Biking to Utah lake

11-10-2024

Tags: biking utah
Reading time: ~2 mins.

It wasn't long ago I found out that the Jordan River Parkway Trail in Utah is the longest paved urban trail in the United States (the bold "urban" was not a mistake; there are longer trails in the US that aren't urban 😂).

Some websites say it's 45+ miles. Some say it 60+. I wonder what the discrepancy is there? Anyway, you can go from Utah Lake all the way to the Great Salt Lake in about in a 58 mile stretch of it. I would love to make that trek someday on my bike, but I decided I would first make an attempt to bike from my house in east Sandy to Utah Lake and back.

Part of the journey would just be heading straight west until I reached the JRT, about 6 miles, and the remainder 21 miles would be on the beautiful meandering trail that's fully away from car traffic, aside from a few crossing on the way.

I had planned to take a bus or Frontrunner (our commuter rail system) part of the way back in case I didn't feel like biking the entire length, but due to poor planning and the lack of service on Sunday, I missed both the last train and bus.

I want to say I was up for the challenge, but by the time I got to Utah lake, the sun was already setting and it started to get really cold, really fast, which I was also unprepared for.

I did have my bike lights with me, which helped illuminate the trail and made for a really awesome and different experience on the way back. But man, was I cold.

I did make it back home safely, covering just over 54 miles in 5 hours and 20 minutes. The journey on the way back was undoubtedly the slowest; partly due to trying to reduce the wind chill, and partly because JRT to my house is mostly just hill climb.

Unfortunately, the cold caused a pretty bad flare of dermatitis all over my ears and scalp... but I still think that the trip was worth it! How else would I have been able to get this awesome picture?