Brian Head: Bunker Creek & Dark Hollow
Brian Head used to be a yearly trip when I lived in Utah. I hadn’t run Bunker Creek or Dark Hollow for years, so I only had glimpses of the trails in my head, but enough to remind me that I wanted to ride there again….
After the Thunder Mountain run we headed to Brian Head to shuttle Bunker Creek. It was a perfect shuttle for the post Thunder Mountain ride since we could leave a car at the bottom on the way there.
The views from Bunker Creek trail are amazing. Bunker is a 10 mile descent with just a little bit of climbing thrown in before the real dropping begins. Mostly singletrack, but ends with the funnest double track you can imagine. Whoops, jumps, smooth and tech all on double wide trail. I always leave Bunker Creek smiling.
Dark Hollow is such a different ride than Bunker Creek. Hardly any climbing involved (a little for good measure), it’s all down, all technical, and all grins. The flow is ridiculous. It’s non stop for miles and miles. Speed is your friend as well as your foe… I was amazed at how fast I was burning down the mountain. Much faster than my last visit on my Avalanche many years ago. We took the original Dark Hollow trail with the Hendrickson Lake spur. They cut a new Dark Hollow a few years back. But I have never ridden it. I hear it is pretty tech too. Next time I’ll ride that…because there will always be a next time at Brian Head.
My one complaint with Dark Hollow is it ends all too soon at the Second Left Hand Canyon Fire road. Enduring the six miles of all down fire road is the most fun you will ever have on fire road…My gps shows me maxing out at 94 mph on one spot, it was probably more like low 40s though. You can keep 30 pretty consistently. If I ever try to break my record of 51 mph on my mtb, this will be the spot.
Call Georg’s Ski Shop & Bikes for a shuttle. Better to get more riding in and less driving all over the mountain. Thanks for the lift Georg!
Brian Head: Bunker Creek & Dark Hollow at EveryTrail
Map created by EveryTrail: Geotagging Community
A road ride through Brian Head would be cool in its own right, but as a mountain biker it would be crazy to pass up Dark Hollow in favor of pavement…
I recently drove through Brian Head and thought a road bike ride from Parowan to Brian Head and back would be really fun.