How this new 1-mile Deer Valley trail connects hikers to a much larger system

PARK CITY — Utah's fall foliage continues to attract scores of residents and visitors alike, and there's now a new hiking trail in one popular section of the Wasatch Back.

A small group gathered at the lower end of the Anchor Trees Hiking Trail, where project officials spoke about all the work and collaboration that went into it before a chainsaw was used to cut a log to replace the traditional ribbon-cutting celebration.

The ceremony ended with a celebratory hike up to the top of the trail.

"It's a perfect time of the year. The leaf peepers can come out and enjoy a nice little hike," said Lora Anthony, executive director of the Mountain Trails Foundation.

The Anchor Trees Hiking Trail caters to the huge demand for hiking and biking during the summer and fall months with all the people staying in the area or traveling to the Wasatch Back, Anthony explained to KSL after the ceremony.

Most of the existing trails in the area are for bikers, but hiking options are few and far between. This can lead to potential conflicts between hikers and bikers.

Anchor Trees isn't very long, measuring at a little over 1 mile, but it packs a bit of a punch with an almost 800-foot elevation gain. A stone staircase helps with some of the elevation gain, along with several switchbacks.

It's also a key link from Montage Deer Valley to a much bigger trail network, connecting with the 9K and Mid Mountain trails above the ski resort section.

People can park in the Montage area or take Park City Transit's free 9-Purple bus, which stops at the resort. It begins south of the very visible Daly West mine headframe before getting hikers up to the other trails. From there, people can hike all the way to the Bloods Lake trail network and beyond through various other trails.

"Effectively, for 1 mile of connection trail, you open up hundreds of miles of hiking trails," Anthony said. "It was kind of a no-brainer, but … it was a team effort."

Planning began about three years ago because getting to Tuesday's opening took time and lots of coordination.

Mountain Trails Foundation saw the need and looked at the landscape to pinpoint a potential new hiking route. The organization then approached Deer Valley and the Summit Land Conservancy about it, needing them to sign off on it because the resort owns the land and the conservancy manages a conservation easement the alignment crosses.

It then required fundraising, with various donors stepping up to fund project costs and volunteers stepping up to carry out the labor in getting the trail made. Some segments were technical enough that technical experts assisted in completing the alignment.

The route technically opened a few weeks ago, but it took additional time for everyone's calendars to align for a formal celebration of it, Anthony said.

It's now the fifth hiking-only trail within Deer Valley's terrain, and more could be in the works. It's always looking for offseason opportunities for visitors, said Steve Campbell, ski and bike patrol manager for the resort.

Those could be located in other places on Deer Valley's land, such as the new terrain that it acquired in 2023. It's slowly working to convert into skiable terrain as part of a massive expansion.

"There is some desire for hiking-only trails, and as that trend continues, we want to stay up on it and provide that opportunity," he said.

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