Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah - Video

 They post this without even knowing a single thing about the history of this trail!! This trail is one more pink bike video away from being shut down to bikers. Save our canyons posted this week about it--completely trashing mtber's and there are always complaints about biker/hiker head on collisions. Please think before posting this video. This isn't some secret shredding gem. It's a trail loved by the neighborhood locals (me) and needs to be ridden with care. Saturdays are full of kids (mine) and you need to watch out. This trail needs no marketing. It will only get it shut down. Post something about corner canyon or PC please.

Half the crap ridden in that video is illegal. What they didn't show you in it is the 10 angry hikers you encounter on every decent ready to club you.

First PC instagram, then mtb enthusiast on facebook, now pink bike. Social media at it's finest.

 Great trail but if you want a good long constant descent that you don't have to worry about smashing in to hikers and can carry good speed through, look elsewhere (Draper DH, Bountiful DH, Empire DH etc). SO disappointed that PB would pick this trail to highlight as there are so many better options in the Wasatch Front! What about a good write up and video about Crest, Flying Dog, Armstrong, Mid MTN etc. I will give credit though, the short article that was done about Arcylon last week was spot on. We need more articles like that!

 F*ck you Pinkbike! Seriously take this sh#t down. This seriously could be the straw that breaks the camels back and gets this shut down.

 And as a sidenote, I spoke with FS peeps years ago about this trail. They related to me a day when they tried to have a conversation with DHers when coming through the campground. But instead of being mature and responsible, 100% of the bikers that day rode by at warp speed and flipped off the FS personnel (per their report to me). That's when they gave up on a meaningful conversation on the issue and hacked ~20-30 trees down to close the upper trail.

Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. Let's be a bit more intelligent.

 Another local here.

Clearly the Forest Service (FS) is aware of this trail, BUT if there aren't user conflicts and peeps don't try and build an Ewok village (I.E. ladders, wooden stunts, etc), I've been told the FS will let it lie (unofficially of course, no guarantees).

The 1 thing I appreciated with the vid was where the trail started. Riding above this area causes (and has historically caused) problems when riding through the campground.

Above all, please ride with courtesy and caution. Don't piss people off. And especially when on the main (legal) trail, don't chase a KOM.

This is one of my favorite rides, so be good. Thanks for your support. That is all.

 To the esteemed "cinematographers" - This is my local ride and I (and many others) don't appreciate the blatant media coverage. If you want to film nifty videos in the interest of self promotion, please don't use a sensitive and controversial trail to do so no matter how rad it is. Not to be harsh, but this is a 3ish minute mediocre video loaded with cherry-picked slo-mo. Is it worth sacrificing trail access for whatever nonsense gain you might see from this video?

 Get a freaking clue Pinkbike!!! Take down this post!!! Take a look at all these comments. This kind of video is the absolute last thing that this trail needs. It's a real shame to put a trail's access at risk for a little bit of shameless self promotion. @joncracroft get with the program, take this down!

 First off, my deepest apologies to everyone. I obviously made a huge mistake by creating a video about this trail. I’ve taken down all videos and info associated with this LCC video where I can. I’m still working on a few shares that I don’t have control of but will eventually get handled. I want to see this trail stay open. I would hate to see it closed, especially because of any un-needed attention I brought to it with this video.

I'd be happy to talk individually with any of you if you feel there is more to be said. If you’re interested in how this mistake happen keep reading. If not, again my apologies. -Jon

Laying a little foundation seems relevant...I grew up in SLC, I was given my first real mountain bike when I was about 14 years old. I’ve biked just about every trail in and around the valley and the Wasatch Back I could find. And I've travel a lot around the state and the West to bike. I love mountain biking and being outside. Little Cottonwood has always been a special place to me. I learned to ski at Alta when I was 2 years old and have maintained a season pass since then. I’ve hiked most of the trails on the mountain and in the canyons. I’ve camped at many of the upper lakes, and summited several of the peaks. I’m general aware of what’s going on in the area, but obviously blew it on this one. I’m active in the discussions regarding Ski Link/One Wasatch, resort development, The Wasatch Accord, etc. That said, I should have known better. What’s been said is true, I only started riding the upper section of LCC about 4 or 5 years ago. So am I poser? Well you can think what you want, but I don’t think so. In that time I have never seen a closed sign or any type of FS sign indicating it was closed or illegal. I’ve spent hours in the spring moving downed-trees from the winter snow and shifting rocks back into place where needed. I’ve never build any features but just tried to maintain what was there. I had no ideas about the handshake agreement between the FS and the riders. I don’t want to make excuses though, I realize I screwed up on this. I’m not part of the core Cottonwood Heights/Sandy LCC community, but I respect what has been said. And I hope to be able to contribute to keep our trails open and not cause any harm.

For nearly 20 years I’ve been an outdoor and action sports photographer. I recently got into film making. I was asked early this summer to make a video by a local marketing company that would get people stoked to ride. They asked for something fun, fast paced, and beautiful. Naturally LCC was top of mind because that’s where I’ve spent so much of my time playing. It was unfortunately never realized amongst our group that there were sensitivities about the trail, not during planning or shooting the video. We even ran into several people on the trail while filming and no one said a word. We shot the video and had a good time doing so. We feel we put together a good edit showing some of the highlights of the trail and the surrounding beauty. Knowing what I know now, I’m totally fine letting that hard work go down the drain. I’d much rather protect the trail and it’s access than have our work seen. There are plenty of other bike videos to be made and I’m already moving on to the next. Moving forward I’ll be doing more due-diligence and making sure to not disrupt any local sensitivities. If any of you want to work on, or be part of upcoming videos please contact me. Again, my regrets and apologies. -Jon

 Rode Little Cottonwood DH on Saturday, just a couple of days ago, and the entrance from the canyon rode had been blocked by tons of trees purposely cut to block the entrance. Walked over them and got to the concrete slab at the top of the trail and there was a ton more cut down trees to block access to the trail. Potential for this trail to get shut down seems likelier than many would think.

 Take this down! Blowing up local trails to increase web traffic and make money is ruining biking and many awesome trails get shut down because of stuff like this!

 ....and when they shut down this trail to bikes because of knobs & d-bags using it for shuttle runs, that will be one less trail on the Wasatch Front to ride. Stick to Corner Canyon, Draper Downhill & the Park City area, idiot!

 Pinkbike please take this down!!! I will echo the sentiments by many of those on here, this trail is already in jeopardy of being shut down. Please don't get into the business of shutting down trails just so you can make a "cool" edit.

 This is a new low @pinkbike. If you weren't already aware of the history and sensitive nature of this trail, this comment section should give you a pretty good idea. Mountain bikes are already unwelcomed guests as far as the forest service in Salt Lake is concerned. We're not going to have anything left the rate social media is going this summer. This is a truly unique trail in the Wasatch; we can't afford to lose it @joncracroft. I hope building up your portfolio was worth losing access to one of the only quality rides in the Wasatch. Do the right thing here and take this video down.

 The trail shown on Trailforks is not really this trail, but the lower trail. The real DH trail has been kept off of Trailforks. The Quarry trail shown above, is a trail that has been there for years, as posted on UtahMountainBiking as the "Little Cottonwood Trail" or often called "Temple Quarry Trail". It has been posted on many mountain bike trail websites, the one on UMB has been there since 1999. Other MTB sites have posted videos of illegal trails by the Bountiful B, which also are left off of Trailforks deliberately. I imagine PB is just doing their best to find interesting bike videos, and a video of a "hidden gem" that someone put some editing work into.

As long as we don't post the actual "Legalish" trail location and access information, and just show a video of random rocks, it is probably not that big a deal. You can actually find the real trail, and all the illegal tech lines right on Strava. Why is it that nobody beats them up about posting every illegal trail out there? According to the description above, it includes Snowbird and the Quarry trail below, it really doesn't say anything about the rocky goodness in the middle. I live here and ride that trail too, and I didn't drop a load of mud in my pants when I saw this, it was more like, "yah, that's LCC, no real location information, meh"

 It happens like this. Complaints are filed by hikers or other users, often landowners. They go to their Congressman who if swayed can lobby the federal government for direct action. If they cannot sway state government, they go to a legal defense fund like the NRDC or the Sierra Club who hire scientists to do environmental impact surveys. For example bank erosion or other disturbance of the stream bed might be found to impact spawning fish or other species of interest. They use this data to force the state and federal governments to do their own Environmental Impact Report. That can be enough to get the trails closed.

 Yep, I remember about 3-4 years ago the Forest service shut down the upper DH part, the part that is actually illegal. I heard their reasoning was because "its an illegal trail, the builders know nothing about soil conservation." The way they close it by taking a chainsaw and falling multiple trees across the trail... I am glad they know something about soil conservation. Then it takes about a year to get the trail running again.

 I remember about 3-4 years ago the Forest service shut down the upper DH part, the part that is actually illegal. I heard their reasoning was because "its an illegal trail, the builders know nothing about soil conservation." The way they close it by taking a chainsaw and falling multiple trees across the trail... I am glad they know something about soil conservation. Then it takes about a year to get the trail running again.

 for f*cks sake take this video & post down. these kids are doing exactly what is going to shut this trail down! f*ck.

 At the risk of giving this trail more exposure, this is still a problem. I've spoke with the maintenance crew and they are aware and have knocked down the jumps in the middle of the trail a couple times now only to have them rebuilt. The guy said if it continues they may have to ban mountain bikes again like they did 10 or so years ago. Mountain bikers are the problem, and to the eye of everyone else were all the same. If we don't want to loose this trail (or any trail) we have to be the solution. Don't build jumps, discourage others from doing so, and if you see them knock them down. Invite others to check out any of the awesome bike parks in the area, Corner Canyon, Canyons, Trailside, Bobsled and more I'm not aware of.

 This is ridiculous, Jon what the hell. Why would you ever post this up. With all of the other places to ride, thanks for ruining it for everybody.

 @joncracroft Congrats on being the most hated man on Pinkbike right now. Besides ProTour

 Good you password protected the video, but please remove this article COMPLETELY from the site. Respect sensitive trails.

 If you ever start taking things too seriously, just remember that we are talking monkeys on an organic spaceship flying through the universe! For fu*k sake! The water shed? Really? We all... F*#k the canyon up. Whether you... Drive, bike, hike, or fly a f*ckin kite. To criticize one over the other is ludicrous. Just look at the Giant ski resorts right up the road. Look at the millions of people that flock there every year. Look at the damage they've caused. To say that riding through a short section of river once or twice a week is gonna get this trail shut down is ridiculous! People know about this trail. A shit load of people ride it. The forest service knows about it. Everyone bitching needs to smoke a bowl.

 Wow...lots of hate here. You could kindly explain that there is a huge history here, but I think that @IamZOSO had a great point with the FS. Just don't go to crazy. Well shot video! Props on the work.

 Its called the quarry for a reason. Quarter mile long rock gardens that aren't steep enough to carry speed through.

 Lol upper intermediate - right.

 Liberals....

 this discussion is so Utah

 Looks like Jon Cracroft made the video password protected. I can't see it.

 Also just learned this was filmed for SkiUtah and video was posted on their Facebook pages as well WTF! take it down

 HEY I LIVE HERE

 Cracroft is a LCC poseur and full time tool.

 So... is this a legit trail or no? Looks mildly interesting, but I'm not going to ride it if this is a contested/illegitimate trail...

 You only live once. FREERIDE!

 fuck me