Porter Rockwell Trail 2013 - 52 photos
(Last update January 2014)
On October 11th of 2013 we tried out the Porter Rockwell Trail down in Sandy. This time it was me, Cheryl, Marlene, and two new friends we met via my web pages; Kendall and his daughter Sarah.
This was the first time for us. I had heard about it, but when checking it out a couple of years ago, what I found said it wasn't very long, only a few miles. Marlene told me that she heard it was 22 miles long, so I did some more checking and what I found varied a lot, anywhere from 5 miles to over 20. The majority of the websites said it was now about 10 miles long. One way to find out, go ride it, and that's what we did.
The north end of this trail starts at 8500 South in Sandy Utah, and runs south to a gravel pit above the freeway at Point of the Mountain in Draper Utah. My bike odometer showed it to be 11.8 miles one way. But we didn't start at the beginning. We couldn't find a place to park at the north end, so parked at 8800 South on the east side of the tracks in the UTA Trax Light Rail parking lot. I think starting from 8500 would make the trail about 12 miles long; round trip being about 24. We rode a little over 23 miles for our total.
This trail is quite different than most I have ridden. It runs along the UTA Trax rail for most of the way, and the street crossings combine rail crossings as well. The style gates at each street are different, and sometimes combine trail gates and rail gates together, which are hard to navigate on a bike. We had a bit of trouble with them, not being able to ride through without a bit of walking. Some have spring loaded swinging gates that someone has to hold open. Also the trail crosses from one side of the track to the other about 4 times, with no signs to show where the trail runs. There is a section between Sandy and Draper where there is no trail, and you have to ride the streets for a couple of blocks. No signs showing how to get through there, and it was quite confusing. Never-the-less, we were able to find our way. I had checked out the maps and satellite views before going, and that really helped.
This was the first time for us. I had heard about it, but when checking it out a couple of years ago, what I found said it wasn't very long, only a few miles. Marlene told me that she heard it was 22 miles long, so I did some more checking and what I found varied a lot, anywhere from 5 miles to over 20. The majority of the websites said it was now about 10 miles long. One way to find out, go ride it, and that's what we did.
The north end of this trail starts at 8500 South in Sandy Utah, and runs south to a gravel pit above the freeway at Point of the Mountain in Draper Utah. My bike odometer showed it to be 11.8 miles one way. But we didn't start at the beginning. We couldn't find a place to park at the north end, so parked at 8800 South on the east side of the tracks in the UTA Trax Light Rail parking lot. I think starting from 8500 would make the trail about 12 miles long; round trip being about 24. We rode a little over 23 miles for our total.
This trail is quite different than most I have ridden. It runs along the UTA Trax rail for most of the way, and the street crossings combine rail crossings as well. The style gates at each street are different, and sometimes combine trail gates and rail gates together, which are hard to navigate on a bike. We had a bit of trouble with them, not being able to ride through without a bit of walking. Some have spring loaded swinging gates that someone has to hold open. Also the trail crosses from one side of the track to the other about 4 times, with no signs to show where the trail runs. There is a section between Sandy and Draper where there is no trail, and you have to ride the streets for a couple of blocks. No signs showing how to get through there, and it was quite confusing. Never-the-less, we were able to find our way. I had checked out the maps and satellite views before going, and that really helped.
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These photos were taken with a Canon Powershot SX280 digital camera with wide angle to 20x optical zoom and 12 megapixels.
These photos are set to lower resolution and compressed 10:1 for faster loading. You are welcome to look at or download any of the photos. If you use them on any other webpage, please give credit and refer back to me.
These photos are set to lower resolution and compressed 10:1 for faster loading. You are welcome to look at or download any of the photos. If you use them on any other webpage, please give credit and refer back to me.