Paiute ATV Trail 4th of July Weekend

So this past weekend I had the great pleasure to celebrate the 4^th of July by taking a little trip down south and four wheeling the Paiute ATV trail in south/central Utah with my father. While driving through Utah you wouldn’t expect to find much in the south/central area, but if you get out of the car and onto a four wheeler there is so much to experience. The main trail loop is estimated to be about 250 miles long with dozens of little side trails. Exploring this whole trail system could take weeks, and since we only had four days we had to get in as much as we could.

DAY 1

The trip started out on Thursday morning. We met up at Hill Air Force Base in Clearfield because we were actually going with their outdoor recreation program. So we all met there at 7:00 am. Upon arriving we saw that the bikes were already loaded onto the trailers and all we had to do was jump inside the vans and we were off. The trip down wasn’t that long actually, it only took about three hours. We ended up in a little town called Salina, which is where the loop begins. From there we unloaded the bikes from the trailer and packed them with our equipment. And thus the four wheeling begins! The first part is riding through the town of Salina until you come to a service dirt road that takes you to the trail head. After passing under I-70 we met up with the trailhead and the adventure begins.

The trail at this point is rated as easy because it doesn’t have many technical parts to it and instead of steep climbs we had some rolling hills. We entered what is known as Soldier Canyon and followed a creek bed. It was always interesting to look back occasionally and see a line of four wheelers, and the dust rising up behind them, following in unison every turn and curve. There came a point in the trail where we had to cross a river which was somewhat deep. I kicked my legs up on the front wheel wells and sloshed on through. We made it about 15-20 miles in when someone from our group started to have a little medical issue that made us cut our first day short so we could attend to her and get her back into town (that story will be posted next). So after attending to her it was getting kind of late and so we made camp along the river bed at the base of a formation known as Squaw Ledge. At various times during the day, when the sun hits it just right, the ledge glows a brilliant reddish/orange color that is absolutely captivating. That afternoon and night we had some light rain showers that not only kept us cool but also helped keep the dust down while on the trail. It also brought a beautiful rainbow that graced the sky as we set up camp. I’ve become a big fan of Adobe Photoshop over the past year because it allows me to merge many photos together to come out with one big one, and that’s how I captured this rainbow, took many shots from different positions and put them all together. Dad and I set up camp next to a small grove of trees. After setting up camp we wandered back into this grove and found that it offered some good protection from the light rain that was falling and would be a perfect kitchen to start making dinner (freeze dried chicken alfredo with pink salmon). Other took notice to our little kitchen and decided to join us with their culinary creations. So we all enjoyed a good dinner under this canopy of green. Afterwards, we found some dry wood and started our self a little fire. As the sun set and the fire continued on we sat around it telling stories of past experiences and roasted marshmallows (seriously, what’s a fire without marshmallows?). Then as the fire died down and the stories became boring we all decided it was time to get a little shut eye. Because the day was cut short we only rode a grand total of about 25 miles, and that includes the double backing we had to do.

DAY 2

The day started out with the sun basking Squaw Ledge in its magnificent light. There were a few light clouds in the sky but nothing that appeared to bring rain with them. We expected this day to be a hot, sunny day. And that’s how it turned out. We made breakfast (oatmeal) lazied around camp while waiting for equipment to dry out a little before packing all up and then eventually broke camp and got back on the trail. We followed the trail as it meandered alongside a stream known as Lost Creek. This trail also cut through a beautiful canyon that offered some great turns and sights. Eventually we emerged from the canyon and were back onto open, flat ground. This part of the ride gets a little monotonous because it’s pretty much a couple of long, straight dirt service roads. The good part about these roads is that they let you open up the bike and see what you can top out at. OK, so it’s hard to see what you can top out at if you don’t have a speedometer, but when you have a GPS device you will find that we got up to about 40 mph, which for a mountain/hunting type 4 speed four wheeler it’s not that bad. Of course, with it being as hot and dry riding behind someone that fast does kick up a lot of dust and so goggles and a bandana are suggested. Also, don’t expect your white shirt to stay white for very long (or ever again) after riding in dust that long. This service road is part of the trail and it takes you around Koosharem Reservoir, which is named after the small town that it supplies, Koosharem.

There we stopped to gas up the bikes and get a quick bite to eat. Now there were two options, go to a little park and eat whatever you might have brought for lunch, or, go sit in an air conditioned restaurant and have a home cooked meal. I’m pretty sure everyone can guess where we decided to eat.

From Koosharem we headed east towards the mountains for some more hill climbing adventure. In fact, this is where the real hill climbing begins. This trail weaves in and out of different kinds of trees (if I was a botanist I could tell you which ones they were) as it ascends up the mountain until you come to the level of the aspens. There are a couple of steep climbs where it’s best to keep the bike in first gear until you make it to the top. Two reasons why, 1) you shift at just the wrong point and you’ll do a wheelie up the hill, and if you’re bike is back heavy then it ups the risk of tipping over and 2) at some points in second gear there’s not enough power to get you up so you’ll be stopping to downshift anyway.

After riding through some more aspen groves we dropped down upon a small body of water known as Upper Box Creek Reservoir. Here we drove out onto a little peninsula where we set up camp.

There were quite a few people there already who just came for a day of fishing so we had to share the area for a while, until night came and then everyone cleared out except for us. It had been a pretty hot and dusty day so when I saw that lake I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was in it. Once the tent was set up I was off and in the water. I had forgotten that at higher altitudes the water would be a little colder than one would think, but it didn’t take long to remind me. That first initial dive in was one of those that takes your breath away. But it still felt good to cool and wash off. Once I was clean and dried off we sent out to gather some firewood for the night. A couple guys took the bikes and hauled back some fallen trees from the hills above. Luckily one of the leaders but a couple of hand saws so another rider and I started cutting down these trunks so they would fit in the pit. It kind of felt like we were back in the pioneer days, me on one end of the saw and another guy on the other while we worked the blades back and forth through the wood. After that it was time to relax and unwind. A couple guys went off to fish while the rest of us sat around the fire for dinner and some more story telling. It wasn’t long after dusk when we saw a local beaver out swimming in the lake. If you walked around the lake you would notice some fresh cut aspens that the beavers had fallen. The moon had risen high above the lake by now and provided great illumination that night. Overall I believe we rode around 45 miles that day.

DAY 3

Happy 4^th of July! There really is no better way to celebrate the independence of our nation than by exploring the great back country that we call home. It makes you grateful for the freedoms that we have and for those men and women that fought, fight, and died for them. I awoke to the noise of people rustling outside and as I unzipped my tent door I could see the rising sun bounce of a pristine glass lake (yes I immediately wished my boat there to go skiing). It was a leisurely morning of eating breakfast and breaking camp. We still had plenty of terrain to cover but also plenty of time to do it as well so there was no rush.

With camp broken we headed back out onto the trail. Once again we found ourselves weaving through groves of aspens, crossing boardwalks that have been placed to protect some marshes, and climbing until we left the aspens and entered the pines. There’s always a certain sent to a pine forest that makes you realize how beautiful this world really is and how small we really are in comparison.

Once we reached the peak it was time to come down the other side of the mountain. We descended through what is known as Dry Creek Canyon which has a different scenery to it than other parts of the trail so far. It reminds me of hiking through the canyons on southern Utah in the Zion area. The dust was a plenty coming down this trail so the bandanas and goggles were back on to offer some sort of protection.

We made it down the canyon and rode through the small town of Marysvale and then stopped off at a little restaurant named Hoovers. There motto is “It’s Hoovers, not Hooters.” I had an excellent hickory burger from this place that I know would pretty much keep me held over until dinner.

After dinner it was back on the bikes and up another mountain side. This is a pretty popular part of the trail and so we passed many people going up and down the trail on their machines. At some parts the trail gets a little narrow and so passing became a little more challenging. There are also a few more first gear climbs along this trail. Getting close to the peak we came to an old, abandoned mine known as the Silver King Mine which was established back in 1894. That’s about all I know of it because there wasn’t much information around. So we walked through the little cabin that was there, saw the gated off entrance to the mine, and that was about it. It was a quick ten minute break while we rested our rear ends from the bikes. Then it was back to more fun. We reached the top and it was time to come back down, a little farther north though. Coming down was just as steep as going up and so that meant a couple of first gear descents as well. There were many times this trail crossed the stream so it also met some good mud flinging if you hit the stream just right, and we did.

Coming off the mountain meant that we had to ride through some more little towns so we could gas up and make it to the next section of the trail. We rode through Joseph, Monroe, and finally fueled up in Elsinore. From there it was back up the mountain. It was about five when we started back up and by then the sky had some overcast to it and a storm wasn’t far away and we were riding towards it. So of course we put on the rain gear and covered up the packs to keep things relatively dry. We weaved in and out of the canyon as we keep heading up the mountain. We passed a lot of cattle grazing in this area and chased a few calves off the trail. At one point I thought momma cow was about to take on the leader of our grouped because he was chasing her calves off the trail. She hesitated thought once she saw the rest of us ride around the corner. We finally made it to a place where were could set up camp and got it up before the rest of the storm hit. However, the storm had pretty much died down and made for a quite, clear evening. Again we gathered some fire wood to start a fire and had dinner. We sat around the fire listening to and telling more stories. It’s amazing how the stories never really ended and they just keep adding to one another. Again, the full moon came out and lit up the surrounding area very nicely. Once the fire had died down and we decided it was starting to get cold it was time for bed. Total mileage for today was about 85 miles.

DAY 4

That night another good storm came through and soaked the camp. Fortunately this time we had remembered to bring the rain fly for the tent (not like our Havasupai trip last year) and I also covered up my bike with a poncho so I knew my stuff would be dry in the morning. Morning came and was colder than the others. We struggled getting a fire going at first because the wood we had stocked up was nice and damp from the previous storm but with some perseverance we were able to get the blaze going. I had packed up everything before getting out of the tent that morning so I was able to stay close to the fire and keep warm while everyone else finished packing up. We decided to wait for the sun to come up all the way before we left so it could dry out the tents and the bikes. No one knows why but that morning the sun was particularly slow coming over the mountain and down into the canyon. It didn’t matter though; we had a short distance to travel and plenty of time to do it so we enjoyed the warmth of the fire and continued with the stories. The sun finally broke over, dried up the tents and we broke camp. We all lined up for one final picture of the group before heading down the mountain. We double backed along the trail we came up until coming to a fork in the road where we took a different trail to a town called Richfield. We came down off the mountain through the switchbacks of the canyon and entered Richfield. From here we cut through the town and followed a canal all the way to Salina where the four wheeling adventure came to an end. That day we rode about 35 miles and the GPS gave an overall mileage of 195 for the loop.

We loaded the bikes back onto the trailers, jumped into the vans and we were off. We made it back to Hill Air Force Base around 3:30, hosed off the bikes so they were clean for the next group to use them and then headed back home for a long awaited shower.

I’ve been on some good backpacking and hiking trips before and all though they have all been different and difficult to compare to one another I would half to say that this has been one of my favorite trips. The variety of scenery that we passed through and the company new friends made this one of the more enjoyable trips. If you ever have the opportunity to take a trip like this I would strongly suggest that you do so. You won’t regret it.