This week I learned that “biking around the lake” doesn’t just mean biking around the lake. We had to go around a mountain and far into the west to some little town called Elberta, and as you can see from the above picture we were nowhere close to the lake.
91 miles and 8 hours later, this was definitely my most difficult adventure yet. My Mom and Dad and their friends all had nice road bikes, but I was, and just barely, was able to complete the trip on my mountain bike.
Pros
- Great road biking route — It was pretty flat the entire way with few cars.
- You get to learn what it’s like on the other side of the lake — Although It’s not pretty on the other side.
Cons
- It’s a long trip.
- Most of the time you don’t have an actual view of the lake.
- The longest part of the trip from Goshen to Saratoga Springs didn’t have a place to stop to refill on water and to use the bathroom.
Unfortunately we weren’t aware that we were passing within a few hundred feet of some old ghost town ruins from Mosida. Mosida had everything planned out well, until in a twist of bad luck everything went sour: The soil wasn’t good enough for the orchards they planted; Their Provo to Mosida Ferry burned down; And to finish it off, the water level of Utah Lake dropped, rendering the pump-house useless.
Further Reading
Mosida history
Super in-depth paper on Mosida’s history
Another biking Utah Lake trip report
There’s some data missing, but here’s a map. Google Maps shows the lake as being much bigger than it actually is right now.
Max elevation: 4806 ft
Total time: 05:20:20