Blackhawk Loop
Blackhawk
Loop is one of the premier singletrack rides in Utah! Blackhawk loop is composed
of couple of different trails, so the name changes from time to time. I would
recommend taking along a topo and a guide book;(Mountain
Biking Utah, by Greg Bromka is by far the best). This trail is not
for the "faint of heart", or those lacking in backcountry biking
skills. Blackhawk will test your stamina, bike handling skills, and route
finding skills. But the blue ribbon singletrack more then makes up for any
hardships endured along the way. With over 14 miles of premier singletrack,
who could possibly complain!?
How to get there: Take the Payson exit off of I-15, follow the signs for the Nebo Scenic Loop and Payson Canyon. The trailhead is about 3/4 mile past mile marker 10 on the left hand side. The sign reads "Loafer Mountain Trail".
Length: 18 mile loop
A little history on the name of this great trail:
Chief
Black Hawk
The Black Hawk Indian War was the longest and most destructive conflict between pioneer immigrants and Native Americans in Utah History. The traditional date of the war's commencement is 9 April 1865 but tensions had been mounting for years. On that date bad feelings were transformed into violence when a handful of Utes and Mormon frontiersmen met in Manti, Sanpete County, to settle a dispute over some cattle killed and consumed by starving Indians. An irritated (and apparently inebriated) Mormon lost his temper and violently jerked a young chieftain from his horse. The insulted Indian delegation, which included a dynamic young Ute named Black Hawk, abruptly left, promising retaliation. The threats were not idle - for over the course of the next few days Black Hawk and other Utes killed five Mormons and escaped to the mountains with hundreds of stolen cattle. Naturally, scores of hungry warriors and their families flocked to eat "Mormon beef" and to support Black Hawk, who was suddenly hailed as a war chief.
Encouraged by his success and increasing power, Black Hawk continued his forays, stealing more than two thousand head of stock and killing approximately twenty-five more whites that year. The young Ute by no means had the support of all of the Indians of Utah, but he succeeded in uniting factions of the Ute, Paiute, and Navajo tribes into a very loose confederacy bent on plundering Mormons throughout the territory. Cattle were the main objectives of Black Hawk's offensives but travelers, herdsmen, and settlers were massacred when it was convenient. Contemporary estimates indicate that as many as seventy whites were killed during the conflict.
Peter Gottfredson, Indian Depredations in Utah (1919); Carlton Culmsee, Utah's Black Hawk War: Lore and Reminiscences of Participants (1973).
Blackhawk Loop Profile
For a topo, click
here: 
Click on the thumbnails to see a larger version:
Incredible
views await the lucky biker on Blackhawk!
Blue ribbon singletrack
Descending through the quakies.
Lizard Lake (not much
of a lake in 2002)
The final descent down the Jones Ranch Trail.