Community effort reopens beloved mountain road in American Fork Canyon

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 the Narrows section of it 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. “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 two and a half years of closure, they may not ever open it again,” Stewart said. “That’s when we knew we had to do something.”

So, several OHV 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,” said Alan Taylor, 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 Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation approved two grants, one funded by OHV 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,” 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 Taylor, 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.”

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,” Stewart said. “It’s not about one person. It takes a whole team to make something like this happen.”

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