It is exciting to see the ATV jamborees coming back online after being cancelled during the pandemic. This is my third article about jamborees being scheduled for 2021.

I wrote an article that appeared in the Standard-Examiner on Jan. 28 entitled, “What if someone else wants my ATV more than I do?” In that article, I related accounts of people losing ATVs and equipment to theft. That article ended with this statement, “Take stock of the things you can to do…

The third annual Beaver County Trails Jamboree did not happen. Because of the 2020 pandemic, a lot of things didn’t happen last year. In the case of Beaver County, however, the story didn’t stop there.

As 2021 opened, one of the questions on the minds of many in the ATV community was if there would be any jamborees slated for the year. I am happy to report that there will be. Riding in Utah’s scenic backcountry is one of the safest activities in which a rider can participate. It is next to…

The byline of these articles for over 16 years has been “ATV Adventures.” The first article came out in December 2004. At that time, there was no popular side-by-side with a recreational purpose.

The interest in developing ATV trail systems is growing across Utah. People with ATVs want places to ride and counties want to provide them — and for good reason. The tourist dollars brought to a county with nearby trails are significant.

We are a week into the new year and if you have pickled your machine thinking there is no place to ride, you have made a big mistake. The hustle and bustle of Christmas is behind us and planning a January ATV trip is just the thing to fight the winter blahs.

Driving along I-15 from Bountiful to Layton in view of the Francis Peak radar towers, you might not know about the treasure trove of trails that exist high above the valley on these mountains. Many locals have driven a car or truck on the road to the gate at the base of the big white ball ho…

To track the history of ATVs, we only need to go back to 1968. The first ATV was a three-wheeler and it was made popular in 1970 with Honda’s All Terrain Cycle — the ATC 90.

Being aware of ATVs didn’t make me interested in them — that came later. As a boy growing up in Oklahoma, I loved riding my bike, especially on dirt trails. The Cushman scooters were popular when I was in high school, but a friend’s accident on one made me leery of motorcycles. I was content…

Buying gifts for your ATV friends, whether it is for Christmas or a birthday, can be tricky. They are known to be pretty picky — I know, I am one of them. One Christmas, my wife gave me a 4-gallon flat gas can because she had heard me talking about them. The right thing to do would have been…

The world of accessories has grown exponentially with the booming success of UTVs. George Hamblin, who is familiar with my ATV articles, recently sent me an email asking my opinion on must-have add-ons for a side-by-side.

Riding the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail on an ATV is a journey of discovery. Built by an expedition of pioneers in 1879, the end of the trail culminates at a point where these early engineers blasted a hole to widen a rock crevasse to make a 45-degree descent to the Colorado River in their trek to…

Escalante is a quiet little town surrounded by of some of the most amazing country I have ever visited. Located on the edge of the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument on Highway 12, it provides lodging and supplies for those who visit the monument.

Our stay for this ATV adventure was in Escalante, right in the middle of Highway 12 — a top-rated byway in the country. Our ride through Horse Canyon began in Escalante as we trailered to our drop point.

Having revisited the Lake Mountain Trails just last month, I decided to compare my recent ride and the original ride I took 10 years ago. In 2010, it was an account of an encounter with a desert snake on trails located across Utah Lake from Provo.

It had been 10 years since I had ridden the Lake Mountain Trails across Utah Lake from Provo. Just how much can a mountain change in 10 years? Well, I think my memory changed more than the mountain.

To begin with, I did not even know that there was a Mantua Loop. I was supposed to lead a ride from Mantua to Eden, but some riders didn’t have street-legal machines. One of the riders suggested a loop that would take us back to Mantua. I am all for learning about new trails, so I agreed to …

Finding new trails is one of the things I like most about riding in the backcountry. Finding them on my own is risky fun, but following someone who knows where they are going is best.

The Arapeen Trails are some of my favorite. Always looking for new ones, Kevin Christiansen of the Sanpete County Travel Council put me in touch with Brad Bradley, a retired DWR conservation officer. Brad told me that the title was just a fancy name for “fish cop.”

It is hard to resist an ATV adventure on the Arapeen ATV Trail System. I had bragged about fishing on the quiet little ponds and beautiful lakes on Manti Mountain to my friend Taylor Durrant from Arizona. Being an avid fisherman, Taylor wanted to see for himself, so we set a date for an ATV …

The original purpose that created this adventure was to find a cabin that was supposed to be up Wildcat Canyon. It belonged to my friend Terry Maxfield’s grandfather. As near as we could determine, the trail began just south of Emery and climbed up a canyon to Wildcat Knoll.

Utah ATV trail systems have trail numbers that correspond to map coordinates to enhance your riding experience (read — so you don’t get lost). Some trail systems have named trails within their systems in addition to numbers. Some trail names are given by people who ride them and some are mar…

The irony was as thick as the smoke filling the Northern Utah air on Monday morning as Gary Duran left his house to drive to Harrisville Park.

The ride is called an Iron Man because when the trail is smooth it is fun to go fast. You can ride so that you can see a lot of a little scenery, but you don’t go very far. On the Iron Man, we see a little of a lot of scenery and we go far. Threatening to ride fast reduced the number of ride…

Having been invited to ATV Adventure Days in Beaver, we were gathering to venture into the Mineral Mountains for a day of discovery. Guides were provided by members of the Tusher Mountain ATV Club.

Being a sucker for adventure, I thought, “Who wouldn’t want to ride the Mad Dog ATV trail?” It was the second day of the Beaver ATV Adventure Days sponsored by the city of Beaver, Utah, and the Tushar Mountain ATV Club and I had signed up for the Mad Dog ride.