Left Fork Bunker Creek

Left Fork Bunker Creek

	Left Fork Bunker Creek
Location:	Utah
Nearest Town:	Brian Head
Directions to Trailhead:	Go to Brian Head Resort. Either ride to top of mountain or (even better), get a car shuttle from one of shops in town. They'll drop you off at summit, and pick you up at the end of your ride (they even gave us a calling card to call when we were finished!)
Trail Description:	The best trail I've ever ridden (and I've been riding for 10+ years in quite a few areas). Awesome technical single track that winds through high alpine tundra, meadows, aspen forests, and past alpine lakes and herds of elk. Mostly intermediate ride, with a couple of steep, loose sections to keep you awake. If you add on the loop to Lowder pond (highly recommended), you throw in a 2 mile climb on fire road.
Trail Length:	15-20 miles
Trail Type:	Singletrack
Skill Level:	Advanced
Submitted By:	John Puziss

Bikeman from NC Date: October 1, 2001 Trail Ridden: Ridden Once
Recommended Route: Get shuttled for this one guys and just head downhill. Many shops and options in Brian Head for this. Other recommended trails in the same area: Blowhard, Lowder Ponds, Green Valley, Stucki Springs
Review: Very scenic and fast downhill. Great views up top and within thick woods in the middle before bailing out to the old dirt road at the end. The loose sections will keep you alert along the way. Beginners can ride this but they must go slow in sections and walk a few rocky areas in the middle of the ride. Once on the dirt road turn it loose!	Overall Rating:

stan paoli from arlington , tx, usa Date: July 15, 2000 Trail Ridden: Ridden Once
Recommended Route: get map from bike shops in brianhead. you can either ride this as a "point to point" from the top of "brianhead peak" or as an "out and back" off of hwy 148 outside of town of brianhead. Other recommended trails in the same area:
Review: this is a fun trail especially if you take the shuttle and ride it from the top.......it's mostly down hill! it is double track, single track, fire road and pavement (at the end to the hwy). you actually have to options on this trail when you are going down hill "left fork" (which really goes to the right) and "right fork" (which really goes to the left). there are some fun techinal parts, some sweet single track and on the fire road there are some washouts (bumbs) that are a blast to get some air on. all and all a fun trail for strong beginners/intermetiate riders.	Overall Rating:

Rick from San Diego, CA Date: July 3, 2000 Trail Ridden: Once a year
Recommended Route: There are 2 shuttle services in town (that I saw)one at Georges, the other at the Brian Head Resort, we used the one at the resort. The cost was $12.00 per person for the ride up to Brian Head Peak, then back up 13 miles from Panguitch Lake. Other recommended trails in the same area:
Review: The shuttle people have easy to follow maps, so the ride is pretty much taken care of, as far as directions go. This ride was as much fun as I've ever had on a bike. The Aspin trees are something that we don't have in So. Cal., so the whole experence was wonderous. The ride begins at over 10,000ft so be ready to suck for O2, and there are a couple of small uphills to remind you of the altitude. Also be aware that you might have to wait for another group (2 person minimun for the shuttle) to come down before you get your ride back up. You can check out the impressive skined/stuffed mountain lion collection in the cafe at Panguitch Lake. Lastly, there is only one motel in the Brian Head area, the rest are condos I would highly recomend that if you want to spend the night in Brain Head, call in advance for reservations, there is camping at Panguitch Lake, and inexpensive lodging in Cedar City.	Overall Rating:

Paul from Salt Lake City, Ut Date: May 14, 2000 Trail Ridden: Once a year
Recommended Route: Park at bottom of road and do a loop of either up left fork and down right or vice versa. Other recommended trails in the same area:
Review: Shuttles are for wimps. This ride deserves to be climbed and descended. It rocks. The scenery was great. It is up there in elevation so the climb might intimidate the weak hearted but it is well worth the effort. It is definately an alternate destination to Moab, but it is a different kind of riding.	Overall Rating:

Alan from NC Date: April 19, 2000 Trail Ridden: Every few months
Recommended Route: Go to the bike shop and figure it out. Other recommended trails in the same area: Blowhard!
Review: An awesome trail... make sure you have the right maps or it can b somewhat confusing when thay close trails for logging... Brianhead kicks Moab's ass! Anyone that rips on Brianhead doesn't know there ass from the elbow.	Overall Rating:

Vaughn from Denver Date: December 20, 1999 Trail Ridden: Ridden Once
Recommended Route: Other recommended trails in the same area: Blowhard, Dark Hollow, and Bunker Creek seem to be the classic shuttle trio. Could do them all in one day if you wanted.
Review: Fast, especially the middle section thru the trees. Clipped a few aspen with my shoulder, think I'd learn after one time. Gotta keep up! Can get scary fast. Definitely a downhiller mentality run, which I certainly enjoy, but it would also be a decent cruise up the hill...if you knew you weren't going to get pasted by a fast moving body. I'd be afraid to climb on a busy weekend. I would be disheartened if I were a local rider seeing how the resort sponsored shuttle service has massively increased access to previously quiet trails that are now getting a big pounding. Lot more stutter bumps, ruts, and widened trail than I remember from my last visit in '93. I hope that the shuttle interests are putting money and trail work back into those trails. Blowhard definitely had some new trail added circumnavigating the CedarBreaks, was great. I just hope the resorts helped out with that trailwork. But that out of the way, I don't feel so retro and Puritanical that I won't shuttle. I guess it is all relative, even the busy 4th of July weekend at Brian Head was quiet compared to any regular day out at any of the usual Colorado Mountain Resorts. We should be thankful Brian Head has a sorry ski area or it would be overrun more often by people like me.	Overall Rating:

dave from vancouver canada Date: November 11, 1999 Trail Ridden: Ridden Once
Recommended Route: Take the I-15 to Brian Head Other recommended trails in the same area: Blow Hard. Go to Brian Head. For dinner, go to the Pizza Factory in Cedar City, say hello to Melanie for me, she's a cutie.
Review: This trail is pretty good, but don't think about it if you don't have front suspension. I did it with a stiffy, and oooh, it hurts so bad. It wasn't that great of a trail anyways. I mean, BrianHead is hard to beat all around, but seriously, BlowHard is the best up there, Dark HOllow is OK, but bumpy too. It gets to the point where you start thinking, "who put all of these bumps in here?" There's a pretty fun road to ride, and it just keeps going downhill. IF you are on a stiffy, do blow hard, the best trail.	Overall Rating:

DrHog from Las Vegas, NV Date: October 13, 1999 Trail Ridden: Ridden Once
Recommended Route: I would say to do some riding up and around Brian Head before doing the downhill. It was over too quick for me. Other recommended trails in the same area: Uh...Moab anyone?
Review: I was primed to have the downhill of my life based on all that I had read. Verdict? Good, but not great. This is the first time I had done the shuttle thing, and I prefer to buy my downhill with some climbing. As for the downhill, the single track section was fun, but is a little bit too rough to get speed on. Probably more fun on a mega-travel DH bike. My main beef was when I got half way down the ride, and the singletrack ended! It was 15-20 minutes of high speed cruising on dirt/paved road. Since this didn't earn my "Top Downhill" award, here are my nominations: Little Bear/Schultz Creek in Flagstaff, and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in South Tahoe.	Overall Rating:

Alex from Ogden Date: September 21, 1999 Trail Ridden: Ridden Once
Recommended Route: Other recommended trails in the same area: Thunder Mountain Trail.
Review: The trail was a blast!!! Lots of jumps and high speeds. I got a months worth of downhill practice in one run. Since we had enough cars and racks to shuttle ourselves, we went back to the peak and did another run. The guys who went with us also expressed previous frustrations of using the shuttle service, that's why we planned the logistics beforehand for shuttling ourselves. Less waiting, more riding, and less $$$$$$$$!!!!!!	Overall Rating:

John Brady from Boston Ma, Date: August 26, 1999 Trail Ridden: Ridden Once
Recommended Route: Top to bottom. It's the only option Other recommended trails in the same area: Panguitch or Cedar City
Review: I went in September of "97" and it was a great quiet place.I few things did annoy me about the area itself.1 like everyone said it's a down hill kind of place and the rides are excellent.The problem is you get to the bottom in 45 minutes,then you have to wait for a shuttle.Then when the driver picked us up he said we had to wait for another group of riders.An hour latter they should up,so we ended up baking in the valley sun for about 2 hours.On the way up the shuttle driver told us we had to wait a while to hook up for another ride.I said,"Hey,we justflew all the way from Boston to ride not to wait around for your convenience"he said if we didn't like go somewhere else and thats what we did.We went down to Panguitch to a bike shop called Mountain Bike Heaven and they hooked us up with great rides that you don't have to depend on a shuttle for. If you like down hill and plan on doing 2 rides a day than this is your kind of place.If you want to do 20 or 40 mile loops go elsewhere like Rossland B.C. or Moab	Overall Rating:

Corey Greenlaw from Ellensburg, WA Date: February 7, 1999 Trail Ridden: Once a week
Recommended Route: Same as recommended. Other recommended trails in the same area:
Review: I worked at Brian Head for a couple of years and it is the perfect alternative to get away from the heat of the other southern Utah destinations. It has a great amount of diversity and terrain. I loved this trail! The views are outstanding and the ride was fairly long. I loved the single track through the aspens and the jumps on the jeep trail at the end is awsome. I loved it a little too much and broke my ribs on one of the jumps. I would recommend this trial to anyone.	Overall Rating:

BJN from Salt Lake City Date: December 29, 1998 Trail Ridden: Please Select
Recommended Route: See the other reviews for route details. Other recommended trails in the same area:
Review: If you live for downhills, you'll like Brian Head, provided you get your shuttle service lined up before you ride. I prefer riding up what I ride down, but riding up the steep paved road in Parowan Canyon wasn't a very good prelude to the downhill ride. There are much better places to ride in the area, unless you're a shuttle sloth.	Overall Rating:

Tom from SLC, UT Date: November 30, 1998 Trail Ridden: Once a year
Recommended Route: same as given Other recommended trails in the same area: Red Canyon area trails east of Panguitch.
Review: I think "Pissed Off" must have had an extraordinarily bad experience there that he's not telling of. I would agree that it's slightly overrated (trails in the Wasatch are better and closer), but it's still a great place to go if you want to leave town. One complaint is that Brianhead all seems geared towards pleasing the downhillers. I was only there a weekend and didn't find anything that I could make a good loop out of without hitting a lot of pavement. Maybe it exists but I didn't find it. That's the only reason it gets only 4 stars from me. The downhills are first rate.	Overall Rating:

pissed off from Salt Lake Date: November 21, 1998 Trail Ridden: Every few months
Recommended Route: none, Don't ride it Other recommended trails in the same area:
Review: Brian Head is the most over rated mountain bike spot on the planet. I have read all the reviews about it and was very disappointed when I finally rode it. Don't believe the hype, for great mountain biking that isn't overhyped go to Dear Valley.	Overall Rating:

tim bugbee from north andover, ma Date: October 26, 1998 Trail Ridden: Once a year
Recommended Route: arrange for a shuttle! unless you enjoy pounding pavement, and lots of it. Other recommended trails in the same area: we did a lot of fun trails in the brian head area. other ones i'd recommend are the dark hollow, sidney peaks, blowhard mountain (some incredible exposure on one part of that trail), and red desert (more scenic than exciting singletrack, but fun nonetheless).
Review: this trail is possibly THE best trail i've ever ridden, and i've been fortunate to ride some great terrain. dark hollow got a lot of talk about being tops, but i thought that either fork of bunker creek blew it away, preferring the right fork to the left fork (they overlap a lot). after you go start at the top and bomb through some fast, twisty sections and do a mild climb (but at this elevation, it doesn't feel so mild!), you'll come to a small parking area. cross over that, and head to the bunker creek trail heads. i think that the spruce trail is near here too, but we didn't do that one. the bunker creek forks are really fun, tight, twisty, switchback laden trails that seem to go on for ever. some great aspen groves to go through, a couple water crossings, some fast, sometimes off-camber stuff to deal w/. you can push the limits since it's all downhill, but be careful not to hit a tree, and i'm sure it's happened in the past. once you leave the singletrack and try to get the permagrin off yer face, you hit a great doubletrack section filled w/ tons of whoops to fulfill all those brian lopes fantasies. after that, a short climb awaits you, then it's more fast doubletrack in the woods. check out the huge rocks off the trail, in the woods. a couple miles later you're at the road, where hopefully a car or van is awaiting you.	Overall Rating: