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Huntington Canyon/ Fairview
Canyon Summit
This route reminds me of another
great biking route to the east in Colorado, the
road over Grand Mesa. Neither one is marked as a
summit on maps, and both are great cycling
summits. When riding in lower Huntington Canyon
(on the east side), it may not seem that way at
first. The reason is possibly heavy truck traffic.
But the volume decreases drastically when
continuing a little further up the canyon,
especially during weekends. The striking
difference in climate and landscape between the
bottoms and top of this summit demonstrate the
fascinating variability of Utah.
From East. Starting up the Wasatch
Plateau from Huntington, this summit looks like
anything but a great cycling route. The reason is
traffic, coal trucks. 10 to 12 axle double
trailers frequent this road along with other
industrial traffic. However, there is a reasonably
good shoulder and the Utah Highway department has
not rendered it useless for cyclists by placing a
rumble strip down the middle. Thank You. But
please read on, things get even better. One reason
for the coal traffic becomes immediately apparent,
a monstrous power plant at the mouth of the
canyon, complete with "scenic overlook" onto the
plant, labeled as such. Apparently some state
officials not only deem this plant economically
advantageous, but also an aesthetic addition to
the landscape of rugged dessert bluffs. T From West. (also described upwards) The
town of Fairview at this end of the profile is a
striking contrast to the town of Huntington on the
other end. Instead of trailer parks and refuse,
manicured lawns and refuse turned into museum
exhibits line the wide mormon avenues. Beginning
with the first 100 yards, that Ut31 turns off
US89, the climb is relentless and doesn't take a
break below 8000 feet. The view ahead consists of
angular slopes, whose straight lines aim for a
vanishing point somewhere on the plateau. Once on
the plateau at around 8200ft, much climbing
remains to be done. Skyline Drive from the north
joins the route and continues with Ut31 to the
top. Astonishing views of the San Pete Range to
the west and the Wasatch range to the north open
up. These scenes have very different appeals
depending on the season, and make this my favorite
paved cycling climb over the Wasatch Plateau. An
initial false top before the real top is used as
parking lot not only by snowmobile motorheads, but
also by Crosscountry skiers and paraglide skiers
into April. In my experience traffic is very light
on this side.
( < Burma Road s(u) |
CR2040
Deep Creek Rd s(u) > ) same summit point: a few miles west of
Huntington Power Plant <> Ut31 west <>
Huntington Cny - Fairview Cny s(u) x2 <>
down Eccles Canyon << turnaround point in
Fairviev with a short detour > back to starting
point <> separat out and back on Ut31 east
<< turnaround point at jct with Burma Rd, in
order to connect with the previous days ride:
86.5miles with 7640ft of climbing in 7:47hrs
(r7:25.05.01)
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Approaches
raffic conditions
improve past the power plant, and after two more
coal mine turnoffs the industrial thoroughfare has
transformed into a lonesome country road. The
landscape undergoes equally drastic change to an
alpine canyon sculptured with straight edges into
changing plateau geology. A long shallow climb
finally picks up grade around 8200ft and climbs to
lakes frozen solid in April. It feels like the top
should be near, with passage between rolling
plateau knolls below overhanging snow cornices is
ahead, if it's April. Instead the road heads up
for the cornices and reaches a high point where
Skyline Drive ( a dirt route ) joins the road from
the south. Meanwhile the views to the north
stretch to where to Wasatch Plateau becomes the
Wasatch Range, appearing like a distant knife
inserted into the plateau loaf. There is now an
summit sign with elevation at the top. Descending
on this - in many places, shallow - climb still
requires substantial effort if there is a strong
headwind, even if it does loose 3500 feet.
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