The first 14 miles traveling from Park City was all downhill and fast. Once we got to mile 17 until near the end the trail is in very poor condition. The horses and cows have torn the trail up and it was extremely hard to ride. It took us 4 hours in no shade to complete the trip. You must be strong and have a very good mountain bike to be happy with this section of the trail. Also all the dead deer on the side of the road were stinky and rotting (I counted at least 20), The trail follows I-80 most of the way and it is okay, but a little distracting. Now get out and ride !

Slow upward grade from Coalville/Echo area to Park City., but not too steep. Since this is a Utah State park it would be great if more maintenance was done along the trail: cut back the vegetation overgrowth for example.
Overall, this is a great ride.

This trail is not asphalt and concrete it is mostly gravel with some asphalt. It is harder to do gravel and you need a different bike. So I think the description that you see needs to be fixed.

I rode this trail from the Wanship parking lot to Main Street Park City and back--I avoided starting at Echo based on some of the reviews I read on this site about the soft state of the trail by the reservoir. Based on my trip, I'd say at least 75% of the trail was dirt and a bit bumpy, and the last 25% nearest Park City is paved. If you are wanting a paved route I believe you'd need to start where the trail crosses 248, or if you just want only a little bit of dirt trail you could start at the Promentory/Star Pointe trailhead. I rode a hybrid bike, and although I felt I did fine there were definitely a couple patches where the trail was pretty bumpy or gravely or had gopher holes. That said I wasn't anticipating a super groomed trail so it was pretty much what I expected. Scenery is fantastic... some farm land and river life on the front end (beavers, deer, lots of birds), open West landscape in the middle, and Park City on the end. If you are going to do a to-and-back I'd definitely recommend doing it the way I did going uphill for the first leg and downhill on the second leg (especially if it's hot).

Although the trail goes through some really beautiful countryside, it is extremely rough to ride, runs almost continuously along Interstate 80, and has very little shade. We rode only about 10 miles, from Coalville towards Park City, then had to turn around because the bumpiness was wearing us out! We ride hybrid bikes, with front suspension, but it was still very, very jarring.

This is one of my favorite gravel rides. The downhill to Echo is fun, the return is a grind. Well worth the trip!

I rode this trail on Sunday April 10 and absolutely loved it. I round tripped the whole route, from Echo to Park City and back...a total of 52 miles. Here's what you need to know if you're going to ride it.

1. It's mostly unpaved and not in that nice, crushed limestone, Katy Trail sort of way. It's more like a ranch or a fire road along most of its length. Generally speaking, the 13 miles from Park City to Wanship are much smoother than the 13 from Wanship to Echo. The worst stretch is the 4 miles from Echo to Coaldale. If you eliminate that little bit, it's a pretty decent ride. This isn't suburbia. It's a rural trail through the American West.

2. There are some soft spots. Again, most of these are in the Echo-Coaldale section of the trail. On my return, it started raining pretty hard and it turned into a quagmire real fast. I rode on 26" x 2.75" Dirt Wizard tires and I'm glad I did. I think this route is much more enjoyable if you're on a bike that can handle the terrain easily. Everybody's different, but I would not attempt the full route without at least 2" of tire width under me. From Park City to Wanship, a hybrid or gravel grinder will probably work just fine for most folks.

3. A 2% grade sounds like no big deal but over many miles it slows you down and wears you down. I never used the big rings on my cassette, but it was a lot more work going uphill to Park City than it was going back to Echo. I rode back almost twice as fast as I rode out. If you're going to roundtrip this, it's probably best to ride uphill first if your circumstances allow.

4. It parallels a freeway for almost the entire distance. It's a rural freeway through the mountains and sagebrush flats, not an urban freeway. For much of the route, it's well above you so it's not as if you're riding with traffic. This is common in this part of the world. The bike routes over Vail Pass and through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado also parallel freeways. Yes, there's a little bit of noise but don't let that discourage you. The views are incredible along most of the route.

If you live in a city or the suburbs like most Americans do these days, you're probably used to well manicured trails with themed signage, benches, beautiful trailheads, etc. This is not that. If you come expecting that, you're likely to leave disappointed. If, on the other hand, you come expecting to be wowed by the awesome, simple beauty of the American West, it will be a day well spent. I will be back. Five stars.

It was interesting to know that we were riding on or near where the railroad really went to take people out west. We have been travelling from west to east and have been very interested in the pioneer trails and railroad ways.
We entered the trail at Wanship and headed E. Very good signage to get us to the parking area. The trail was very rough... it appeared that it had recently been graded so it was gravely and mushy in spots. The trail runs along Interstate 80 which was a little obnoxious, but the signs along the way were very interesting.The scenery and pastures, streams and small communities were great!
It was very exciting to us to know we were travelling the same route as so many who came before us, heading to the West to find gold,or ???

Biked this trail mid August 2012. There a number of soft spots which our hybrid bike tires did not like. Due to reading about puncture vines I was "instructed" not to run over any sort of grass. There was LOTS of "grass" stuff so I spent the entire time dodging patches of green stuff. We did not get any flats and didn't see anything that would contain thorns. I would not recommend this trail for hybrids. It was OK. A bit boring as far as scenery-some parts were nice. We were told there was one place to eat, I think in Wanship. It was closed down and so you better take your lunch with you. The trail is wanting for a lot of TLC. Maintenance is lacking.