Where does the Mid-Mountain Trail actually end? KPCW reported in May 2025 that the trail runs 26 miles of singletrack from Deer Valley toward Kimball Junction, and that its northern edge ended in the Pinebrook trail system, which is private.
That has changed this fall. The Ranch to Ridge trail climbs from the Ecker Hill Park & Ride on Kilby Road, crosses Hi-Ute Ranch and joins Hunter's Trail on the Mid-Mountain. So for the first time, the Kimball side of the Snyderville Basin has a public way onto Park City's best-known ridge trail, starting from a parking lot many residents already use for the bus.
The trail is built but not yet officially celebrated, which makes this an unusual moment. How people ride and walk it between now and spring 2027 will affect what kind of trail the community ends up with.
Mid-Mountain's North End Used to Be Private
Before this connector existed, getting onto the northern Mid-Mountain from the Kimball side meant driving somewhere else or ending a long ride at a boundary you weren't supposed to cross. Building a public connection first required someone to protect the land it would cross.
In late 2024, the landowner donated 344 acres next to Ecker Hill to Utah Open Lands. KPCW reported that the nonprofit land trust put $35,000 toward building the connector. Basin Recreation District Director Dana Jones said the district pursued five separate easements to make the route possible, one of them from the Park City School District, which approved it in May 2025. Crews broke ground on July 1, 2025. Basin Rec Trails and Open Space Manager Phares Gines called it a likely two-summer project with a fall 2026 finish.
That forecast has mostly held. On September 3, 2026, Basin Recreation and Utah Open Lands issued a joint statement saying the trail is in its final stages of completion. They plan to celebrate it in spring 2027, once the trail has stabilized. KPCW's 2025 coverage called the project the Mid-Mountain Connector, and the 2026 statement calls it Ranch to Ridge. Both describe the same Ecker Hill-to-Mid-Mountain line across Hi-Ute Ranch on the same timeline, though neither source says outright that the two names mean the same project.
The Ranch to Ridge Trail by the Numbers
The trail sits in the foothills between Ecker Hill Middle School and Utah Olympic Park. The two main route-mapping sites measure it slightly differently, and the gap is small enough that either works for planning a ride.
| Measure | Trailforks | MTB Project |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 5.7 miles | 5.6 miles |
| Climbing | 1,430 feet | 1,476 feet |
| Descending | 115 feet | 151 feet |
| Elevation range | 6,352 to 7,667 feet | 6,357 to 7,681 feet |
Look at the climbing and descending columns. Going up from Ecker Hill, nearly every foot is uphill. Going down from Hunter's Trail, the same foot of trail is one long descent. MTB Project lists Ranch to Ridge as an intermediate, two-way, multi-use trail. Trailforks lists mountain biking, hiking and trail running, and marks dogs as allowed. Riders going up and coming down share the same narrow tread, and so do people on foot.
For e-bike owners, Basin Recreation's singletrack rules apply. E-bikes aren't allowed on Basin singletrack, with exceptions for qualifying Class 1 riders age 65 or older and riders with mobility disabilities.
Thirty Years of Groundwork
Ranch to Ridge came out of land conservation, and that history explains why its managers ask for more care than usual. According to the joint statement, the timeline runs like this:
- Mid-1990s: Utah Open Lands begins talking with landowning families about protecting connected open space.
- 1998: The Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District and Utah Open Lands secure the first trail easement, Hunter's Trail. That is the same trail Ranch to Ridge now joins at the top.
- Following years: More than 1,400 acres at Hi Ute Ranch are protected through a Summit County and recreation district bond, a landowning family's commitment to local wildlife, and a private fundraising campaign led by Utah Open Lands. The paved Millennium Trail Connection becomes the first trail corridor on that protected land.
- 2026: Ranch to Ridge reaches its final stages of construction.
Utah Open Lands describes Hi-Ute Ranch as sitting just west of Kimball Junction. The trail crosses land set aside for habitat first and recreation second. The partners put it this way in their statement:
"It traverses a protected area that has been set aside with public and private support to preserve ecological habitat values, traditional relationships with the land, and opportunities for public recreation."
Why the First Season Matters
People are already riding it. Trailforks shows rider reports on September 19, October 3 and October 5, 2026, with conditions logged as ideal, ideal and dry. Those are user reports, not an official ruling on access. The managers' own wording focuses on how to use the trail right now, and their main concern is the tread itself. "Shoulder season is here, and the freshly built trail can be especially susceptible to damage before it has time to stabilize," the joint statement reads.
New singletrack hasn't been packed down yet. Tire ruts and boot prints in wet soil are much easier to make on fresh trail than on tread that has been through a few seasons, and they last. That is why the official celebration waits until spring, after a winter of settling. Basin Recreation's general guidance is to turn around when mud starts sticking to your shoes or wheels. Its January 2026 update warned that walking or biking muddy trails damages both the trail and the open space around it, and advised using trails only when they are dry, frozen or snow-packed.
The second request is about parking. The joint statement asks users to start from the designated park-and-ride lot off Kilby Road and not to park at Ecker Hill Middle School, so the trail doesn't spill into the surrounding neighborhoods and school grounds. That lot is the Ecker Hill Park & Ride, which opened across Kilby Road from the school in 2018. Here is what you'll find there:
- Bus service: High Valley Transit Route 101, the Spiro / 224 Local, stops at Ecker Hill Park & Ride in both directions. Route 103b also stops there, but only in the morning.
- EV charging: HVT's park-and-ride listing shows eight public charging stations.
- Capacity: A 2024 regional park-and-ride study counted 358 spaces. At that time the lot had shelters and bike racks but no on-site restroom, so check current facilities before relying on any.
The bus stop matters more than it might seem. With Route 101 stopping at the trailhead, a resident near the 224 corridor can ride the bus to the trailhead and skip driving altogether.
Sharing the Ridge During the Moose Rut
Ranch to Ridge's first fall of use lands in the middle of moose rut. On September 23, 2026, TownLift reported that Basin Recreation was seeing more moose activity on and around Park City-area trails. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources warns that moose can get more defensive and unpredictable during the mating season. Territorial bulls are a risk, and so are cows with calves. The reminder followed a reported moose encounter on Rob's Trail in mid-September.
On a two-way trail that climbs about 1,400 feet with almost no descent along the way, turning around is the move that takes discipline. Basin Rec's guidance is clear:
- Don't approach a moose or try to pass it. Turn around and give it plenty of space.
- Keep dogs physically leashed wherever moose are around, even on trails where off-leash dogs are normally allowed. "Dogs can make an encounter escalate very quickly," Basin Rec said.
- If a moose becomes aggressive or charges, move away and put a tree or other solid object between yourself and the animal.
Basin Rec rangers are watching wildlife activity across the district, putting up signs and talking with trail users about encounters. On a trail that crosses habitat protected specifically for wildlife, that guidance fits what the land was set aside for.
Once the Snow Comes
Basin Recreation hasn't published separate winter guidance for Ranch to Ridge. Its general winter guidance says most Basin singletrack isn't maintained in winter but stays open unless posted otherwise. It points users to Park City Trails for current conditions. The district's listed November 1 to May 15 closure covers singletrack at the ski resorts, not this trail. The district's January 2026 advice still applies: dry, frozen or snow-packed is fine, and mud is not.
That leaves a short window. Until the ground freezes or snow covers it, the warm afternoons this month are when the fresh trail is easiest to damage. Utah Open Lands and Basin Recreation plan to celebrate the trail in spring 2027, after a winter of settling.
New trail access like Ranch to Ridge changes how a neighborhood works day to day, and that kind of detail is part of how Cindy Speering helps clients understand the Kimball side of the Basin, whether they live here year-round or own a second home they check on from afar. If you'd like to talk about how the trails, transit and open space around Kimball Junction fit your plans, let's connect.
