Stories tagged: desert

Sam and I went riding on friday. We debated going a few places, but ended up going out by Elberta. It's only about 30 minutes from Sam's house in Payson, so we figured we could get 3 or 4 hours of riding in before it got dark.

Sam was on his bike and I was on my Z. Unlike the Grizzly, the Z and a bike can fit into the back of my truck, so we were able to ride in 1 vehicle without a trailer which was nice.

We went there last year, but this year we stopped just after we got off the highway where we saw some tiny sand dunes. Did you know there were dunes in Elberta? Neither did I. Don't get me wrong, this is no little sahara. We're talking 1-200 yards wide and maybe a mile long, but boy was it fun.

There were no big dunes, and therefore no big jumps. We mostly found ourselves finding little drop-offs or bumps to jump off of. We found one little hill that we were able to double off of that was a blast. It didn't have much of a lip, so if you hit it too fast you would buck your back end too much, and if you hit it to slow you couldn't clear the second jump. When there is are no big jumps around I love finding little technical things like this. They may not give you the same rush, but there is a certain satisfaction you get from hitting a jump just right.

There was also a bit of a loop that ran thru the dunes then west into the desert. It had some long whoop sections which were pretty fun to cruise on, although they did get a tad tiring. It's hard for me to imagine doing a long cross country race with long whoop sections. After 2 or 3 times I was definitely ready for a bit of a rest.

Once I was cruising down a long whoop section in the sand that ended in a wash. Luckily I had gone that way earlier in the day and new the bottom was mostly flat, so I slowed down as much as I could and then just jumped off of it. Tearing through whoops only to see the trail drop off ahead of you is one of those moments where you have to pause just to let your heartbeat slow down.

Along the loop there was also an old gravel pit that people have been apparently using as a target range. It's too bad people left all their old junk there. I like target practice as much as the next guy, but there aren't many things uglier than old shot up cans, Computers and VCR's.

This pit did have a nice ledge we were able to drop off of in a few places. The landing was very steep, and therefore very short. Like most things do the first time I try them jumping off this ledge scared the crap out of me. Barely goosing it off the top and I landed just before the bottom. The picture doesn't really do the landing justice, and sadly the batteries died after that shot so I wasn't able to get another. Despite that I think the shot looks pretty good.

Overall this was a very satisfying trip. There are still plenty of trails for us to explore and it is relatively close so I plan on going again soon.

Next time you find yourself in Elberta. Look for some sand.

Because Jed's birthday is next month, we decided that any time we want to go camping in the near future we can use that as an excuse. Since it was "for his birthday" Jed picked our location. We headed out past Eureka, but instead of turning south towards the dunes we went west a few miles and found a nice camp spot out in the sand.

Natalie didn't really like the location, she said she'd way rather be somewhere with less sand, and more shade. Like Lake Fork or Dairy Fork or Monks Hollow or something. Anyway, there was no snow there, so that meant good traveling on sport ATV's and motorcycles. Natalie and Kate and I brought my father-in-laws camp trailer, so Kate would be tied down.

The riding was pretty good. When we were with the girls we rode down a couple OK trials, but nothing spectacular. Once we ditched them we found this endless ravine. It could have been a bit more fun if there wasn't so much sage brush and dead wood in the bottom, but it was still a blast. It opened up every couple minutes of riding and provided some OK to crappy jumps. I think it was built a little more for motorcycles than quads.

On our way back to camp from our long "guy only" ride, we found another ravine that was a little more open and provided some better jumps for the ATV's. Hopefully I can get the pictures from Jed. Still nothing like the dunes as far as jumps, but we had a lot of fun nonetheless.

The weather was perfect while riding, but did get a little hot at camp. And the lack of shade from the tree's is probably why Nat didn't think the location was all that great. I think the area would have been better if there had been more side trails. Jed claims there are somewhere, but I didn't see them. All around it was a fun trip, but I'd rather do Nutty Putty or Dairy Fork.

So we headed out to the west side of Utah Lake near nutty putty caves and had a blast. We were hoping to have some pictures, but the camera Eric brought had dead batteries. Bummer. Our crew consisted of Me (z400), Sam(CRF250X), Jed(400ex), Jim(Raptor), and Eric(Raptor).

This was the first real ride of Jim and Eric's "GYTR Raptors":http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/products/modelhome/542/0/home.aspx (Sure they've been ridden at CBC, but in the winter time there aren't many places to go off the road). They are awesome. They are very roomy and the ride is very plush. I love the torque they put out. I like my handlebars better, as they are a little wider and taller. I've really want to ride an outlaw to compare, but of the quads I have ridden, I'd rate it the best sport trail quad out there. Especially for a bigger rider. Once we hit the dunes we'll see how it jumps.

The conditions were pretty good. It was in the mid thirties, which is warmer than its been in a while. There were a few inches of snow on most of the trails which made the riding slow for sam on his motorcycle, but was tons of fun on the quads. We only had a few hours to ride, so we didn't venture very far from the truck. I forget how many trails there are out there.

We ended up spending most of our time jumping out of a few ravines, and hitting a tabletop someone made. The ravines were fun. Didn't make the best jumps, especially since they had flat landings, but still a lot of fun. We also dropped into a few of them. I was still a little hesitant to hit the drops after my crash a few years ago up at CBC. But after Jed dropped a few times I gave it a shot. It was pretty cool, but a little shallow at about 8 to 10 feet. Barely goosing it off the top and I landed my front tires just as it started to get flat. Sadly while we were in the ravines Eric got a flat, ending his ride.

We finished the day hitting the table 20 or 30 times. It had a weird lip that took some getting used to. It basically had a very weak lip, followed by a second lip. So if you didn't give it pre-load on the first lip, you would tap the second. Sam jumped the furthest (on the raptor, it had an Icy as crap entry and a snowing landing so he didn't really try on the bike), and I jumped the highest . We figure the difference was the shocks. Mine are set up a lot stiffer which gave me more pop, and sam just hit it going a lot faster smile

Overall it was an awesome day. The few things I'd change would be no flats, a longer trip, and a camera.

We did try a drag race on the way back to the truck. Jed won on the EX, but we blamed the fact that it was icy, and Jim and I suck at dragging. We'll give em a real test when we can find some dry ground.