Utah’s world-class terrain has made it a well know spot for mountain biking. Redbull Rampage is hosted here and is one of the largest freeride events in the world. Between Moab, Virgin, Green River, Richfield, and Salt Lake, there are a lot of places to mountain bike in Utah.
Mountain Biking And Camping In Richfield
One of our content creators, AJ Cutler, took a van down to Richfield, Utah in October 2022. Spinal Tap is the newest and most popular trail in the area. Nineteen miles top to bottom, and there is a dirt road nearby for an accessible shuttle. So yes, you can shuttle Spinal Tap. There are also campsites along this dirt road and others nearby in Richfield, so you can easily camp out overnight and get an early start the following day. In addition to Spinal Tap, Richfield has 28 trails with a distance of 57 miles, 28 designated just for mountain biking. One of the reasons AJ and others like Richfield are how few people are there compared to more popular tourist destinations such as Moab or Fruita. If you are looking for good mountain biking without the crowds in Utah, we highly recommend Richfield. You can see AJ’s vlog from Richfield below.
Camping at Redbull Rampage
One of, if not the biggest mountain biking freeride events in the world is Redbull Rampage. Riders and crew come to Virgin Utah each year and turn the side of a mountain into a downhill freeride course. Redbull sells tickets to watch the event and camp on the site but don’t worry if you can’t get a camping spot because there is plenty of free camping nearby. One of the content creators for VanCraft, AJ Cutler, attended in 2022. She said the VanCraft campervan made the experience much nicer since she could shower at the site and quickly get set up for nighttime. The camping area is connected to the event by an ATV shuttle, while the nearest hotels are around 20 minutes away in Springdale. The distance makes camping a much better option if you are trying to get to Redbull Rampage early.
How to Find Mountain Biking Trails
We use Trailforks almost exclusively for trail research. I start by opening their map, filtering for mountain bike trails, then viewing the area I want to ride. If you prefer a certain type of trail (downhill, cross-country, etc.), you can add that to your filters. Next, I view photos and videos of the trail to see if it has features I like to ride. Because of the large community, Trailforks can create an extensive library of photos and videos for trail systems. This community also keeps the trail conditions up-to-date on the platform. The TrailForks app tracks rides and stats. Users can see speed, distance, climb/descent, and what trails they ride. These features can be useful when riding in an area with many trails.
