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A mountain biker rides through the Forebay Area in Payson in an undated photo.

Courtesy Karl Teemant

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Payson's Forebay Area is pictured in an undated photo.

Courtesy Karl Teemant

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A map of the Payson Bike Park concept plan is show.

Courtesy Payson City

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At the foothills of Payson Canyon is the 500-acre Forebay Area, a wilderness owned and maintained by Payson City that offers a wide range of recreational activities.

In 2020, Payson introduced an updated area management plan for Forebay, setting short-term and long-term goals for how the city wanted to harness the land.

In the half-decade since, Payson Recreation Director Karl Teemant said the city and the Payson Forebay Committee improved the recreation area by developing a parking lot, a bridge and restrooms at its lower-access point, while adding trails.

Recently, Payson turned its attention to a more ambitious project, a “premier mountain bike destination” that will offer trails and features to mountain bikers of all levels with a goal of regional and national appeal, according a city concept plan.

“The percentage of people that participate in mountain biking in Utah is super high, and I think, why not (cater to them)?” Teemant said. “That’s a need that needs to be fulfilled, right? And that’s what we do in parks and rec is identify the needs of the community and see how we can fulfill them.”

The concept plan was presented to the Payson City Council in a July 2 meeting by Forebay Assistant Committee Chair Kevin Crook and subsequently approved, granting the city the ability to pursue funding options for the project.

The proposal is to create five mountain biking zones on the north part of the Forebay Area: a short track, dual slalom, bike park core, flow zone and tech zone.

The bike park core is proposed to serve as the park’s access point, with a parking lot, an equestrian parking lot, space for shade structures and a set of progressive dirt jumps to practice on. Other biking zones are proposed outward from there.

Directly to the east would be the flow zone, containing 18.5 acres of four biking trails that average 3,000 feet in length with 257 feet of elevation gain. One trail would be a two-way, multiuse trail while the other three would be downhill trails of varying levels of difficulty with access points at the middle and top of the hill.

The zone would be designed with “smooth, winding lines with gentle berms, playful rollers, and optional jumps,” the concept plan stated.

“The idea is bikers would ride up the two-way trail and connect to one of our existing trails and then access flow trails — black, blue, green lines coming down, and then people could circle that,” Teemant said.

North of the park core are proposed dual slalom and short track courses with room for spectators. The short track would be high-intensity, designed for mountain bike training and technical precision, while the slalom course would have “sharp berms, rhythm sections and strategic rulers,” the plan stated, and be designed for versatility and competition.

“Wouldn’t that be awesome?” Teemant said. “We can set that up and two people could just cruise down side-by-side.”

The tech zone would involve three downhill trails accessible from existing trails that would vary in difficulty but each designed for skill riding, with switchbacks, drops and rock gardens.

“These are more technical trails,” Teemant said. “They’re not necessarily man-made features, but they might be rock gardens or steeper terrain, or narrower trails.”

Teemant estimated it will cost “a couple million” to create the bike park and said they will consider a combination of donations, city funds and grants, such as the The Utah Outdoor Recreation Grant and Utah Valley tourism funding.

“We need to get funding to get the actual engineering of this concept plan done, and then we could go after bigger funds to get it installed, specifically, if we’re having the professionals do it,” Teemant said.

He believes the city can garner funds and grants for the project due to the popularity the bike park could have.

South Utah County is home to a youth mountain biking team, the Nebo Goats, that pulls in kids 7-12 from the Nebo School District boundaries.

The Utah High School Cycling League claims to be the largest biking league in National Interscholastic Cycling Association history, with 92 teams statewide, per its website. Teemant said there’s over 7,000 riders in the youth league, and that it produces 1,000-2,000 new riders annually.

He believes the sport’s population has been reflected at the Firefly Mountain Bike Trails in Eagle Mountain, where he said people began riding new trails last fall — before the planned spring opening.

“People are loving (Firefly); they’re driving an hour and a half to come to it,” Teemant said. “We anticipate if (the Payson bike park) is done as planned, I think people will definitely travel to come and see this and ride it. I don’t know that we’ll get out-of-state travel necessarily to come, but we will definitely be a regional destination for sure.”

In the meantime, Teemant said Forebay still has plenty to offer.

The Friends of Forebay groom winter trails for fat bike riding on a volunteer basis, while the city recently added new trails; “Loading Chut,” and “Apple Tree Springs.”

He said they’re also working on a conservation easement to protect the property into perpetuity.

“The idea,” Teemant said, “is to lock it in pretty solid, to say, ‘We want this to be a natural area for the future of our community.'”