It was the first ride of the year, so we were checking temperatures for a February ride. Wendover looked promising with a high of 50 degrees.

The mountains in the desert are different from the pine and aspen covered peaks I ride in the summer. They consist more of rock faces. Instead of passing through groves of trees, we were on trails that passed massive rock faces and jagged outcroppings. With temperatures near 50 degrees, we weren’t looking for shade, and besides, there wasn’t any, which makes this a great place to ride in the early and late times of the year.

We planned to unload about 11 a.m. to give time for things to warm up as much as possible. Turning off Interstate 80 on exit four, we traveled north and staged on a flat area with a sign marking The Silver Island Mountains Backcountry Byway.

The Byway is a loop road that skirts the base of the Silver Island Mountains. We were more interested in exploring the mountains themselves, so we headed north on a trail that climbed over a saddle that offered some great views of the valley.

Because we were exploring, some of the trails wound up as dead ends. Usually, I don’t like dead-end trails, but these led to some overlooks that were worth the backtracking they required. Each dead-end trail brought us to another great viewpoint.

By this time, I was feeling uncomfortable under all the layers of clothing I had donned to make this ride. Checking the outside temperature on the screen of my RZR, I discovered a warm 65 degrees.

I had a similar experience riding in this area two years ago. It was snowing and cold when I left Layton, but when I got there I found pleasant riding conditions.

Leaving the Silver Island Mountains behind, we headed for Pilot Peak on a track by the same name. About midway through the valley, we came to a place with a sign that marked the Hastings Cutoff.

That stop was a step back in time. Gold rush pioneers and the ill-fated Donner Party passed through here on their way to California. The Hastings Cutoff starts at Fort Bridger and shaved 300 miles off the trip to California. However, it involved a perilous 90-mile waterless trek across the Great Salt Lake Desert sand dunes and mud flats in mid-summer heat with heavy wagons.

We left that historic point and resumed our ride. We soon came to a large flock of sheep that covered the road. They were guarded by Great Pyrenees sheep dogs. By great I mean they were big and white. We made our way carefully around the sheep and the dogs.

Reaching the base of Pilot Peak, we took a trail that began to gradually climb the east side of the mountain. Not wanting to try to go over the mountain because of a chance of snow-covered trails, we were happy to ride the foothills.

Coming to what was left of a large cabin – I say large because all that was left of it was a big fireplace – we wondered how it would have looked by the size of that fireplace. I am always fascinated by what I find in the backcountry.

Continuing our ride, we were enjoying the ups and downs of the trail when we were stopped by a closed gate. The trail continued across a gorge and up the other side to a considerably large late-model home. I thought, “Who would have thought that there would be a gated community this far into the backcountry? That homeowner must be the president of the HOA.”

We backtracked a ways and then headed east to find a trail back down to the Pilot Peak Road. The trail was faint in places, but we soon found one that took us there.

We followed this road back to a point where we turned off onto a trail that took us straight across the valley back into the Silver Island Mountains. It was a wide multi-track trail that was interesting to ride. Riding one track, another parallel track looked smoother. After switching over, the other track looked better, but the ride was fast and fun.

We made it back finishing a ride of about 54 miles in great riding weather. When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down, and enjoy exploring these mountains west of the salt flats.

Contact Lynn Blamires at quadmanone@gmail.com.

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