Tucked in the hills of the Tintic Mountains lies a rich history. This easy off-road trail puts you right through the heart of it all, following closely to what used to be the Tintic Railroad. Challenges are minimal allowing vehicles of all makes and models access to such an area. The trail is mellow but don't let that stop you from visiting. The tunnel along the route is worth the drive alone!
Trail Difficulty and Assessment
Recommended Vehicle:
2WD Vehicle with High Clearance
Concerns:
Summary:
This trail is an easy dirt road the entire way through. There are no height or width issues in the tunnel.
Community Consensus
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Mandatory
1 -
EASY
The hardest part of the trail that you
cannot bypass - you have to drive it.
Optional
1 -
EASY
The hardest part of the trail that is
purely optional - you can bypass it.
Dirt and/or rocky road. Potential rocks and/or tree stumps less than 5" tall and/or vertical ledges less than 5" tall and/or near vertical ledges or waterfalls less than 6" inches. Good tire placement likely. Can be steep, but with good traction.Read More about our Rating System
Although smooth and graded may be an overstatement, airing down is only slightly considered. Right from the start, you can see remains of the train tracks just south of the trailhead. As you start out, you will ride on a straight dirt road following where the tracks used to be. Keep your eyes open for rabbits or tarantulas crossing the road! Once you reach the hills, the excitement will heighten. You will quickly come to the turnoff for the tunnel. This tunnel is one of three that existed back in the day, however, the only one still remaining. It is also a rare occurrence that you can drive through this tunnel. It is plenty big for just about any he street-able vehicle. After the few hundred feet of life underground, you will join back up with the main road and onto the next historical marker. The double circle was at one point the greatest feat of engineering in the country. Today, you must use your imagination to make out where the majority of it was, with slight assistance from remaining cement supports crumbling away. As you exit this little valley, you will start to climb the remainder of this mild road up to Highway 6 where you can continue your adventure or call it a day.
1. Trailhead (0
mi)
The trailhead lies just 0.9 miles from the UT68/UT6 intersection in the town of Elberta on the west side of UT68. The trail heads northwest to start.
2. Parking/Air Down Lot (2.1
mi)
This is a good parking lot to leave trailers or air down if you feel the need. It is plenty big for multiple trucks and trailers if needed.
3. Tunnel Turnoff (4
mi)
This is the turnoff for the last remaining tunnel from the old Tintic Range Railroad. It is worth the extra few minutes and is likely why you came out here!
4. Start Of Tintic Range Railroad Tunnel #1 (4.4
mi)
Here is the east entrance to the tunnel. This tunnel is just over 200 feet long and is large enough for just about any vehicle to drive through. It is rare for such a tunnel to not be closed off, let alone be able to drive through it. This makes for some good photos!
5. End Of Tunnel (4.5
mi)
The west end of the tunnel. This is the only real visible tunnel within the network. Tunnel number 2 was closed in at both ends, and the supports in tunnel number 3 caught fire in the 1920's. After deeming it unsafe, the railroad cut a bypass and collapsed the tunnel.
6. Fork - Turn Left (4.6
mi)
Turn left at this fork to get back to the main road. If you go right, you can explore some of the other mining sites along the hillside.
7. Fork - Turn Right (4.8
mi)
This is where you link back up with the main road. Turn right/west to continue on the Elberta Slant Road.
8. Historical Marker (6.1
mi)
This is the site of the double circle, one of the most impressive feats of engineering in the entire country back in the 1870's. It allowed the trains to climb quickly in elevation over a short distance using long trestles. The picture dates back to the 1870's. Here is a good article to learn more about the railway system in the Tintic Mining District.
Tintic Rails
9. End (7.9
mi)
Marking the end of the Elberta Slant Road is its intersection with UT6. From here, you can head right/west into Eureka and the west side of the East Tintic Mountains, or you can turn left/east and head back toward I15.
Dispersed
There are many dispersed sites along this trail up until the tunnel. After the tunnel, there are numerous plots of private property with signs posted. Be aware of these private properties. Refer to the land status here. All of the camping along this trail is primitive with no amenities.
There is no option for improved camping anywhere near this trail.
Starting Point
Lehi, Utah
Head west on 2100 N. until it intersects with UT 68. Turn south (left) on UT 68 and follow 33.8 miles until the trailhead on the west (right) side of the road.
Easy trail with several spurs. No 4WD needed. Not much for mountain views but the tunnel is pretty cool. Certainly worth one visit, and a second if bringing along someone new.
Super fun drive! Really great place for photos!! There are tons of other off-shoot trails, so pay attention to where you are. Some of the other trails are MUCH harder than the main one. We ended up on a trail with some pretty serious obstacles.
Very fun short route. Takes only about 30 min to complete even if you stop to take pics in the tunnel. Popular ATV & dirt biking area, so lots of those folk around. Overall a really neat route with some cool history. Worth the trip at least once if you're local.
We visited this trail when there was roughly 3-5” of snow. Just had to be careful not to slide off the trail. Very cool tunnel and we camped for the night just before the tunnel. Beautiful views, especially this time of year!
Fun little trail. Probably one of those trails you only do once, maybe twice to show someone else. A little narrow when you driving where the tracks were. Mostly just a dirt road.
Author did an excellent job describing and providing perfect directions. The map shows you go off the main road. The shoot off to the tunnel is narrow for a full size truck and to fit had to maneuver cautiously. Went back on West side of Tintic mountains which made it a fun full day.
First of all, this trail should maybe be renamed and the route modified. As described here, you will pass through many "No Trespassing" signs to get from waypoint 1 to 2. I wasn't 100% sure if the signs were for the fields and private trails off the Elberta Slant Road, but honestly the entire section from waypoint 1 to 3 was super boring anyway. In the future I plan to run this trail in this order: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 9, 10. You basically just do the loop and go back out the way you came. I don't believe you run the risk of trespassing in this order.
OK, onto the main review: when I showed my kids the pictures and videos of this trail they were not eager to go. Honestly, I feel like you have to be there to really appreciate it. It is much more majestic and beautiful than it appears even in my own pictures. The loop portion of the trail (3-8) is much narrower than I expected and has a lot more undulations that are fun (and unnerving to my wife). No problem at all going slow, but there was one portion in particular (waypoints 7-8) where I opted to throw it into 4lo since it's a fairly steep descent (running in the 3-8 order) with some loose rock. You could do it no problem in 4hi or AWD but I liked having the control. There are some cool narrow portions which I saw a full size truck drive through but which I would not have wanted to do in a wide vehicle. There are decent sized boulders along the trail that are easy enough to pass through for mid-size vehicles.
Overall, I really liked it. The tunnel is obviously the star of the show and while it isn't very long it is pretty cool to see. My kids loved it. It was about a 1.5 hour drive for us to get to it and I still think it was worth it. Probably won't do it super often since it is relatively short, but if you make time to also hit up Nutty Putty Cave or Little Moab then it would be a really fun day.
I had a blast taking my Jeep out here for its first trip. The main road was very well groomed and the surrounding trails were a blast that were able to be done in 2wd until I got to a steeper climb where I had to put it into 4wd. The tunnel looked cool from the outside but couldn’t drive through because of some homeless people that had parked their camper in their their which was super lame.
A perfect trail for a short adventure. Coming down from the Provo area it was close enough that we were able to leave home and be back in just a few hours, and considering this it was definitely worth it. We had a bit of trouble finding the offshoot to the tunnel, and we actually ran the trail without hitting the tunnel first and then looped back to the start to try to find the tunnel for a second time. after a few more gnarly offshoots we finally found the right one and the tunnel was awesome. Not necessarily a trail that I would travel multiple hours to get to for itself, but if you need to break up a long drive or want need a short trip in Utah county then this is an awesome trail.
So cool! Was worth it definitely. We were happy it was getting dark when we got to the tunnel. I followed the directions to a tee and found it no problems. Was a tad disappointed by previous people leaving trash and tagging the walls but it was still awesome. We even found the old cement from the bridge!
Trail is a nice and easy dirt road. There are many off shoots from the road that make the turn to the tunnel a little confusing but if you want to do explore there's several places you can do this. The exact turn to the tunnel was not clear in the dark but we found the turn eventually and it was well worth it. A little mud after two days of rain and we had a great adventure. "Easy" is well ranked and can be done by any four wheel drive vehicle. If you don't turn off to the tunnel a car could do the road.
Fun trail at night just after the rain. Little mud which made it fun but the tunnel was amazing at night. Simple road but several of the offshoots are closer to a 1-2 in difficulty
Go in knowing you will have to take a short loop off the main road to go through the tunnel. It's to the right about 4 miles coming from elberta right as you start to enter the mountains. That road has some steep bits but with dry conditions 2wd is sufficient. The main road itself is boringly well groomed but there are plenty connected 4wheeler roads if you feel unchallenged.
Awesome easy trail no need for 4 wheel drive at all if its dry. The tunnel was not on the trail itself however and we missed the turn off to see it the first time but found it on our way back down the trail. The turn off is almost exactly halfway through the trail (about 4.2 miles from the Elberta side on the right). Only issue we had was scraping my running boards through some dirt mounds but what do you expect with a long ram 1500 that's only leveled and sitting on stock tires.
we started at the end and worked back. (i trailered my rig to test the new fuel system.) the snow was the only thing that had us lock the hubs. before i knew it we were at spot 2 (parking area). from looking at the topo yesterday, i was able to guess our way to the tunnel. i was looking for #9 area but we missed it. think we could make out some of where the train tracks were.
didnt seem like it was 8 miles
Although there aren't any challenges, this was well worth seeing! The tunnel is really cool. There is a bit of garbage from disrespectful campers, but that's with any popular area.
From the Community
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TJ Bosworth
Mapping Crew - Utah
Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, he's only been off-roading since he was 16 but fell in love immediately. He attended college in Denver for Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management and wheeled in Colorado for 4 years, but ended up moving back home to Salt Lake City. He currently works in an off-road shop and spends his free time doing anything he can to stay busy, which is usually working on his jeep or playing music. Outside of off-roading, he is an avid whitewater rafter and outdoor cook. Camping at least every other weekend in any season is a normal year. The further from civilization, the better. Bring on the memories!
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