Black Hill, Ephraim

 I'll say right up front this area is not nearly as favorable as the White Hill several miles north... We have ridden here twice and are not going back.  Why? Steep, rocky areas and slippery slopes of shale.  Why here when White Hill is so much better and not nearly as crowded.

It's close to Ephraim (a college town) so has much more traffic.  We were there on a Saturday, December 5 for a short ride and ran into several people target shooting.  While we were on the hill, a bullet ricocheted off a rock and sailed right over us.  We had to yell at the people and tell them "Hold up.  Horses up here!" Lots of litter, broken bottles, beer cans, spent shotgun shells, etc. lying about.  What IS wrong with people!?

To reach the parking area, travel east on 100 N. in Ephraim.  Once you reach the gravel road, go 1.5 miles.  

This was our track for the day. About 4.5 miles.

A map from one of the biking sites.

This is looking at the parking area from up on the ridge.

There are some expansive views of Sanpete Valley both north and south.

You'll ride around and through lots of juniper.  

This "monument" was on top of the Black Hill.  So sad that people leave their trash.  Mozzy thought it was a really strange looking thing...

If you have a barefoot horse, the rocky trails will help trim down those hooves.  Our barefoot horses had no problem plowing through the rocks.  Much rockier than White Hill.

More of people's trash.

All in all, it was nice to see what was here.

(Update, we rode here on May 23, 2022.  Monday morning and no one else was around.  The photos below are of this ride. Didn't get any of the really rocky and steep areas.)

3.5 miles total.

Apparently this is an attempt to plant shrubs for the wildlife feeding.  10,000 seedlings.

One of the nicer parts of road.

Looked like an ancient stone road leading up to a small quarry area.