Bike the Jardine Juniper Trail

The Jardine Juniper Trail is a nice hill climb, and worth doing just for the ride. At its end point there are great views, plus Utah's oldest tree, the "Jardine Juniper".

The first two miles, the trail heads straight up the bottom of the canyon, with some undulation and big rocks to knock you around. Although not as steep (on average) as the switchback sections that follow, this part actually seems like harder work because of loose rock, rough trail, and constant gear-switching.

You'll climb from sage-and-aspen valley bottom to a ridgeline thick with fir, maple, aspen, and fern. Temperatures at the bottom can be warm in mid-summer, but the higher areas are usually reasonable even at mid-day.

Once the trail turns back south, you're on a steady upward grade, gaining about 600 feet per mile. The trail is quite smooth here, so just drop into a low gear and grind on up. When you hit the Wilderness sign at mile 3.4, continue straight (right).

Near the top of the ridge, at mile 4.8, you can fork left to the shady north slope for a quicker arrival at the juniper, or you can climb further south to enjoy valley views before turning back towards the ride's main attraction. To the juniper turn-off, it's 0.8 miles if you keep right, 0.6 if you turn left...keep right.

If you kept straight (right) at the fork, you'll climb along the ridge, then turn back to the north before arriving at the turnoff to the juniper. Drop down to the right. The juniper is found 0.2 miles down some tight steep switchbacks. You can ride it on your bike, if you're good enough. There's some deep sand on a couple of turns that may bog you down as you struggle to climb back up.