The 2026 Utah Ride Challenge – a reason to ride the backcountry
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My Local Utah and Young Powersports are cosponsors
Young Powersports dealers, in cooperation with My Local Utah, are sponsoring the 2026 Ride Utah Challenge, giving you more reasons to ride. This is a series of 15 OHV trails that will give you a sample of Utah’s beautiful backcountry. The trails have been picked for Northern Utah, highlighting trails closer to home.
The Ride Utah Challenge pamphlet will be available in late April
These trails are compiled in a pamphlet that will be available at all six Young Powersports dealers and at My Local Utah by the end of April. The Ride Utah Challenge pamphlet will provide instructions for getting to the trail, a map, coordinates for the staging area, and a brief trail description.
Choose any five trails to complete the challenge
Choose any five of these trails to complete the challenge. Then go to any Young Powersports dealerships or My Local Utah, tell them which five you rode to claim your prize. The prize is a SWAG pack full of incentives to build into the program. SWAG stands for Stuff We All Get – an element of fun added to the Utah Ride Challenge. This year, there will be two SWAG bags – one from each sponsor to sweeten the pot.
These are descriptions of the fifteen trails being offered in the 2026 Ride Utah Challenge.
Hardware Ranch to Garden City
The trail – from Hardware Ranch, the trail goes north on the Laketown Road, passing over Curtis Creek and through the beautiful Wasatch Cache National Forest. Leaving the Laketown Road, you will follow Saddle Creek through Dip Hollow, then through a rock canyon with many interesting rock formations. The trail has a high point of about 8,500 feet, where we stopped for a break in the cool forest.
Reaching Highway 89, the trail goes under the highway and down into Garden City. There are several good places to have lunch and a raspberry shake. The round trip is 73 miles, and the riding time is 5½ hours. The trail is fast and easy. You can ride this trail from early spring to late fall.
Trail Details
Hardware Ranch staging area coordinates – 41°36’14.73″N 111°33’25.42″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Mill Hollow to Daniel’s Summit
The trail – from the staging area, take the highway to Mill Hollow Road. Turn right at the sign and follow the trail to the 10,000-foot level on a great trail over the mountain and down to Highway 40. Ride the highway for less than a mile to Daniels Summit for lunch at the grill. The ride is about 60 miles, and the scenery is great. The trail has a mix of easy and challenging sections.
Trail Details
Nobblets Creek Trailhead staging area coordinates – 40°32’33.99″N 111°05’43.50″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Silver Island Mountains
The trail – a perimeter road will take you on a loop around the mountain that includes three peaks – Volcano Peak, Rishel Peak, and Tetzlaff Peak. Pick any trail through these mountains. Several trails crisscross the mountain – these are more fun than the perimeter road. These trails are best taken in the spring or fall.
Trail Details
Staging area coordinates off exit #4 – 40°46’34.60″N 113°58’24.06″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Delle
The Trail – a fast, easy trail around Cedar Mountain. You will pass the Wendover Range, where the B-29 practiced bombing runs, ride part of the Hastings Cut Off pioneer trail, and, on top of a hill at the Lakeside exit, see a concrete navigational arrow. The trail is 91 miles long, and the time is less than 5 hours.
Trail Details
Delle staging area coordinates – 40°45’46.05″N 112°47’04.06″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
The Parrish Loop
The trail – ride the road out of the west side of the Bountiful B parking lot. When you come to a junction, turn left. The trail goes around the west side of the mountain. Watch for a sign marking the turnoff to the Parrish Loop. It will take on a fun loop down the mountain and back up.
Trail Details
Bountiful B staging area coordinates – 40°53’44.68″N 111°50’42.55″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Curtis Creek to Randolph
The trail – this trail goes north through some beautiful stands of pine and aspen. There are also some overlooks that are worth stopping for a break. Take the Lamb Spring Canyon trail for some extra fun and great scenery. This trail comes back to the main road at Roundup Spring. You will want to turn right, but that trail will not go to Randolph.
Turn left and then take the first right. This will take you to a four-way junction. The sign will direct you to Randolph, where you will come into town on the Old Canyon Road. There are two tracks for this trail. The other one turns left at the four-way. Take the next right. This comes to a junction where the New Canyon Road meets the Old Canyon Road and goes into town
Turn south on Main Street. Just past the city park on the left is Crawford’s Trough. This burger joint is worth stopping at for lunch.
There is very little room to park at the trailhead. I recommend parking at the Dry Bread Pond and riding the highway to the sign past Monte Cristo Campground that marks the Curtis Creek trailhead.
Trail Details
Dry Bread Pond staging area coordinates – 41°24’36.19″N 111°32’28.76″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Bountiful “B” or Farmington Canyon to Smith Creek Lakes
The trail – if you haven’t taken this trail before, you will be amazed that there is such a beautiful trail so close by. You can ride up Farmington Canyon, or you can stage from the Bountiful “B.” From the Bountiful side, you will see some amazing views as you travel around the west side of the mountain.
Although you start from different staging points, both trails will take you past the Bountiful Peak Campground and across Farmington Flats on a beautiful trail through the trees.
The Farmington Flats Trail comes out onto the road to the radar towers, where you will turn right and ride to the top. The view there is spectacular. You can see down into Morgan Valley on the east side, and the shores of the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island on the west.
The trail goes north to the three Smith Creek Lakes. The last one is a great swimming hole in August.
Trail Details
Farmington Pond staging area coordinates – 40°59’45.12″N 111°53’07.84″W
Bountiful B staging area coordinates – 40°53’44.40″N 111°50’42.10″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Mantua to Inspiration Point
The trail – take the Willard Peak Road south out of Mantua, and you can stage at Dock Flats. There is a junction near the top with a sign that has information about the work done in the 1930s by the CCC. Take the road south from the sign and follow it until it dead-ends at Inspiration Point. The view from there is worth the trip, especially at night.
Trail Details
Dock Flat staging area coordinates – 41°27’42.14″N 111°56’38.48″ W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Five Mile Pass to the Scranton Ghost Town
The trail – take the trail south from Five Mile Pass. You are looking for the mouth of Barlow Canyon. This is a fun trail that winds through the narrow gorge. Take the first right turn up the canyon. This will take you up to a mine access called an adit. It is a horizontal tunnel that goes into a mine. Rebar prevents access, but you can see for some distance into the mine.
Come down off this spur and go further up to the ghost town of Scranton. A steep trail on the left will take you up to a large mine shaft covered with rebar. A fun trail behind the shaft goes further up the mountain.
Trail Details
Five Mile Pass staging area coordinates – 40°14’13.95″N 112°09’45.58″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Coalville to Whitney Reservoir and Moffit Pass
The trailhead is 20 miles east of Coalville on Chalk Creek Road near the gas plant. There is a stone marker at the corner marking the square of land that Wyoming takes out of Utah. Parking is allowed along this road as long as you don’t block access to any of the fields.
The trail will take you to Whitney Reservoir through some great water crossings. From the reservoir, you can go west on a trail that will take you over Moffit Pass. The view from there is looking down into the Weber River Valley. From the top, it drops back down to the reservoir.
Trail Details
Stone marker staging area coordinates – 40°59’52.11″N 111°02’48.55″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
The Grassy Mountain Trails
The trail – this is a great place for fall and spring riding. Grassy Mountain features a nice mix of easy and challenging trails to ride when your favorite mountain trails are deep in snow. The trails that take you through the canyons in these mountains are worth the trip, and there are plenty of fast trails to enjoy. These trails are well-suited for side-by-side UTV machines.
Grassy Mountain is home to several structures called “guzzlers” designed to provide water for wildlife. A guzzler consists of a large sheet of corrugated metal with a slope that directs rainwater and melted snow to a storage tank for distribution. The staging area is off of I-80 at exit 56.
Trail Details
Gravel pit staging area coordinates – 40°46’14.42″N 112°59’16.20″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Eureka Mining Trails
The trail – from the city park, the trail goes behind Bee’s Hangout on a loop around the mountain. You will pass the foundation of the old Knight’s school, and evidence of a rich mining history. The trail takes you up Main Street and back to the park. You will pass Porter Rockwell’s home. The old jail is behind the city building. This is a good trail to take in the spring and fall.
Trail Details
Eureka City Park staging coordinates – 39°57’37.27″N 112°06’33.58″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Chicken Creek
The trail – go east on E 1st Street South out of Levan. Turn right at the T and follow the road for several miles. There are several places to stage past the rock quarry.
This is a beautiful mountain trail that goes up a canyon beside Chicken Creek. It goes over the mountain, into Wales, and turns north on Westside Road to Maple Canyon. Ride west up Maple Canyon through the campground.
You can follow my GPS track on the two branch trails – one goes through Log Hollow to Highway 132, and the other dead ends, with no access to Nephi. The trail makes a loop along a ridge, returning to Chicken Creek.
Trail Details
Chicken Creek staging coordinates – 39°32’55.94″N 111°48’44.05″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
The White River Loop
The Trail – from the Tie Fork Rest Area, go north over the railroad tracks and turn right, following the pole line road. Turn right at the T to Soldier’s Summit, then east beside the White River. This trail makes a loop in the mountains on the beautiful Strawberry Trails with a stop on Strawberry Peak.
Trail Details
Tie Fork Rest Area staging coordinates – 39°57’01.30″N 111°13’04.53″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
Cinnamon Creek
The trail – from the snowmobile parking lot on Highway 39, go north on a connector trail to Ant Flat Road. Turn right and ride for three miles, and turn west to the entrance to the Cinnamon Creek Wildlife Management Area. The trail goes around a pond and northwest toward Mineral Point.
Follow the ridge to the Point, and you will see some great views down into Scare Canyon on the left. The trail drops down the side of the mountain on several switchbacks to Cinnamon Creek. The trail crosses the stream several times before ending at the border of a church camp.
This is an in-and-out ride. The trail is only open from August to November, but the colors are beautiful if you catch them at their peak. There are some tight turns, but the trail is not difficult.
Trail Details
Snowmobile parking lot staging area coordinates – 41°24’39.77″N 111°35’01.77″W
Download and import into your preferred mapping app.
When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down, pick five, enjoy your rides, and pick up your prize.
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