Take What We Can Get
Now we've got your attention. Yes, we would really like more riding area, especially in this stretch of the Wasatch Mountains , but we'll take what's there because it's spectacular.
On day one of our ride up American Fork Canyon, we accessed the riding area from Utah Valley on Utah Highway 92. There are two parking areas on the west side: Tibble Fork and Pine Hollow (or as it's sometimes noted on maps, Mutual Dell). We parked at the Tibble Fork trailhead (the parking area is right next to Tibble Fork Reservoir-elevation 6,392 feet), which was about the only flat place we were all day. Bonus.
There are two groomed trails leaving from Tibble Fork, the 2.6-mile Trail J that leads to Silver
Lake Flat Reservoir and Trail D/Mill Flat-Tibble Fork, a 15.7-mile path that goes into Wasatch Mountain State Park and parking areas on the east side.
Don't be confused with Silver Lake and Silver Lake Flat Reservoir. Silver Lake is in the Lone Peak Wilderness while Silver Lake Flat Reservoir has a groomed trail leading to it.
Sledders need to pay attention to Wilderness boundaries while riding American Fork Canyon. Many of the popular off-trail riding spots go right up next to the Wilderness and it's the snowmobiler's responsibility to know where those boundaries are.
We followed the Mill Flat-Tibble Fork Trail to Mary Ellen Gulch, where we peeled off the trail and headed up the gulch toward even higher country. Up Mary Ellen Gulch is the old Live Yankee Gold Mines and Globe Mines with a few abandoned buildings (including an old outhouse that sits on the edge of a cliff, offering great views of the valley below and surrounding mountains).