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In a split decision, a federal appeals court panel in Denver ruled Tuesday that Kane County had no authority to remove signs restricting off-highway vehicle use, and put up new signs inviting such use, in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and other areas overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.
It's uncertain whether Kane County will appeal the latest decision in this long-simmering case.
After removing 31 signs in 2003, the county put its own signs on hundreds of roads within the monument and outside it, asserting it had authority to manage them under a Reconstruction-era statute known as R.S. 2477, passed by Congress to allow road development throughout the west. That law was repealed in 1976, although existing roads were grandfathered.
In 2005, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and The Wilderness Society sued the county over the sign swapping and in May 2008, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell ruled Kane County was in the wrong: It hadn't proved in court that it owned the roads in question, so the federal government got to decide how those rights of way should be used.
Two judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver agreed with Campbell; Justice Michael McConnell, a former Utahn, dissented, arguing that Kane County shouldn't have to prove in court that it owns the roads. He also sided with Kane County's argument that the environmental groups had no standing in the case and said the ruling will
only make it more difficult to resolve the property issue."By holding that counties have no valid existing rights to manage or maintain roads over federal land without first going to court, the majority today has made mutual accommodation more difficult," McConnell wrote.
Kane County has the option of appealing the ruling to all the judges in the Tenth Circuit and, if it loses there, to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kane County commissioner Doug Heaton said he was disappointed by the decision.
"I think federal government power has been increasing markedly and local government and private citizen power has decreased, and that is not a good thing," he said. "But I am confident that the county commission will do the right thing and obey the law. I am not sure where we will go from here."
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance associate director Heidi McIntosh said the court confirmed that Kane County cannot take the law into its own hands by ripping down BLM signs that closed areas to protect resources or archaeological sites. By citing the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, she added, the court also dealt a blow to proponents of the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, who argue that federal ownership of public lands is unconstitutional.
"The Sagebrush Rebellion is based on a fallacy, but it's always good for the court to remind people of the status quo," she said.
McIntosh said there are still 908 miles of open road in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that provide plenty of public access.
Neither Campbell nor the 10th Circuit judges ruled on whether the roads in question are valid rights of way under R.S. 2477. Mark Ward, a policy analyst for the Utah Association of Counties, which became a party to the suit on behalf of Kane County, found hope in that.
"We are encouraged that the 10th Circuit majority opinion made it crystal clear that not a single road in the monument has been deemed invalid," said Ward.
McIntosh said a trial on R.S. 2477 claims will begin in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City on Sept. 14, when San Juan County will argue that the National Park Service had no right to close the Salt Creek Road in Canyonlands National Park because it qualified as an R.S. 2477 road.
Former BLM director Pat Shea, now a Salt Lake City attorney who joined the environmentalists in the Kane County case along with past agency directors Jim Baca and Mike Dombeck, said he hoped Kane County residents and political leaders begin making Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument into an economic engine rather than viewing it as a lemon.
"It's always nice when you win but when it is winning over an effort to have bad public policy, it still leaves a distaste in my mouth because of how much money was spent," he said.
Episode 5 contains more hang gliding, ATV riding and comedy.
Since we were just going to stay home this Independence Day weekend, I took Saturday to ride up along the Skyline drive between Farmington and Bountiful. Total mileage: 60.
Even though the weather was threatening to rain/storm, I still decided to head out. I never ride without my rain poncho and wet weather gear, so wasn't too worried.
The staging location (just to the right of the "B") has recently been covered in asphalt, making parking a bit better (no dust/pot holes, etc). If you've never been up here, you can park and stage in this area: N 40 53 45.12 W 111 50 43.44.
For the most part, the riding was quite enjoyable. Up top, temperatures easily dropped to ~50F, while down below it was approaching ~90F. The wind howled, but the rains never started up top, but could be seen hammering the valley far below.
Looking to the West, toward the Great Salt Lake:
Above photo is hiding my latest geocache placement (the Skyline Cairn).
A brief video on the ride up to the FAA/Radar Station:
Once I finished riding around up top, I decided to get back down and prepare Prime Rib for the family. As a final distraction, I took a side trail (marked as the USFS 288). Going down wasn't too bad, but the trail then looped back upward and that's when I discovered this trail was a vehicle grave yard. Climbing back up was tough. More winch work than I can recall.
Downhill, the 288 was smooth riding (until the creek):
The trail was picturesque:
The vehicle graveyard:
Steep and off-camber trail sections:
On Sunday, I met a group at the One Man Band Diner in Spanish Fork. Breakfast was great. The restaurant was a combination of Village Inn & the Training Table.
From that point, we drove up Spanish Fork Canyon (Hwy 6) east toward Price about 20 miles.
The Garmin Mapsource tracks are attached: TieForkCanyon.gdb
The SPOT .KML for use in Google is:TieFork.kml
Tie Fork Canyon is easily a combination of the 76 Trail (Kimberly) along the Paiute and the Skyline drive above Bountiful. Large pines and Aspen cover the mountain, providing plenty of shade; small water crossings abound as well.
Along for the ride were Arnie Cooper (aka Coop), our trail guide, Jim and his wife Laura (I believe). The three of them were all on 700cc KingQuads, and I on my trusty Kawasaki Brute Force 750i (Fuel Injected).
This YouTube video was sent to me by Arnie Cooper. He's going to show me Trail 311 at Tie Fork Canyon on Sunday. I'm looking forward to a new area.
Trail head is at: N 39 57.032 W 111 13.037
My older brother and younger sister came into town (at the same time). My brother was here to take a bit of time off and to help get my Durango running again, while my younger sister (only sister) was stopping by while en route to Zion National Park.
On Sunday, we went for a little ride to the North/East corner of Five Mile Pass. At that location, I thought I had destroyed the motor on my 2008 Kawi Brute Force 750i (400 miles on it so far) by hitting a large puddle too hard and ingesting water into the intake.
On Tuesday, we did an 86 mile loop from Five Mile Pass, through Eureka, around the Tintic Mountains and back. We all had a great time and many photos/videos were taken.
Follow along on our adventure:
North/East corner of Five Mile Pass, en route to the mud bowl:
At the mud bowl, and ingesting water into the intake!
Getting towed out by my 2005 BF 750i!
Short video of the tow process:
Yet another perspective on the tow-operation:
It was quite sad to have my new machine grounded while my brother and brother-in-law continued to play in the puddle.
From this point, I was towed back to my truck and got to hang out while I let everyone else do further trail riding and exploring. It was the end of my day.
The following Tuesday, I took the day off to again take my brother and two nieces on a long ride around the Tintic Mountains. I've done this ride several times already, but my brother was interested in a long ride with varying terrain and this was the perfect ride for that.
Me prepping to lead the adventure:
From this location, we circled around the mountains to the South of the staging area before proceeding toward the Tintic mountains. The weather was great. After all the rain and storms, there wasn't much dust, but there were still massive muddy puddles everywhere. In short time, we were all accumulating mud on everything.
Active mining area near Topliff:
One of our first stops before circling around to the East side of Black Rock Canyon was the geocache named "Crappy place for a great cache"; easily one of the most unique geocaches I've ever found.
Me inspecting the "bowl"
From there, everyone else was intrigued as well. What the "crap" was I doing they asked"?
From here, we rode through Twelve Mile pass and started the ride up Black Rock Canyon from the East side. Not a single other person/ATV in sight. It was a beautful day.
<rant on> Half-way up the mouth of the canyon, I encountered a very scared Yellow Labrador that appeared to have been abandoned. He was too skittish of me, the machine and helmet to approach, but was definitely tired and hungry. I'm sickened by the amount of animals I find in the desert that are wantonly abandoned. </rant off>
Near the top of Black Rock Canyon (from the East side), there's a live stock watering hole. I'm not certain if this hole was incidental or man-made, but this is where we stopped for a quick lunch.
Here's a video showing the ride up to the watering hole:
From this point, we continued over the canyon to the West side and banked north toward the microwave towers overlooking Hwy6.
We stopped in Eureka for fuel, snacks and a brief break. While there, everyone enjoyed the Rockwell Cabin.
From this point, we proceeded up the canyon to the immediate West of Eureka and decided to ride to the top of Overlook Point.
A quick video on the ride up:
Episode 3 contains part 1 of the Marina Steeple Chase (hang gliding race), plus more ATV riding, hang gliding, skiing, snowboarding and comedy. Have you ever wondered how people learn to hang glide? This episode includes a segment that shows you.
Special thanks to Carmela Moreno for letting us use the outstanding footage she shot at the Marina Steeple Chase.
Updated 16 June 2009 @ 12:46pm
Seems I was provided with a YouTube link. The Jacob City Loop trail was officially opened on the 9th of June by Tooele County.
Approx. location to the trail head is: N 40 25 18.12 W 112 19 14.89
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The weather was forecast to be rainy with occasional thunderstorms all weekend long. I didn't allow this to deter me from getting out and doing a bit of exploring.
On Saturday, I loaded up and drove out to Stockton (just south of Tooele) to try riding up and over Jacob City from that canyon. The weather upon arrival at the staging area was perfect. The sun was out and a few clouds were gathering overhead.
Half-way up the canyon, it started to rain. I parked the ATV and put on my wet-weather gear (yes, I do carry them with me everywhere). I continued to the top and discovered that Tooele County has now marked a new trail called the "Jacob City Loop". It goes up above Jacob City, to the other side of the canyon and back down. At top, the option exists to cross over and drop into Ophir.
The South side of the Jacob City loop is far more technical than the North side. The North side is mostly suited for vehicles (trucks, jeeps, etc). The South side is very narrow (barely wide enough for my ATV) and rutty/rocky.
I'll be setting up an ATV event in the next few weeks. Ideally, I'll want to ride from Mercur through Ophir, do the Jacob City Loop and try to find a route back (possibly parallel the Chemical Depot fence along Highway 73).
On Sunday, the weather appeared to be cloud-free (at 0900), so I again loaded up and head out to the Five Mile Pass area. My intent was to ride in the 10-12mile pass location. I decided to explore the canyons just to the North and East of 10 mile pass. I found two great box canyons and hiked to the top of both.
After hiking to the top of the second, it was still sunny, but I could hear thunder in the distance, but I couldn't see anything (due to the mountain obstructing my view to the West).
I decided to climb down and ride out of the canyon. Upon exiting the canyon, I could see the ominous clouds and thunder a mere 3 or so miles to the South/West. I knew I was going to be caught up in it.
Five minutes later, the thunder and lightning was striking all around me, heavy rain followed by hail began and there was nowhere to hide. I decided that it was better to ride out (FAST) than to stay put in that area.
Needless to say, I arrived back at the truck soaked, muddy and tired from riding so recklessly through the desert.
What a great weekend!
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