A new hiking-only trail at Deer Valley Resort is giving hikers a fresh way up the mountain, and crews didn't take any shortcuts getting it built. The Anchor Trees Hiking Trail, which begins near the Daly West Mine headframe, was formally celebrated Oct. 6 with a public grand-opening hike after years of volunteer construction on a steep hillside above Montage Deer Valley.
Mountain Trails Foundation, Summit Land Conservancy and Deer Valley Resort invited the public to the noon hike, according to Park Record, which reported the trail is bookended by the 9K Trail and Mid Mountain Trail. Published accounts differ on exactly how long the route is: Park Record described hiking the trail up 1.3 miles and 800 feet of elevation gain to reach the 9K Trail and back, while KPCW put the Anchor Trees Trail at 1.5 miles and said it connects hikers on the Mid Mountain Trail to Big Cottonwood Canyon hiking trails. KSL News described the trail as measuring a little over 1 mile with almost 800 feet of elevation gain, and said it includes a stone staircase and several switchbacks on its way toward the Bloods Lake trail network and beyond.
Three Years of Hand-Built Trail Work
Mountain Trails Foundation called the project an ongoing volunteer effort to build a hike-only trail in Deer Valley's high alpine, according to the nonprofit's own project page. The organization said work was performed primarily with hand tools — pick mattocks, pulaskis, hazel hoes, McLeods and rakes — to construct new tread on a steep hillside. KPCW reported the nonprofit worked for three years to develop the trail before its Oct. 6 grand opening.
Per KSL News, Mountain Trails Foundation identified a need for more hiking options and approached Deer Valley and Summit Land Conservancy about the project roughly three years before it opened. Deer Valley owns the land the trail crosses, while Summit Land Conservancy manages a conservation easement along the alignment, and the two organizations signed off on the route together, KSL News reported. The outlet also noted that project donors funded the work, volunteers performed the labor, and technical experts assisted with the trail's more difficult segments.
Cutting Through Protected Forest Near the Empire Express
The trail runs through a conifer forest in Empire Canyon, in an area permanently protected by Summit Land Conservancy through a conservation easement, Park Record reported. It intersects the Mid Mountain Trail where the cables for the Empire Express Lift cross above Montage Deer Valley, the same outlet noted.
Instead of a traditional ribbon-cutting, project officials marked the opening by cutting a log with a chainsaw, according to KSL News. Deer Valley's Steve Campbell said the resort wants to provide more hiking-only trail opportunities and is considering additional hike-only routes, KSL News reported, while Lora Anthony said the trail lets leaf peepers enjoy a nice little hike as Utah's fall foliage draws residents and visitors to the Wasatch Back.
Easing Pressure on Trails Built Mainly for Bikers
KSL News reported that existing trails in the area primarily serve bikers, and that hiking options nearby have been few and far between — a gap the hike-only Anchor Trees Trail is meant to help close while reducing potential conflicts between hikers and bikers. Deer Valley now has five hiking-only trails, according to the outlet, reflecting demand for both hiking and biking at the resort during summer and fall.
Hikers can reach the trailhead from the Montage area, and visitors can also get there via the Park City Transit 9 Purple bus, which stops at the Montage, Park Record reported. Deer Valley acquired new terrain in 2023 that it has been converting into skiable terrain, according to KSL News, part of a broader pattern of expansion at the resort in recent years.
Part of a Bigger Season of Trail Building
The Anchor Trees opening lands amid a wider wave of trail construction across the Park City and Wasatch County region this fall. KPCW reported that new trails were also opening at Park City Mountain, including the lower Loose Moose section of the Silver Queen Trail, which debuted in September as a universal trail optimized for adaptive riders that also works well for upright bikes and is designed to pull bike traffic off nearby multi-use trails.
Beyond Park City, the Wasatch Trails Foundation manages more than 175 miles of trails in Wasatch County, most of them in Heber Valley, and is prioritizing connectivity between Wasatch and Summit counties, according to Singletracks. That outlet reported the group is studying a feasibility study for a trail system circling Heber Valley, and noted that the Tricky Pickle connector already links the WOW trail to Deer Valley Resort's East Village, tying into roughly 50 miles of multi-use trails in Deer Valley alone.
