Paiute Trails 27, 29, 34

Cliff and Sandy came back to the park for another week (I like to think they missed me) so Cliff and I took off to explore some trails neither of us had ridden. The weather went from cool and cloudy to cold and hail to hot and sunny. In addition to lots of deer, we spotted a mountain goat with two kids on the side of a rock mountain that appeared to be nearly vertical. Unfortunately, they were too far away to get a good photo.

The leaves are starting to change at the higher elevations

Aspen freshly gnawed by a beaver

Beaver dam and hut

Hornet's nest

Back To Bryce Canyon

I took a break from off-road riding to revisit Bryce Canyon National Park. When I was there last year, I only had enough time to see the canyon from the top. This time I went back to hike the Queens/Navajo Loop down in the canyon. In my opinion, it is the best way to see the park. If you can, I would encourage you to "hike the hoodoos".

Click on photos to enlarge

And the best part of the day...

Spooky Looking Deer

Here’s an original photo of a deer I came across last week.  Apparently, the light was hitting her eyes at just the right/wrong angle or... she was "possessed".

Click on photo to enlarge

Paiute Trail 74

Today, I took a leisurely ride by myself up to the Silver King Mine and then followed 74 down the mountain to Hoovers Restaurant. There I crossed the Sevier River and took 22 and 24 back to Marysvale.

Beautiful day for a ride

Old two story cabin at the Silver King Mine

One of the mines

Huh?!?

Paiute Trails 02, 54, 86, 89, 01

Another great day on the Paiute Trail. Cecil and I managed to find a couple of trails that neither of us had explored before.

Cecil, a veteran of the Paiute Trail System

Drought has lowered the water levels throughout Utah

Controlled burn area

New Skid Plate & Doors

Today was a rain day so I took the RZR to Dick Shepard and he installed his custom made UHMW skid plate and aluminum doors. I figure if I am going to ride with those crazy guys in Arizona again this winter, I can use all the protection I can get.

Paiute Trail 77

Cliff and Sandy are leaving for Bryce Canyon tomorrow so we took one last ride together. The highlight of the day were the old mining operations that permeate this area.

The deer here (at least the does) appear to be as interested in you as you are in them. This one crept up behind me and I believe that if she had a camera, she would have taken my picture...

50 Inch Trails

Utah has a number of "50 inch trails" where they put up a gate that prevents larger vehicles from entering. Most ATVs will not have a problem. Most UTVs will have a problem. To my knowledge the Polaris RZR 800 and RZR 570 are the only UTVs that meet the 50 inch requirement. Even those machines will fail if you replace stock items with wider tires, doors, rock sliders, etc.

The reason for mentioning this is that in my opinion, the 50 inch trails here at the Paiute Trail System are the "most interesting" in terms of challenging riding and scenery. I am glad that when I replaced my original tires, I went with 9 inch wide Big Horns in both front and back. Otherwise, I would have missed some of the best rides I have taken to date. So far, I have cleared every gate - even the one to trail 65 where the tires rubbed both posts going through.

Lastly, I want say that the above is not meant to discourage others with larger UTVs from riding the Paiute Trail System. There are thousands of miles of trails/roads that can be ridden with lots of beautiful country to be explored. This is one of the premier areas for off-road riding in the USA.

Paiute Trails 02, 01, 88, 26

Today was the first day of the bow hunting season for elk and deer here in Utah so there were a lot of people and machines on the trails as well as campers.

Paiute Trails 77, 35, 02, 01, 54, 53, 33, 44, 78, 65, 24

Cliff took me on a number of black "most difficult" trails that were an absolute blast. One of the ways I know I am having too much fun is that I forget to have lunch (no worries, I made up for it at dinner).

Paiute Trails 02, 01, 11, 24

First, let me say that everyone I have met at the South Forty RV Park has been extremely friendly starting with Jim and Terri, the owners. It is a great place to camp and you can ride your OHV right out the gate onto the Paiute Trail system.

My neighbors, Cliff and Sandy (who are from Texas and speak southern like me), were kind enough to take me on my first ride of the Paiute Trail. It's easy to see why this is one of the premier areas to ride off-road - it has it all. A track of the ride including distance, time, speed and elevation has been uploaded to EveryTrail.

I had maybe an inch to spare getting through the 50 inch gates

Cliff & Sandy

New Tires

I had heard good things about the Maxxis Bighorn tires so I had Rocky Mountain ATV/MC in Payson put a set on my RZR 800. I went with 26 inch tires in place of the stock 25s for a little more clearance and 9 inch wide on the front and back in order to continue riding the 50 inch trails. The Paiute Trail next week should be a good place to try them out.

For the past couple of months whenever I would stop by Polaris dealers to browse, I would ask them to price a set of the Bighorns for me. Most of the time I was quoted ~$900 just for the tires. My invoice from Rocky Mountain was $593.22 and that included tires, sales tax, disposal tax, and mounting them on the UTV.

Skyline Drive Ride

Mike led Sid, Terry and me on a series of narrow, dirt roads up through the mountains of the Manti-La Sal National Forest southeast of Provo. Once again, I was struck by how many places there are to camp, ride, hunt, fish, etc. in Utah. It's an outdoor lover's paradise. Click on photos to enlarge.

Canadian UTV Wash

Ron and Bev, my neighbors in Arizona, emailed me this great video of Ron washing his RZR in northern Alberta...

Nebo Loop Scenic Byway

Is another narrow, twisting road up through the mountains of the Uinta National Forest southeast of Payson. For my biker friends - you will want to add this road along with the Alpine Loop to your list of rides in the Salt Lake area.

Click on photos to enlarge

Rush hour traffic

The Devil's Kitchen (a mini Bryce Canyon)

Uinta National Forest Ride

Terry, Mike and I rode the UTVs from the Tibble Fork Reservoir up over the mountains to Cascade Falls exploring several spur roads along the way. If you ever needed an excuse to buy an OHV, it is the ability to see parts of this beautiful country that you would never see from the highway. Unfortunately, the mount for my gps is broken so I was unable to make a track of the trip.

One happy camper