Stories tagged: atv

#<strong>Five Mile Pass</strong>

Twice in the past month I have had the chance to head to Five Mile Recreation area in the west desert. The first trip was with Mike, we will cover it in our upcoming podcast. The second was with my brother in law who was visiting from Idaho. <strong>Five Mile Pass</strong> is located about 25 Miles west of Lehi. Head west on Lehi Main Street for about 30 minutes and you are there. You will pass through Cedar Fort and Fairfield and the staging area is just off the highway on your right you can't miss it. It is one of the best places to ride <strong>ATVS in Utah</strong> year round because it gets very little snow in the winter.

Five Mile is an awesome place to ride with thousands of trails across the mountains. Five Mile is a great place for any type of OHV and any skill of rider. The staging area is a great place to introduce beginners to trail riding without too difficult of trails. When I went with Mike we took the Sport Quads which was a ton of fun but a few of the trails were too steep so I decided to come back with the <strong>Brute Force and Grizzly</strong> The Big Bore Quads also made for a more comfortable ride across the very rocky terrain.

Don’t let this scare you away if you are an experienced rider, there are miles and miles of steep, rocky difficult trails that can keep you busy for days. In Fact we rode most of the day both times and rarely hit the same trails. I believe we could go back a few more times before any of it became overly familiar.

Pulling up to Five Mile can be a bit worrisome on a nice weekend with tons of rigs in the staging area. I could not believe how many people were already there when we arrived around 9:30. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of other riders we came across. With thousands of break off trails leading over and around mountains and hills we almost never ran into other riders.

Our Ride was really great we started off by heading across the highway to the south side of Five Mile Recreation area. I was hoping to find a really awesome ravine that Mike and I had ridden a few weeks earlier. After trying about twenty amazing trails I gave up and headed west towards the flats. There is an awesome dirt road that leads past some fields with grazing cows that is straight smooth and really long. It’s a perfect place to run some time trials and possibly a drag race or two. We enjoyed going full throttle across this area and took a small break on the opposite side next to the remains of an old stone home or barn.

I wanted to loop as far south as we could on the way back around the primary mountains and then head north on the other side of the Highway. Finding our way around was a bit difficult but led us to some really great trails including a ravine we rode in for several hundred yards. One thing I love about <strong> 5 Mile</strong> is there are so many options, for example when traversing one mountain we had 4 options which route to take I sadly chose the wrong one. It looked amazing and ran right along the edge of the mountain with a cliff on one side. It was a bit scary but looked okay until just after we rounded the last place we could see the trail turned into a motorcycle trail too narrow for a ATV. The problem was it left little room to turn around, luckily we found a decent spot and with spotting each other we were able to flip around and head back.

The North side of <strong>5 Mile</strong> is just as great as the south side. We drove north for around an hour climbing some pretty steep rocky hills before we needed to head back because we were running low on fuel. From what I saw trails lead north for a long ways to a much bigger mountain area that I would love to explore.

Overall we had an awesome trip and I can’t wait to get back out there and try it out. I recently purchased a GoPro camera and have taken it on the last two trips but sadly the footage is not great. I set the angle wrong on this trip so most of the riding is looking down to much to be interesting. I am still sorting the footage and hope to have at least a few clips to share in the upcoming podcast.

Have you ever been to Five Mile Pass Recreation area? What did you like? What did you hate? Tell us in the comments section. Also sign up with our site and get updated each time we make a new post. For now Ride Safe Ride Hard Ride Often.

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##All I want for Christmas is a...##

<strong>Yamaha Raptor 700R.</strong> Sadly I won’t be getting it but I have great memories of getting ATVs Christmas.

The Honda Foreman 400: I was 13 years old and mom and dad got us the Foreman for Christmas. It changed everything, we did.  Now we had four-wheel drive and suspension, not to mention almost double the power. The Foreman became our snow cat hauling insanely large numbers of people to the top of the mountain for sledding and snowboarding. Often we had two people on the front racks, two on the seat and three on the back racks and one pulling behind on a rope. Getting out of second gear was tough and I can’t imagine the years of life we sucked out of the Foreman those winters, year after year doing the same thing.

The Foreman in our minds could do anything. With a set of <a href="https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/t/723/ATV-Tires-All">aggressive atv tires</a> and some momentum I would push through several feet of snow, with clouds of snow flying over the front handle bars. Often biting off way more than the ATV could handle I would find myself waist deep in snow shoveling a way out. During the other seasons we rode the Foreman every single day. Some of our favorite activities included forging the river and driving through the natural spring bog in the river bottoms. The foreman was light compared to it’s competition which enabled us to get it unstuck easier than our friends quads, so Mike and I often were the first to try a new spot out.  All of this riding took it’s toll on the Foreman, multiple roll overs and smashed suspension which left the plastics rubbing against the tires have mangled the foreman over the years.
Before we upgraded to a sport quad the Foreman was our jumping vehicle as well. Honda should have sent a film crew to see the things we put the Foreman through over the years. It would sell anyone on it’s dependability. Rarely has a quad been ridden so often and so aggressively. Best of all the mangled quad still sits in my garage. Its duties have been reduced to yard work and running Molly our Labrador down the dirt road next to our house and back. The Foreman still starts with no problems and is a blast to ride. Thousands of memories were born that cold Christmas morning.

The EX. I do not believe we are total Honda Homers but how could we go any other direction after what we have done with the Foreman. Not to mention the 400EX opened a door to 4stroke sport quads that will never be closed. Sam already had and EX and for two years Mike and I brought up getting an EX about every-time we talked to Dad, now that I am older I can only imagine how annoying that must have been for him. Dad loved surprises and we really had no clue we would be getting the EX for Christmas.
I still remember Christmas eve when dad brought it home he did not want any of us to see it so he dropped it off at a neighbors picked me up to run an errand, the quad was in their drive way and cunningly he told me to look the other way at something as we passed. Doing the same thing on the way back he basically hid the EX in plain sight. Christmas morning was great as usual and after we had opened all of the gifts we snuck a peak outside to see if there was anything in the front yard... nothing. Dad told us to come back and that their was one more gift on the fireplace mantel. Disappointed knowing we would not be getting one this year Mike and I stared searching the mantel. There it was small black and perfect we found a key hidden in a Santa's sleigh. We dashed for the door, dad yelled that it was in grandmas garage who lived next door. We ran into her garage and there it was bright yellow and beautiful. Of course we fought over who drive it first and who would spend the next day or so driving the break in miles, and showing it off to Sam who lived just down the road.

Once again everything we knew about riding ATVs changed, we could go faster, jump higher and control our machine just that much better. The Dunes became our friend and one of our favorite places to ride and the next thing you know we needed another sport quad to keep up with the EX. The yellow plastic is fading to a light orange color now and with several upgrades the quad looks quite different from the one we found in grandmas garage. However almost 9 years later I still love to ride it and it by far gets driven the most out of our machines.

I am not sure when we will be getting an ATV for Christmas but I know it will be a memory I will never forget. If getting an ATV is something you have been considering for your children I will be the first to recommend it, scrap getting a few of those wimpy toys at the kiosk in the mall and start saving for an ATV, it’s a gift your family will remember forever.

What experiences have you had with ATVs and Christmas? If you have a story you would like to share email it to me at jared.doldham@gmail.com and I will post it on the site or you can just leave it in the comments section.

Merry Christmas from <strong>ATVCOWBOY</strong>

5 riders making mistakes that we should learn from.

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I recently read an article on Dirtwheels.com about the 2012 Sport ATV BUYER'S guide, that reminded me of a conversation that Mike and I were having just a week or so ago. Deciding which sport ATV is the best to purchase is tough right now. You want to make the right choice especially if you are buying a brand new machine that you will be keeping for awhile. When we buy a quad we ride it until it can no longer be ridden so buying something that will last is important. Also choosing the quad based on your favorite types of riding is essential.

Overall we decided that the YAMAHA RAPTOR 700R is the best quad to purchase if you are looking for general use. Dirt Wheels thought the same thing. The Raptor has all the power you will need, a nice tall stance and has a reputation for great handling. So for the average Joe who will rarely hit the track and spends most of his time riding the trails (like me) It's the go to quad. Too often I see riders picking up a quad that has been optimized for the track and are unhappy with its overall abilities in other scenarios. Most of the track optimized machines should be left alone unless you are one of those riders. I must add I have very limited experience with the Can-am machines in the article but was very impressed that they took 2,3 and 4th the guide.

The saddest part for me with the new 2012 models is that Suzuki is not coming out with a new Machine. All of the other names are trying to expand their models and Suzuki is sticking with the Z400. Do not get me wrong I have one parked in my garage right now and love the Quad. I am just disappointed that I wont get to see the next generation for at least another year.

What type of attributes are you looking for in a sport Quad? Out of the new models (see link to article below) which do you think is the best?

Click Here to see the article so you can see a better review of each Quad.

1. Utah residents love ATVs: a large number of residents own and ride ATVs on a regular basis. Utah is so ATV friendly that a lot of the smaller towns allow ATVs to register and operate on regular roads. Take a look online to find out which cities will allow you to ride on the streets. Making your ATV street legal is simple and inexpensive.

2. Climate: Utah is diverse and has a lot of different temperatures. Within a few hours riders can leave the snow covered north to ride in warm southern Utah in the winter. Spring and fall offer as much trail riding as any avid rider could ever handle, and the summer brings along the best of the dunes. There is no month in the year when you can't get out and ride. Dozens of websites give great trail reviews and sell custom maps.

3. Moab: Do I really have to say anything more? Moab is no little secret and it's popular for a reason. Aggressive trails and beautiful red rock will blow your mind with its beauty. The Moab area has hundreds of miles of trails and is a great place to spend a few days or weeks riding.

4. Trails, trails, trails and more trails: Utah hosts some of the largest and most fun trails in the country. Paiute and Arapeen just to name two. Utah has millions of acres of public land and thousands of trails.

5. Jamborees: Utah is the host to dozens of ATV jamborees. Jamborees are a great way to enjoy new trails learn about awesome products and spend a week riding with other ATV enthusiasts. Jamborees are a great place to network as well and enter in to win tons of prizes.

6. The Best Snow On Earth: The snowpack in Utah is famous and if you haven't had the chance to take a winter trail ride then you haven't lived. Riding in the snow is a blast, snow flowing over your front racks and pulling yourself out of waist deep snow with your winch is a great way to spend an afternoon.

7. Fight to ride: Utah residents are fighting to clean up and open more trails on a regular basis. Residents love the outdoors and want to keep the land open for public use. Riders are conscious of the environment and know that taking care of the existing trails will only open the door to more.