The trailhead is about 6 miles east of Wasatch Boulevard up Big Cottonwood.  When you reach the S curve in the canyon you will be about a mile and a half from the trail head.  The trail head is no longer marked, but you will see a large heavy steel gate across what may appear to be a private drive way.  There may be cars parked out front of the gate.  Some may have trailers behind them.  If there are several trailers out front you may wish to consider riding this trail on another day.  In several places the trail is very narrow and will not permit passage by two ATVs at a time.

The trailhead is little more than a wide spot on the south side of the road, so don't be surprised if you go right past it thinking, that couldn't be it. The GPS Coordinates for the Trailhead are: N40 38.183 W111 41.902

The Trail

There are really three separate sections of the trail.  The first is the approach from the road to the upper canyon.  The trail switchbacks several times crossing a creek on two of those occasions.  There is one place where two giant boulders have fallen from the edge of the mountain to the trail leaving an eye of a needle to thread your ATV through.  You will be glad your machine has flexible fenders.

The second section of the trail is the part that runs along the upper Mineral Fork valley. In the early spring a third stream crossing will be experienced, but late in the summer this stream dries up when the snow fall is mostly gone from the valley.  I would not recommend this trail before the 15th of May.  This part of the trail is a fairly steady climb though aspen grove and pine glen.  In the summer it will be profuse with wild flowers of many varieties and wild ferns.

The Wasatch mine is the most significant landmark in the valley, it marks the end of the OHV trail.  It is not recommended that you try exploring the mine.  It is known to have bad air and there is a polluted stream coming from its opening.  The pollution will be obvious, as there is an orange hue to the rocks along the edge of the brook that runs through the floor of the valley.  Don't drink from the stream either.  Who knows what else may be polluting the water?  Old time miners were known to use Arsenic to leach minerals from mine tailings

The third section of the trail starts at the Wasatch mine.  It may be explored by foot.  Ranger Michael Berry, Recreational Trails Manager for the WCNF, states that the trail beyond the Wasatch Mine is closed to OHVs.  From that point it begins climbing a 50 to 55 degree incline in short tight and steep zigzags.  The trail in this part of the canyon is composed of shale and baseball size rocks that make it difficult going for all but the very experienced hikers.  .

Difficulty:

A beginner will have a wonderful time on the trail up to the Wasatch Mine, beyond that it will be dangerous. 

We encountered several hikers, mountain joggers, and a bicyclist on the trail. They were appreciative that we pulled over and stopped our engines when we first saw them, so as to allow the dust to settle and not force them to eat it in our wake.  (We learned this courtesy in our ATV training course)  The best way to maintain our riding opportunities is to display and extend every courtesy to our less mechanized fellow travelers on the trail.

The elevation at the trailhead, according to my GPS is 6693, at the top near the Johnson Regulator Mine it is over 10,220 feet (according to the map).   We did not go clear to the top because the hike up the last part of the trail proved to be too difficult a challenge for one of us.

Ride Stats

Ride Distance 2.88 Miles to Wasatch Mine
Low elevation: 6727 feet at Trailhead
High Elevation 8683 at the Wasatch Mine
Difficulty: Beginner +
Ride Time 1.5 Hours

Sources

Wasatch Cache National Forest Salt Lake Ranger District Travel opportunity Map 1988

USGS Map is Mt. Aire and Dromedary Peak.  WCNF web site http://www.fs.fed.us/wcnf/slrd/mineral.html)

TRAIL PLANS  MAY CHANGE!

Five of the six present proposed management plans for this area will close this trail to all motorized travel.  This is a shame.  In fact it is the motorized travel on this trail that maintains it as passable for hikers and bikers.  It would be loss to everyone to limit this to non-motorized travel only.  Write your Forest Manager and let them know that this is a valuable and enjoyable motorized trail that will be a great loss to our riding experience.  The trails exist, there will be no cost to keep them open.

If you don't bother to voice your opinion this trail will close soon, so you'd best take your video along because it may be the last opportunity you have to see this unique area.

This is the only ATV trail presently open along the Wasatch front.  Please help us keep it open.

According to the USFS web site (http://www.fs.fed.us/wcnf/slrd/mineral.html) there may be a trail that you can walk over to Blanche Lake. This would certainly be a shorter and easier trail to Blanche Lake.

Disclaimer

Written 7-31-01