Northern Utah Bountiful Canyon (Old Ward)

rockwell

Member
Location
Clinton
Hey guys, I tried doing a night run up Old Ward trail in Bountiful last night to test my new lights out. Looks like it will be closed to anything wider than an ATV for quite some time. This landslide happened roughly 1/3 of the way up and it looked like a 10’ drop to the steep hillside below.

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gertsch

Well-Known Member
Location
West Bountiful
There have been talks with dnr and fs about this issue. I'm not sure where its at, but hopefully we will hear something soon. especially since a guy attempted to drive past it in his jk and rolled down the mountain side.
 

Gravy

Ant Anstead of Dirtbikes
Supporting Member
It's a pretty bad washout. I'd say there's only 40"-50" of width left in that section. I wouldn't even run a ATV up without having to bank the sidewalk. No chance I'd run a UTV up that. It's a pretty nasty 200 ft+ downhill
 

Gravy

Ant Anstead of Dirtbikes
Supporting Member
I have had a conversation with Forest service and 3 seperate DNR officers and they're each saying it's the other's jurisdiction and more interested in giving tickets, harassing teenagers and stupid garbage then they are actually fixing this dangerous problem that has already injured a number of people and is preventing people from enjoying recreation in this area- they've expressed no intention or plan to fix this in the future.
Bureaucracy is beyond foolish sometimes.
 

moab_cj5

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
I have had a conversation with Forest service and 3 seperate DNR officers and they're each saying it's the other's jurisdiction and more interested in giving tickets, harassing teenagers and stupid garbage then they are actually fixing this dangerous problem that has already injured a number of people and is preventing people from enjoying recreation in this area- they've expressed no intention or plan to fix this in the future.
Bureaucracy is beyond foolish sometimes.
It doesn't surprise me. The wash out is on private property, so they aren't too motivated to fix it.
 

jeep-N-montero

Formerly black_ZJ
Location
Bountiful
The wash out is big enough that we can see it from our backyard and have watched it get worse with each storm it seems, a neighbor who rides up there a lot said it has been bad since around February. Even if they don't repair it they should at least post a sign down below and/or place boulders across the trail to limit it to bikes.
 

Kevin B.

Big hippy
Moderator
Location
Vehicular limbo
The quick way is to dig out the uphill, but that's just going to keep washing out. The right way is to shore up the downhill side and address the drainage issue that's causing the washout in the first place.

Gravy or somebody might be able to correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it's a sanctioned road, on the FS road map, with budget allocated for maintenance and repair. And getting it sanctioned might do more harm than good, in terms of the studies and red tape needed to make it official. On the flip side, if it's off the radar and the needed repairs are indeed on private property, maybe we get the owners permission and then talk @Chocflip201 or somebody into taking a skid steer and a bunch of guys with shovels up there and make it right and we don't have to hassle the FS at all.

Or, just leave it like it is and then we MTB dweebs will shuttle the shit out of it. I've always thought Old Ward had potential as a downhill route.
 
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