Cedar City, Utah

Incredible Riding in the Iron Hills

For over a decade, IMBA is proud to have contributed to the momentum for great trails in Cedar City, Utah. We've engaged with nearly all outdoor recreation partners in the area from the Bureau Land Management, to Iron Trailcraft the local trails organization, to the visitor's bureau!

"Lichen It" in Cedar City

More trails close to home doesn’t just mean digging-in a few miles here and there. In some places, it can mean 100-mile trail systems that surround cities, with abundant access points and broad cooperation across multiple land management agencies and volunteer groups. Cedar City, Utah, is one of those places where such a dream is taking shape.

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Mountain biking trails in Cedar City, UT.

How Mountain Biking Trails Came to Cedar City

The town of Cedar City transformed their desire for close to home trail experiences into a reality after partnering with IMBA. Through examining access, requesting education, and navigating funding sources, this community has played the long game. Learn more details about these initial steps that set them up for success.

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Meet the Champions

Making the Iron Hills come to life didn’t rest on the shoulders of a lone trail expert or volunteer; it was a collection of passionate neighbors with a knowing that accessible trails would improve the quality of life for all walks of life.

Better Together

For nearly a decade, IMBA has been collaborating with partners in Cedar City, Utah, on their 100-mile trails master plan. Through that collaboration, trust bloomed, strong partnerships with IMBA Local Organization Iron Trailcraft were forged, and National Recreation Trail-designated trails were built. Hear from the locals involved about how trail usage has evolved, and what the plans are for the future.

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Local Trail Champions

IMBA caught up with Trail Champion Dave Jacobson, Outdoor Recreation Planner for the Bureau of Land Management in Cedar City, Utah to discuss the value of purpose-built trails. Partnerships have proven to be the key to success for this community effort to expand more trails close to home.

IMPACT: Iron Hills Trail System

Southern Utah has long been a mecca for mountain biking. Now, Cedar City, surrounded by multi-use trails, is no exception. Local riders, the BLM, and stakeholders came together to craft a vision of what more trails close to home meant for them. For many, it was riding straight from home to the trail. IMBA helped them make it happen.

In fall 2025, IMBA’s Eleanor Blick caught up with Mike Innes from the Bureau of Land Management’s Cedar City office and IMBA Trail Specialist Joey Klein about Cedar City’s efforts, their success with hybrid builds and training volunteers, and how the town is reimagining its initial trail plan after 10 years of growth and a swell of new riders.

Image	Eleanor Blick, IMBA Why trails? Why is that what Cedar City wanted to invest in?
Image	Mike Innes, Cedar City BLM The trail users at the time wanted just more close to home, so they didn't have to drive a far distance from town. Dave looked at the landscape right around Cedar City and thought, “there's no way you could put trail through this landscape. It's steep, it's really rocky.” Initially, he went to IMBA just to get their opinion on if this was even possible.
Image	Joey Klein, IMBA We broke at least one dozer getting through those rocks. Some of those rocks that I had to push and manipulate were easily the size of a refrigerator.
Image	Eleanor When we think about big rocky terrain, we think hard, technical trails. But what you all started with “Lichen It,” it is one of the most gentle, lovely, welcoming climbs in the country. It's become a model for a lot of other systems that we've planned since.
Image	Joey For having six miles, I would rather ride that six miles than 200 miles of whatever anywhere else, because it was directional and it was for bikes specifically.
Image	Eleanor What was the intention of starting with those trails, and that type of climb and descent? How did that serve the community?
Image	Mike I think when they first started, the NICA team had 20 kids. Now they're over 120 kids.
Image	Joey The Iron Giants, the NICA team, they came out and we named the beginner trail after them, and they did a ton of work on that trail. So they got to be a part of the creation of a trail that was named after them, for them to work on and train on and ride on.
Image	Mike And Iron Trailcraft, our local IMBA chapter, has been a part of every single build that has happened here in Cedar City. Having that role of incorporating them into what's going on has really created this huge sense of ownership that they have. And this commitment to trail stewardship for years and years that's now starting to transition from those original members to our younger, newer members. And they play a big role in not only helping out with each construction project, but then keeping these trails at that level of quality long after the trail crew leaves.
Image	Joey Klein What we've learned from Cedar City and also Draper is you can do quite a bit with less mileage, if everything is put together really well, and you've really thought about all the different people that are going to be out there, and what they what they're looking for.
Image	Mike We collect a lot of trail use data, and our busiest times on in the trail system are usually weekdays between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. So you're seeing everyone starting to get out for after-work or after-school rides just right from the community.
Image	Joey It's not so much about the mileage, it's that each trail, each leg, has a purpose to it that I think preserves that quality experience for whoever might be headed out there.
Image	Mike IMBA Trail Solutions has done a really amazing job at giving the rider a little bit of everything on every trail. The landscape and the the way that the construction teams implemented them really suits well to everyone, regardless of skill level. I haven't seen that in too many other places.