BruteForce: Search Results

2022 Christmas fun in the snow

By James King on December 26, 2022 8:10 AM

Good times! Alexander King and I jumped in the CanAm X3 (2 seat ATV) and decided to attempt a full loop around Panguitch Lake. We started offroad at Brandi Morgan Dickinson house, followed the trail due south and came down to HWY143 via Hatch Mountain Rd. We plowed fresh snow for a good 5 miles.

We then circled all of Panguitch Lake before catching the Horse Valley Rd route back North and toward home. We hit snow and I was positive I was following TIRE tracks.. NOPE. The minute we slid off trail, we sank 2.5-3' into deep powder. We were following snow mobile tracks!

No trees in front of me and the nearest trees to the rear were over 100' away. I used all the winch and recovery line I had with me (I had about 200' of length). We had only about 5 more feet to get out of the deep stuff before the winch cable snapped!

I then decided that this Search and Rescue guy needed his Jeep to rescue him. I found a spot that gave me ONE BAR of cell reception, called the Trish and gave her basic coordinates to where we were located. I knew her navigation and Jeep skills (in snow) weren't great, so thought it best that I start hiking 3+ miles back toward the lake in case she got stuck. Well, she got stuck and I could hear her hitting the horn. Noticed she didn't have lockers on, so kicked those on, got the Jeep out and proceeded to the CanAm. That snow is DEEP. Waist deep when you step out of the snow mobile tracks.

What a great day! Seriously.. Pics and vids

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Garmin tracks for the area: Panguitch.gdb

114 Miles–Color Country to Paiute trail

By James King on July 13, 2022 7:22 AM

On Sunday, 10 July 2022, 4 of us departed Panguitch town, due west along the Sawmill road area en route to Circleville.

We’d run a good section of the southern most Brian Head burn scar (M18, M23, etc) before crossing SR20 at Buckskin area.

As we’ve had no rain for months, trail conditions were unreal dusty, but especially the last turn on the Color Country before we connected to the Paiute.

Snow rides on the Fremont02 trail

By James King on March 28, 2022 5:58 AM

Two weekends in a row, we attempted to run both South and North from our ranch near Panguitch. The South route was passable, but only after much winching the Wolverine (though my Polaris XP 1000 made short work of the snow).

The following weekend, a few of us attempted to head North toward Circleville. We got about 1 mile to the top (around 9100’) before the snow was just too deep to complete the ride. We backtracked, ran up Horse Valley and attempted to come down from the top. Again, we likely got to within 1 mile of our prior backtrack. Much winching was done by the Highlifter ATV’s..

Great days!

Hog Canyon–Jan 2022

By James King on January 18, 2022 6:23 AM

Yesterday, a few of us trailered south toward Kanab, staged at Hog Canyon, then spent a few hours winching our machines up the 04 trail. Red Diamond rated, rutted up, steep up-hill and melting snow made it quite a challenge. Two of us made it up, the others turned around.. Great day, followed by a quick trek to the Barracks where we conquered sand mountain!

Garmin tracks included in this post..

Above photos are from the morning sunrise at the KLR (my small ranch near Panguitch)

At first glance, and laying on the ground, I thought this was thong underwear (because there were a ton of alcohol bottles nearby too), but NOPE - COVID mask way up here on the trail. COME ON, PEOPLE!!

Garmin tracks below..

Hog-PeekaBoo.gdb

Flash Flood of Lime Kiln Creek

By James King on August 18, 2021 5:58 PM

My new home is adjacent Lime Kiln Creek, normally a dry wash. Over the course of most of August, we got hammered by rain and Lime Kiln Creek turns into a raging river from all the rain up in Bryce Canyon / Casto Canyon area.

While this flooding doesn't directly impact my property (we've raised our lot well above the flood zone), the wash does cross what used to be a bridge. Water used to go UNDER the road leading to my house, but now that culvert is 100% plugged up and now that raging flood rushes over the top of the road making it impassable. It happened again today..

Circleville to Panguitch and Back

By James King on August 17, 2015 7:58 AM

On Friday, 14 August and immediately after ending the work day, my youngest son (Nick, age 17) and I departed for Big Rock Candy Mountain in central Utah.

I had that very morning reserved a room at the BRCM Motel; a place I will likely not stay again. We had an outstanding supper at Hoovers (me: 18 oz Prime Rib, Nick: Burger w/Hoover fries).

While sitting outside the motel enjoying a cigar, I approach a large group a few rooms over and we began discussing trails and riding options. It would seem at least one member of their group recognized me as he had my Facebook profile photo up on his phone.

The following morning, we departed at 0730 to enjoy a quiet breakfast at Butch Cassidys in Circleville. We got there at exactly 0800 when the establishment opened. The waitress, a very nice lady with a thick New York accent went above and beyond, giving me two maps for the Markagunt and Panguitch Loop areas. Score! The drive into Circleville was spectacular, with the sun just coming up over the mountains. With nobody on HWY89, I pulled to the side to take a few photos:

After concluding breakfast, we went straight up the mountain via the Paiute 01, destination: Panguitch!

Trails covered were as follows:

Paiute 01 --> Paiute 88 South --> Paiute 67 --> Paiute 68 West --> Markagunt trail system South --> cross HWY20 --> Markagunt 02 Trail East --> Unknown trails South and into Panguitch --> Casto Canyon --> Fremont 01 --> Fremont 02 --> Horse Valley/Canyon trail --> Circleville and back to the truck.

Total mileage for the loop was just under 150 miles!

Within just seconds of coming off the Markagunt trail system and hitting asphalt into Panguitch, the sky opened up with rain, lightning & thunder. Our original plan was to fuel up and head into Casto Canyon to make camp (tent) there. Instead, we rolled across the street to "Church's Blue Pine Motel". On the outside, it looked sketchy, but to our delight, the rooms (we had 3 bed, 2 room + bathroom) was totally awesome and clean. It was now near 5pm and time for supper. Usually we'd go to the Cowboy smoke/steak house, but this time we walked next door to Foy's Country Corner restaurant. Nick was brave (or stupid) and ordered Teriyaki stir fry, while I just got a turkey sandwich.

Across the street, we saw the movie theater / ice cream store. Watch a movie while eating Ice Cream. Unfortunately, they only had two movies and neither was appealing, so we opted for ice cream alone.

After a fine cigar sitting outside the Motel room, we watched the sky light up with thunder, lightning and rain. We watched the tourists run about taking photos of virtually everything on Main street.

The following morning (Sunday), we decided to depart by around 0800. Not a cloud in the sky, the day was going to be perfect!

We ran main street / HWY89 to the Casto Canyon trailhead/turn-off and hit the dirt.

Not too far into Casto Canyon, we decided to stop and make breakfast. I broke out my backpacking stove, old canteen cup and our favorite breakfast stuff + some awesome instant Filipino coffee.

The rising sun and the reflection against the red/orange Hoodo's was breaktaking!

Slightly more than halfway through, I let Nick take point. I'm thinking he thought it was a race, he tore up the canyon so fast. At one point, he almost got his machine sideways:

Casto Canyon via YouTube

At the 2:56 mark, you can see Nick almost get sideways!

Sadly, Casto Canyon is only ~5 miles long. It is interesting to note that to enter, you must go through a super small 50" gate, but to exit at the North end, you have a ~60 inch or so wide gate. I'm wondering how many have entered from the North, only to find they can't exit the south side.

Onto the Fremont trail we continued. With the sky clear and cloudless, the scenery was just amazing.

Somewhere along the trail, we encountered a slightly steep, loose gravel section that required me to tow Nick up. I tossed the winch cable underneath the machine, hooked up, put in 4WD/Low gear and up we went..

What a fantastic weekend to share with my youngest son, Nick. It's looking favorable I'll do this trip again in late September when its a bit cooler out.

Garmin tracks for this trip found here:

Circleville-to-Panguitch.gdb

161 Miles: Marysvale to Panguitch and back (a loop)

By James King on September 11, 2012 4:04 PM

On 01 Sept 2012 - 03 Sept 2012 (over Labor Day weekend), I set out for Lizzie -n- Charlies RV Park in Marysvale, Utah.

GPSr tracks here: Marysvale-to-Panguitch-Loop.gdb

Our goal was to complete a full loop from Marysvale to Panguitch and back, staying overnight in Panguitch before returning back to Marysvale.

We departed Marysvale at 0930 Saturday morning, following the Paiute 02 trail until it connected to the Paiute 01 South. We climbed elevation until reaching about 11,600' near Delano Peak. The views were breath taking.

After bypassing the Beaver High Adventure Camp and Three Creeks, we started onto the Paiute 88 trail. This trail was a very narrow two-track surrounded on all sides by Aspen and Pine. As the kids soon discovered, the trail was also quite technical in sections, with tight switchbacks, loads of rocks and other obstacles.

The 88 trail seemed to last 50 miles, as it just went forever. Somewhere high above and West of Junction, East of Beaver, we finally connected to the Paiute 67 trail and continued out southbound journey.

Again, we continued southbound until reaching the 68 trail, which then took us out of the Paiute trail system and onto the Panguitch system. At this point, the trail was foreign and not on my GPSr tracks, so we relied on our compass to continue navigating us to the South and to the East.

Finally, at around 7pm, we could see in the distance Bryce Canyon and what looked to be Panguitch (albeit three mountains to our East).

We continued on. Butts were sore, kids (and I) were hungry and tired. At this point, we were about 90 miles into the days journey.

We pressed on and finally made it into the far South/West corner of Panguitch. We checked into the New Bryce Western Motel, cleaned up and walked over to the Cowboy Steakhouse. Steaks were awesome, but I forgot this place specializes in traditional smoked/BBQ and not in fire grilled steaks.

Day 2: We fuel up and start searching for a place to have breakfast. A local informs us that a truck stop 3 blocks away serves breakfast. We are the only customers. We eat, head back to the motel to pick up the last of our gear and head out.

With everyone being exausted after Day 1 and the 101 miles covered, we decide to skip Casto Canyon and instead, follow the Fremont 02 trail into Circleville. Most of the Fremont 02 is wide open roads, so our speeds were averaging 30-35 mph. We were making great time!

At Circleville, we turn East and catch the Paiute 01 and follow that North, stopping for a brief break just before crossing Kingston Canyon.

Again, the trail pretty much was wide open throttle until we again reached the junction of the 01 and 02 into Marysvale.

We arrived back at camp filthy, exhausted and glad to be back!

Invite: ATV Panguitch to Marysvale overnight

By James King on July 23, 2012 7:32 AM

I am hosting an ATV overnight ride from the Panguitch KOA to Marysvale or the Castlerock Campground.

Date: Saturday 1 Sept. 2012
Stage: Panguitch KOA
Time: 0900am

What to wear/bring:

Wet weather gear
Jacket or sweat shirt (temps can drop quickly at elevation)
Gloves, boots, helmet, goggles
One change of clothes (for the overnight)
Tent/sleeping bag/overnight gear (if we tent instead of stay in a cabin or other lodging in Marysvale)
Snacks, water/drinks
ATV w/extra 4gal of fuel (we can fuel up in Panguitch, Circleville and Marysvale)

Jim possible track logs.pdf

Brothers Ride 1

By James King on September 13, 2011 9:05 PM

Over Labor Day weekend (2011), both my brothers came into town. My oldest brother is retired Air Force, now IT Tech residing in Vacaville, CA. My youngest brother is a 7-8th grade Math teacher, residing in Olympia, WA. Although my oldest brother hunts and camps a bit, he and my youngest brother are still inexperienced ATV'ers.

My plan was to stage at the Panguitch KOA (south end of town), get the guys oriented with the machines on Day 1 (ride toward Bryce Canyon, etc.). On Day 2, our plan was to ATV tent/camp at Castlerock Campground, just off I-70 and West of Richfield (over 100 miles to the North).

Garmin tracks and Google KML found here:

Panguitch_to_Marysvale.gdb

spot_messages.kml

Day 1: Staging at the KOA. We had hoped to come in Friday night, but the KOA owners were worried that our rig was so big that we'd take their trees and power lines down. Apparently through the night, they had friends at work clearing branches and making the campground accessible to our monster-5th wheel. I'm sure glad they did. It was still tight.

Day 1 went without issue. Both brothers proved they could handle the machines, not get lost or destroy anything. We retired back to the 5th wheel for the evening. Overnight, the temperatures dropped to the mid-30's. Far too cold to get up and turn-on the furnace. My brothers, now sleeping in the garage area (on two drop-down queen beds) were freezing and had no issues with telling me so the next morning. That morning, we got an updated map of the area and instructions from the KOA owners that temps overnight had been getting very cold. My youngest brother and I were the only two to have packed sweatshirts. My oldest brother started seeking out a source to purchase on (no success).

Off we went. Our first leg was to ride through the entire Casto/Lime-Kiln loop. After that, it was the Fremont 02 trail to Circleville.

As my older brother was staging this video, I had just had a collision (low-speed) with a tree. I pushed in the right headlight, bumper and frame. I was upset as evidenced in the second video below where I ram the gate and create new suspension issues that won't manifest for another ~80 miles. (upper A-arm bushing)