collaborate and connect local, neighborhood, city, county and state  systems are valuable and rewarding

 

Mountain Trails and Basin Recreation maintain the trails in Summit County. We celebrate our trails with trail care days are we actively participant in National Trails Day.  There is a three person Trail Care Crew (Path-o-logists) who are on the trails from April through the end of the season.

 

All in all, one can see that this is a significant partnership between Basin Recreation, Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District, Park City Municipal, Summit and Wasatch County, Mountain Trails Foundation, our world class ski resorts and developers and all our most appreciated MTF members and contributors. None of this would happen without the collaboration of these entities all working together.

February 26, 2006