Three Peaks Recreation Area sits west of Cedar City off Midvalley Road, a stretch of BLM ground at about 5,500 feet that holds Iron County's primary in-town mountain bike network. The riding is XC — long stretches of intermediate dirt singletrack with mild grades, occasional rocky sections, and views back toward the Markagunt Plateau and the Pine Valley Mountain range. Twenty-five-plus miles of trail stack into loops of any length from one hour to a full day.
A different terrain than Hurricane
Cedar City riders who learned on Three Peaks describe it as everything Hurricane isn't — gentler grades, packed dirt instead of slickrock, juniper and pinyon pine instead of red sandstone. The elevation is high enough that the trails ride well into October when Hurricane is still summer-hot, and the trails close out under snow most winters when the desert trails are at their peak.
The shared OHV reality
Three Peaks is also the primary OHV recreation area for Iron County, and the OHV trail network shares the area with the bike trails. The two networks are separately signed, but on busy weekends the area can feel busy, dusty, and noisy. Most local mountain bikers ride weekday mornings or shoulder-season weekends to avoid the side-by-side traffic.
The Cedar City race scene
Three Peaks hosts portions of several Iron County race events including the Cedar City Bike Festival routes, and the network includes both classic XC race courses and newer flow-trail builds. Cedar Cycle on Main Street is the local shop that maintains current condition reports and rents bikes capable of running the full network.
Where Three Peaks sits in the 435
Three Peaks is to Cedar City what Bear Claw Poppy is to St. George — the in-town network that anchors local riding. It is also the only major BLM mountain bike network in the 435 area code outside Washington County, and along with Iron Hills and Thunderbird Mountain forms the Cedar City trail set that gives Iron County riders enough rotation to ride locally most of the year.