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.

The first time I saw a Polaris RZR RS1, I wanted to take one out on the trail. That didn’t happen until July of this year, but it was well worth the wait. Greg Belnap of Moto United in Salt Lake City called me and said, “You have got to drive the RS1.” Well, I already knew that, so arrangeme…

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) announced Monday that it would temporarily restrict recreational firearm shooting at wildlife management areas throughout central and northern Utah after a wildfire ignited by target shooters burned wildlife habitat in Cache County.

This big ride from Kanab to Kamas had all come down to this final day. The weather had been great and nothing indicated that was going to change. The machines were all working well and everyone was in high spirits.

With 331 miles behind us, we were ready to tackle the challenges of day four on the trail to Kamas. We had no idea what those might be, but our trailers were waiting for us in Kamas and we had to figure out how to get there.

Our stay at the Rocky Ridge Resort in Marysvale was restful and pleasant. We had traveled 193 miles in two days, the drive belt was replaced on the Polaris and we were ready to go. There was not a single place to eat that was open this early.

Hunters who still want a bull elk or deer hunting permit in Utah can still get one, but the way of getting such a permit will be different.

The altitude at the Bryce Canyon Pines Motel is 7,700 feet. The temperature outside our rooms when we walked outside was 33 degrees. One of our riders splashed water on his windshield to clean it and it turned to ice instantly. That was enough reason to go to the motel’s restaurant and let t…

Riding an ATV from the northern border to the southern border of Utah has been done before. It takes six days to do it sensibly, if you can make sense of it. We were going from south to the north and we only had five days available so we decided to begin in Kanab and end in Kamas.

Jeep has put an all-new engine into their ever popular Wrangler model giving a completely new meaning to the word torque. This new EcoDiesel puts out a huge 442 ft.-lbs. of torque along with a very strong 260 horsepower. This is almost 200 more than what the regular V6 Pentastar engine will produce.

Last week I reviewed the new 2020 Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000, but I spent so much space on how much I enjoyed the machine that I ran out of room to write about the ride. It was every bit as great as the KRX.

Kawasaki is famous for its family friendly four-place Teryx UTV. I have seen these on the trails and often all four seats are filled. 2020 marks the introduction of a new Kawasaki sport UTV — the Teryx KRX 1000.

As summer moves in and the weather gets warmer, Utah wildlife officials want hikers, campers, mountain bikers and other outdoor enthusiasts in Utah to be aware of rattlesnakes and know how to stay safe around the venomous reptile.

Of all the trailheads on the Shoshone ATV Trail System, Curtis Creek is closest to home. Being a little lower in elevation than some of the other mountain trails, we hoped it would be clear of snow.

We have ridden the Pony Express Trail before, but on this ride I saw the trail through new eyes. We were riding in my Kawasaki Teryx 4 with my brother-in-law, Mike Timothy, and his wife, Katherine. She had a great-great-grandfather who was a Pony Express rider.

Traveling west from Faust on the Pony Express Trail over Lookout Pass, south of Skull Valley, we found a kiosk with information about the Onaqui Mountain wild horse herd that roams this area. I thought, “Yeah, right,” and remembered the many times I had been told to watch for wild horses on …