Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Forest Service Road 085 in American Fork Canyon has reopened after extensive repairs.
- The road was closed due to damage from a heavy winter snowpack in the Narrows.
- Reconstruction was funded by $850,000 in grants, with backing from local officials and road enthusiasts.
PROVO — For the first time in years, a popular trail road is buzzing again with the sound of dirt bikes and off-highway vehicles in American Fork Canyon.
Forest Service Road 085, a mountain dirt road that connects Utah and Wasatch counties, has reopened after a long closure.
The road — loved by riders, campers and sightseers — had been shut down after its Narrows section was sloughed downslope during a heavy winter snowpack.
"It took away half the road," said Brett Stewart, president of OHV Advocates, standing near the rebuilt section on Friday. "They had to close it for safety reasons. But for those of us who come up here all the time, it was like losing a part of our lives."
For a while, it seemed like that loss might be permanent.
"We started hearing stories that, after about two and a half years of closure, that they may not ever open it again," Stewart said. "That's when we knew we had to do something."
So, several off-highway vehicle groups met with the Forest Service, Utah County officials and the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation to discuss options.
"It took the right people with the right connections and the desire to take it on and see it through and finish it," said Alan Stewart, a Utah County resident who has ridden the canyon for decades. "And I couldn't be more thrilled to have this access open."
In the months that followed those initial discussions, the Division of Outdoor Recreation approved two grants, one funded by off-highway vehicle registration fees and another through its outdoor recreation program.
Together, those grants totaled roughly $850,000 to rebuild the damaged section of road.
The Utah County Public Works Department managed the project, with construction crews working through the summer to stabilize the mountainside with long steel bolts and rock-filled wire baskets to reinforce the slope.
The work was recently finished, allowing vehicles to start using the road again.
"It looks beautiful," Brett Stewart said. "They've done a fantastic job."
"This is just a wonderful canyon," said Duff Shelley, who is 97 years old and has been coming here his whole life. "These guys have done a wonderful job. I can't believe how they got together and got it all to happen."
For longtime riders like Alan Stewart, getting back up here is about more than just recreation.
"My blood pressure goes down as the elevation goes up," he laughed. "I bring my family up here."
Brett Stewart said reopening the road is also about keeping access open for future generations, and even for safety reasons.
"Search and rescue need access up here, too," he said. "Before, they'd have to come from the other side, which could take hours."
In the end, the project became a symbol of what can happen when government agencies and local enthusiasts work together.
"The county, the Forest Service, the OHV clubs, and groups all came together," Brett Stewart said. "It's not about one person; it takes a whole team to make something like this happen."
