The Utah Department of Transportation is asking for feedback on proposed upgrades to trails along the west side of the Deer Creek Reservoir.

It’s all part of a feasibility study to determine whether to create a 6.75-mile paved path between the Wasatch Mountain State Park and Deer Creek Dam trailheads. Right now, the section is unpaved and used by locals for running, mountain biking and horseback riding.

According to UDOT’s Wyatt Wooley, paving the trail would make it part of the Utah Trail Network — building a continuous system of shared-use paved paths from the Heber Valley to Provo Canyon. 

At a UDOT open house to explore trail alternatives Tuesday, Rachel Harvey and Angie Richardson said they were both in favor of the project.

Both Harvey and Richardson serve on the Midway Trails Committee. They attended the open house to see how the trail might intersect with paved paths in Midway. Harvey, a mountain biker, said she rode her bike on the trail recently — about 26 miles to the dam and back to her Midway home. 

“It was just such an enjoyable, beautiful day. Like, I only ran into maybe six or seven people total,” Harvey said. 

That’s why she wants an alternative that provides grade separation between a soft trail for mountain biking and horseback riding, and a paved trail for road cyclists, walkers and runners. Richardson agreed. 

“You still get the natural beauty of the soft surface and the slower pace,” Richardson said. “Because I’ve even hiked it, you know. And I don’t want bicycles zooming by me, right?”

Larry Powers lives in the area and just outside Midway. He said he is “100% against” paving the trail. Powers is a horseback rider who uses the soft, unpaved trail for equestrian purposes. 

“I’ve ridden that trail every week during the summertime for 15 years,” Powers said. “I was up there one time, and there were like 16 or 17 of us on horses, you know, riding around the trail. And we just love it. And it ain’t gonna happen if it’s a paved trail.”

Powers said, if there needs to be an upgrade, there must be separation between a paved trail and a natural, soft trail. If there is a soft trail and a paved trail immediately next to each other, Powers said the horses would be easily spooked by the cyclists and runners on the paved trail. 

“I don’t want to ride a trail where I got a kid coming around a corner bike doing 20 miles an hour,” Powers said. 

But, Steve Henrdrick said, he thinks a paved option would only help trail users in the long run. As a mountain biker, Hendrick said he often goes out for rides with an older crew that’s around his age, 70 years old. 

Though he and his group have been mountain biking for decades, Hendrick said that, as they get older, some riders become more “squirrely.” Though they still want to ride the trails, Hendrick said a paved option would help them get out to bike more comfortably. 

He agreed that an option that separates a paved and unpaved trail would be best. 

“It would make the most people happy,” Hendrick said. 

Locals can submit feedback on the Deer Creek Reservoir trail via email at [email protected]. UDOT will complete the feasibility study in the spring of 2026.