ATV Ride 6-7-15 - The Road to Brian Head

After successfully completing our loop on our last ATV ride, we decided to head out on another adventure. This time we would find a way to get to Brian Head using just the ATV trails. Once in Brian Head Village, we would have a pizza and beer lunch. The trail we started out on seemed like it would be a real time saver, as it went straight up and over a mountain peak, and would seemingly save us time. As we neared the base of the mountain, though, we discovered that someone owned that mountain peak, and no trespassing signs were posted.

Of course, I always have to stop to photograph the flowers!

So, we headed back down the mountain, and started back up the trail we had used on our last ride.

This time the trees had finally put on their spring green leaves.

Eventually we got sprinkled on, but we had brought our rain gear, so it wasn't a big deal!

We saw about 8 buck deer along the way. Where were they when we were hunting in October?

We found another waterfall to photograph. This one is near the one we shot on the last ride, in the Dry Lakes Creek area. Last time it wasn't this pretty, though.

We finally reached our destination. Here is the view of Brian Head Peak from the Brian Head Ski Resort. We followed the trails into town, and had a delicious pizza and some ice cold beers. Since we still had the rest of the afternoon ahead of us, we decided to do some exploring on the way back.

Just outside the village, on the edge of the ski area, we found this overlook with a really great view into the Ashdown Gorge Wilderness. By this time is was clouded over and sprinkling rain, so most of my photos got washed out.

We also decided that the Twisted Forest Trail Head warranted some further investigation. Turns out the twisted aspen trees along the road just before the trail head had nothing to do with the Twisted Forest. It is made up of these little, twisted bristlecone pines living in an area that seems impossible for pine trees to grow. This little patch of desert isn't visible from the road, and the trail leading down to it was short and an easy walk (it would be much easier if we were more in shape!)

Our next exploration had us traveling a snowmobile trail. We found a bright green meadow and an awesome view of Cedar Breaks National Monument.

On the way back down the trail, toward Summit, I had Willie stop so I could snap a picture of these cliffs. I'm glad that I did, because the lighting was pretty cool!

On this trip we were a little better prepared. We remembered our camp shovel, an axe, and a tarp. We packed up all our necessities, which gave me the opportunity to dump out, inventory and reassemble my day pack. (That will be an upcoming post.) We made sure that we had some emergency food, and a means by which to cook it. 

We've also got all the gear we need to go camping, should we ever want to ride the ATV out, find a spot to set up camp, and stay the night. Everything is just the right size to fit in our little dump bed and/or storage compartments. We didn't take it with us this time, but it may come in handy at some point.

ATV Ride 5/30/15 - Summit Loop

This past Saturday Willie and I took our new side by side out to explore the network of trails near our home. We had no idea we were so close to so many gorgeous views! We set out from Summit, Utah and hit the trails, making a loop around so that we would end up back in Summit by the end of the trip. Here's some of the cool stuff that we saw:

Our first stop on the loop afforded us a glimpse of Brian Head Peak in the distance...

Brian Head Peak

...As well as Sugarloaf Mountain.

Sugarloaf Mountain

The next series of photos is a waterfall where one of the creeks came down the mountain, crossed the road, and then turned back into a waterfall to continue down the mountain. This was in the Dry Lakes Creek area, near the Twisted Forest Trailhead, but I'm not entirely sure which creek this one actually is. It was pretty cool, so I took lots of shots. There's even a picture of our side-by-side "conquering" the creek.

The twisted trees of the Twisted Forest Trailhead, which is right on the edge of the Ashdown Gorge Wilderness.

On our stop at the Twisted Forest Trailhead we began to be able to see over into Cedar Breaks National Monument. These next photos were taken at three different stops along the way. The middle three photos are the same ridge. I took three shots of it so that I could get the whole thing.

And, of course, I can't go anywhere without taking pictures of flowers! This little tiny, itty bitty plant was near the Twisted Forest Trailhead. I haven't been able to positively identify it yet, but it looks like a flowering succulent of some sort.

I'm fairly certain that these cute flowers are Little Sunflowers. We found a whole meadow that was just full of these little guys! The plants didn't grow very tall, as you can see, but each plant had at least a half dozen flowers on it.

There were other cool plants, waterfalls, cliffs, and scenic overlooks, but they were in areas where it was too dangerous to stop, or at the end of our trip when we didn't have as much time to stop and photograph. We were surprised to learn just how geographically close we are to Brian Head Ski Resort and Cedar Breaks National Monument. When you don't have to follow the main roads you can get to places like that a lot easier.

On this trip out we were really glad that we had our riding gear: glasses, hats, and kerchiefs to keep the dust and bugs out of our mouths. Willie remembered sunblock, I did not. We brought along our map, which had all the trails marked, so that we could plan out our trip. We brought beverages, and remembered toilet paper at the last minute. We also brought jackets and waterproof clothing. Our ATV doesn't have a roof, so if it started to rain we would definitely be needing those! Lastly we brought tools and a tire repair kit, in case something happened to the ATV.

There were also some things that we had wished we had. The first thing is a shovel or entrenching tool. If you have to poop in the woods, it's always best to bury it. It also comes in handy to have one if you get your vehicle stuck. The next thing we thought up is a Gerber Shard. It is a bottle opener, phillips head screwdriver, flat head screwdriver, and prying tool and it goes on your keychain. Next was a tarp, in case of a sudden heavy downpour, or in case you need a shady spot to rest on a long trip. It also occurred to me while we were out and about that we didn't bring any food with us, so I've started making some 72 hour food supplies that we can stow in our ATV for outings. You never know what might happen, right?