Guide Duck Creek
The lift keeps turning for bikes and sightseers, the peak road opens, and the drive from Duck Creek shrinks to 41 minutes across the Cedar Breaks rim.
En bref
Summer at Brian Head is lift-served rather than snow-covered. The Giant Steps Express keeps running for downhill mountain biking on more than 100 miles of single track, and the same lift sells scenic rides for people who just want the view. From Duck Creek it is the easiest version of the trip: 23.5 miles and about 41 minutes over Highway 148 through Cedar Breaks, which is itself the reason to go.
The bike park loads at Giant Steps: ride the Express up, descend on flow and tech trails of every grade, repeat. Rentals, including full-suspension downhill bikes and body armour, are available at the base, and the resort sells bike-haul day passes and scenic foot-passenger rides on the same lift. The Vista Trail is the hiking version: ride the lift up, then walk three miles back down through aspen with the Cedar Breaks rim and the Markagunt Plateau laid out below.
The resort has recently run Friday through Sunday from mid June, daily from late June through the end of August, then weekends into the third week of September with Labor Day added; in 2026 it ran daily from June 29 through August 30. Summer lift hours have been 9:30 am to 5 pm. Those dates shift year to year, so confirm the current calendar before planning around it.
The base area fills in around the lift with an 18-hole disc golf course and an Adventure Zone that runs Thursday through Sunday: a climbing wall, a 300-foot mini zip line, a bungee trampoline, and Avalanche Tubing, a summer tubing hill with a conveyor lift back to the top. Avalanche Tubing has both an age and a weight minimum, so check the requirements if you are bringing small kids. Bristlecone Park and Pond, across the road from the condo we co-host, has a playground, fishing and the Town Trail.
Town runs a summer calendar of its own: the Fourth of July, a mountain-bike race weekend, and an Oktoberfest at the end of the season. Check Brian Head Town’s events page for dates.
Above the resort, a Dixie National Forest spur road climbs from Highway 143 toward the Brian Head Peak observation site, where a stone shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 still stands at 11,307 ft. The crew was Camp F-16, stationed at Duck Creek. On a clear day the view reaches Nevada’s Wheeler Peak, Arizona’s Mount Trumbull and Navajo Mountain, and the Tushar Range. The road is unpaved and only snow-free for part of the year; check Dixie National Forest alerts first, and expect wind at the top even in August.
The peak is the highest of the four Brian Head elevations people confuse; the overview sorts them out. Nothing at the resort is above 10,920 ft, so a summer visitor who wants the big number has to drive, not ride, to it.
The summer drive crosses the Cedar Breaks rim at 10,601 ft, higher than any lift base at the resort, and it would be strange to pass that without stopping. The natural day from the inn is Cedar Breaks in the morning (the Alpine Pond loop and the overlooks), a lift ride and lunch at Brian Head, then the long way home down Parowan Canyon and back up Highway 14 if you want a loop, or the same road back if you want the rim at evening light. Our Cedar Breaks guide has the wildflower calendar; July is the month.
Weather is the planning constraint. Afternoon thunderstorms build over the plateau most days from mid July into early September, and the lift closes for lightning, so ride in the morning and be off the exposed ground by early afternoon.
October 2026
Summer calendar, hours and Adventure Zone details are the resort’s published patterns, checked September and October 2026; the 2026 daily-operations window is the resort’s own. The peak shelter date and elevation come from the summit interpretive sign (photographed) and the CCC camp from Duck Creek’s own history. Drive figures are OSRM routes against USGS 3DEP.
The warm-season version of the front-desk questions.
Yes. The resort has run the Giant Steps Express for mountain biking and scenic rides on weekends from mid June, daily from late June through August, and weekends into late September, with the Adventure Zone open Thursday to Sunday. Dates change yearly; check the resort calendar.
23.5 miles and about 41 minutes: Highway 14 west, Highway 148 north through Cedar Breaks National Monument, Highway 143 into town. Highway 148 opens mid to late May and closes in mid November.
Most of the way. A Dixie National Forest spur road off Highway 143 climbs to the observation site and the 1935 CCC shelter at 11,307 ft. It is unpaved, snow-free only for part of the year, and rough in places; check forest alerts first.
Lift-served downhill from the Giant Steps Express, rentals at the base, and more than 100 miles of single track across the plateau. The resort sells bike-haul day passes; the Vista Trail is the walk-down option for non-riders.
Town sits at 9,800 ft, so expect highs in the 60s and 70s, nights in the 40s, strong sun and afternoon thunderstorms from mid July into early September. Bring a shell and ride or hike in the morning.
Live snow depth from the SNOTEL station on the mountain, the NWS forecast for Brian Head, and fifteen seasons of data on when the snow is actually deep
See snow report & weather The two-bedroom condo we co-host across the street from the Giant Steps lift, plus the honest trade-offs of sleeping in Brian Head, Duck Creek, Parowan or Cedar City
See where to stay Eight chairlifts, 72 runs and nothing below 9,600 ft: terrain by lift, opening day, kids ski free, lift ticket patterns, night skiing and rentals
See skiing & snowboardingStay at Duck Creek Village Inn and ride Brian Head, hike Cedar Breaks and fish Navajo Lake from one quiet base. Or sleep across from the lift in the condo we co-host.
