1st day out, I headed northwest of Moab to play on the Orange trail and other nearby trails. Beautiful day up around 100. Found some of my favorites had been closed off but found new ones that I liked maybe even more. Headed back to the truck around 1pm to top off with fuel then hit the trails near Dee Pass.
2nd day washed out with rain
3rd and 4 the day I spent up in the La Sal Mtns. I was impressed how well the trails have been posted by the BLM and forest service over previous years. I rode the usual 50” trails; 979, 983, and 981. I really liked the atv trail that leads up to Geyser Pass Rd. Can’t remember the # but it is the red colored track in the attachment. For those who are not familiar with the trails in that area, my all time favorite is a rocky technical trail that is colored black. It makes a great alternate loop. To put it into perspective of the Geyser Pass and La Sal Pass roads I have it colored black and Geyser green and La Sal blue. I prefer to do it counter clockwise because the steeper sections of loose rock are ridden upwards and more fun.
Day 5 found myself over on Onion Creek and into Thompson Canyon. Long day but well worth it.
Day 6 Well I planned on finally riding the Behind the Reef trail in the San Rafael Swell The plan was to ride that and some of the other spurs from that trail then pick my daughter up at the Amtrak station in Green River at 6pm. I parked near Goblin State Park and figured I needed to be back at the truck by 5pm. So I took off from the east end. Absolutely loved that trail. About 11:30am I stopped for a bite to eat, got back on the Grizzly and… nothing. Would crank but wouldn’t turn over and kept popping a code 12 on the pod. I do all the maintenance on our fleet of ATV’s and knew 12 meant Crankshaft Position Sensor issue. This part is tied into the stator. I was just east of Bullberry Spring. That is where you come down a very narrow stretch that is reinforced with cable. If it wasn’t for the fact that I needed to pick up my daughter I would have hiked all the way back and spent the night in the Swell. But as such I called the Emery County dispatch and explained my situation and asked if they could at least take my daughter to a motel. They said to stay put and they would have the deputy that patrols the Swell pick me up. I asked what type of vehicle he had, she said a truck. Told her “not happening” He wouldn’t be able to get where I was. I told her to have him meet me at the junction of Emery county rd 1012 and the BTR trail in 4 hrs. Beat him there by 5 minutes. He drove me back to my truck with many stories of people who he has rescued out there, on a weekly basis .no less. I did have a little redemption of my pride when he said that I was the most prepared person he has ever picked up. My daughter and I went back the next day and recovered the Grizzly, had the part 1 day shipped to Moab and was back up riding after that. Not the first time I have had to hike out, but it was the most beautiful. Oh and the hottest too. That deputy is going to get a nice surprise on me.
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Day 7 was used to recover my Grizzly from the before mentioned episode.
Day 8 my daughter and I headed to the Book Cliffs near Crescent Junction. Spent the day checking out relics of past times.
Day 9 was spent putting new stator on the Grizzly, saved over $500 doing it myself vs the dealer. That includes over nighting the part to the Mailing depot in Moab. Lost a day of riding but it was worth it.
Day 10 my daughter and I played around the Orange trail area and headed down into the 10 Mile Wash. I let her take the lead and was following her when all of a sudden she slammed on the brakes. 20 yards away was a coyote. No big deal at first, we live in a county with the highest population of coyotes in the state. BUT. Broad daylight, 2 atv’s flying down the trail.. and he ain’t running away. Kept turning in circles and patchy hair missing, yep it more than likely was rabid. Then it moved towards us, Mr. Glock took care of that issue. Many of my friends ask why I think I need a weapon when I ride. That would have gotten real ugly real fast if not for my side arm.
Day 11 found us in the Book Cliffs but further East. We took off north from Cisco, very unimpressive until you get into the Cliffs them selves. And even then we commented that it wasn’t as scenic as the Cliffs near Crescent Junction. That changed when we started back and crossed I-70. to the south. You would have thought you were on the Orange trail south of Green River. Defiantly going to explore that area when I come back out.
Day 12 we spent just hanging out at the house because I knew the next day we would tire ourselves out.
Day 13 we headed to the La Sals’s to hike up Mt. Peal. Nothing technical but hiking over those rocks all the way to the top was enough to hold me for a while.
Day 14 we headed to the Swell because we were going to pick up my wife and son at the train station at 6pm that evening. The plan was to stage at Hatt Ranch ride through Black Dragon Canyon, north on Buckhorn Draw Rd. to the Wedge Overlooks, then south on Fuller’s Bottom rd. then North Coal Wash, Eagle Canyon and back to the truck. Remember I said the THE PLAN WAS… Last year we had planned to do the same ride in reverse order and were stopped at Fullers Bottom because of the flash flooding of the river the night before. This year we got to the river and you could name it Fuller’s Bottomless. Don’t get me wrong, I think I’m part hog, I love riding in the mud. That’s one reason I built our house where it is because I have a small 5 acre section of our land that is a swamp. But I don’t come to Utah to play in the mud. We investigated the crossing for over a half hour looking for the best way to cross and nothing seemed real good. I decided to go straight across where at one time it was all gravel. Just about to the south side and the Grizzly sank all the way over the tires in mud. The water was about 3 inches higher than that. Locked all 4 tires in and still had to winch it back to the north side. So we back tracked all the way back and barely made it in time to pick up the rest of the family. Needless to say I was not dressed for dinner at the Moab Brewery that night. I promised my wife we could go there when she arrived, well that was changed to the following night.
The next couple of days I went riding with my son. He is autistic (Asperger's Syndrome) so the trails we ride need to be Matt approved. My wife had neck surgery so riding was out for her so we stayed close to home and tried to keep her from being too disappointed about not riding for the remainder of our time near Moab.
Took my big ride from Moab to Marysvale on Aug 16. Started at Dome Plateau, headed into the Book Cliffs north of Crescent Junction and headed west then straight down into Green River. West through the Swell to Justensens Flat, Copper Globe then hit the Gooseberry frontage road. I must say, while not technical that part was scenic all the way to Salina. Headed out of Salina on P 53. 1st time I had ridden that route. Beautiful through that Canyon. Took the P 41 over the Mountain into Annabella then onto Marysvale. 348 miles and 15hrs later I was ready to see the cabin, but I had a ball.
Made the mistake of taking my son on the Rocky Ford. He did it, but he was whupping my butt for the next couple of days. More pics to come soon.