Biking at Lambert Park

Location: Home

Yesterday (Friday), I went biking at Lambert Park in Alpine just before dark. Lambert Park is a great place to go mountain biking. I have not been there for about 5 or 6 years, and somebody has really put lots of work into the trail system here since that time. The “park” itself has some fun bike trails that take you all along the eastern border of Alpine, Utah. Some of these trails are built in slalom-fashion and there are lots of whoop-de-doos, ups and downs, and turns. I can’t even say which one is my favorite because the trails are so varied and fun. I’m a person who likes climbing just as much as barreling downhill, but I noticed that the downhill parts of this bike park were built to be a barrel of fun. I arrived at the “rodeo” trailhead at about 6 PM. I knew there would not be much sunlight remaining, so I examined my map of the park, formulated a route, and tried to memorize the first part of the route. One nice feature of this bike park is that there are plastic and wooden posts with trail names mounted throughout the park. These signposts are an immense help when navigating your way around Lambert Park.

A trail signpost at the "Poppy" trail

There was a bike trail exiting from the south end of the Rodeo parking lot. I hopped on this trail and found myself on the Rodeo “Down” trail (there is also a Rodeo “Up” trail that is designed for uphill riding…I get to this later). This was an exciting beginning since I found myself on a trail that wound back and forth down a gulley. It was like gliding down a bobsled track! I then ran into the River trail and went along the entire length of this trail. The amazing thing I remember about the river trail was all the ups and downs. You would be cruising on a fast downhill run, reach the bottom of a gulley, and your momentum at the bottom of the gulley would take you to the top of a little rise, kind of like a roller-coaster. There were also some sections of the River trail that wound through wooded areas. As the river trail turned to the North again, it ran into the “Middle” trail. This trail is a great connector trail for the whole system, a well-built trail with not too much up and down.

A view of the mountains at the Poppy trail signpost

I took the Middle trail to the Poppy trail and climbed the Poppy trail until it connected with “Ziggy”. I rode East up to the top of Ziggy, hoping to catch the downhill section of Ziggy as it turned to the South and West. Toward the end of the Ziggy climb, however, the trail was blocked by a fortress of rocks. Here, I had to dismount my bike and ride along a fence until I found the section of the Ziggy trail that headed downhill. After some searching, I was able to find this trail. The Ziggy downhill was lots of fun as I went down in bobsled fashion until I arrived back at the Middle trail. I took the Middle trail North, passed the Poppy trail, and rode up the Ruin trail until it connected with Ziggy. From there, I rode Ziggy to the Corkscrew trail, planning on climbing to the top of the Corkscrew and then ride the Corkscrew downhill.

Looking up from a section of the Corkscrew trail downhill

However, after riding a half mile on the Corkscrew, I encountered a major obstacle—somebody dug a 6-foot trench perpendicular to the Corkscrew, piling a 6-foot pile of dirt all along my side of the trench. It would not have been pretty for me to try to climb across this trench with my bike, so I decided to find a way around the trench. I rode to the top of Ziggy to the wilderness boundary fence. There was a trail here that went along the fence and around the trench. I arrived at the other side of the trench, where I found a trail that reconnected with the Corkscrew. I then wound my way down the Corkscrew. It was a blast, though I would not categorize the Corkscrew as quite as exciting as the Rodeo Down or the lower Ziggy trails.

Looking down the Corkscrew trail

By this time, it was getting pretty dark, so I turned on my helmet light. From the bottom of Corkscrew, I was able to make my back to the Middle trail, where I rode up the Ruin trail again and then rode down Lambert’s Luge. I hopped on the River trail and made my way up to the bottom of the Rodeo trails. From here, I headed up the “Rodeo Up” trail. The Rodeo Up trail meandered around through some forested areas. By this time, it was very dark, and I had a little bit of difficulty telling where I was in relation to my car. However, I stayed on the trail as it continued to go up. I was glad that I had brought my helmet light so I could see my way around. After what seemed like a long time, I arrived at a sign that pointed to the Middle Spring trail. I looked at my map to try to determine where this fork went, and I could not quite tell from my map, so I decided to take this fork. I meandered through the forest on this trail until I came to a clearing and a sign that pointed to the Rodeo Down trail, just down from the parking lot. I had found my way back in the dark! I biked up the trail to the parking lot, where I found my car and took a picture of myself with the light on my helmet.

Back at the car in pitch dark at the end of the ride