Over Memorial weekend, we made the 5 hour journey South-East (30 miles from the Colorado border), just off I-70 at exit 131. Our goal was to enjoy a new section of the San Rafael Swell (the Swell) and camp along the North side, instead of our usual location near Temple Mountain and Goblin Valley. The North side is chock full of great off roading adventures, to include :The Devils Racetrack, Buckhorn wash/draw, Head of Sinbad and many others. The most enjoyable and challenging area of riding was easily the Devil's Racetrack. Although I knew about this location, we didn't plan on riding it until we stumbled upon the trailhead. With us were my 15 year old son (Alex), my 12 year old son (Nick), my nephews (Zach, Skyler), my neice (Megan) and my brother-in-law and his friend Jeff. I decided to ride up for the first 3 miles or so to determine if the kids could make it. There were a few rugged stair climbs and slick rock sections, but after that, it seemed to level out. I turned around and indicated that we could probably get the entire group up. What a mistake that was... A few photos from the trip:
Camp
This guy was stinking up the area and completely blocking the trail. I had to winch him off the trail.
Underneath him were frogs, apparently eating away at the underside of this sheep. Carnivorous frogs?
Our first planned ride and Zach’s machine blows out the CVT belt less than 2 miles from camp!
The “Head of Sinbad”
Rest break along Coal Wash:
One of the many natural arches we encountered:
Zach and GF climbing the rock pile.
Spectators at the top of the Devils Racetrack.
Original Source - Posted w/permission
Guess what's in Episode 6? Yup, more hang gliding, ATV riding and comedy.
After having my new 5th wheel Toy Hauler in service for 4 weeks, we’ve finally got it back. The downside is that the dealer didn’t order the correct colored decals, so we have mis-matched decals on the door (original was grey, the dealer installed black).
Additionally, my Brute Force 750i ATV is again back from yet another front cylinder rebuild. The dealer feels confident they’ve finally figured out the issue: Oil hose was blocked, preventing oil from reaching the front and rear cylinder.
I’ll be heading out tomorrow (Friday, March 12th), to put at least 60+ miles on the ATV to confirm that it’s been repaired, then its a phone call to Kawasaki to have them extend my warranty.
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:
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).
