Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner

It is one thing to write about the Arapeen Sunset UTV Ride as I did in the March 16 edition of the Standard-Examiner. It is another thing to actually do this ride.

I arrived in Ephraim with my brother-in-law, Mike Timothy. We were in time to check into our motel and line up for the ride and pizza at Roy’s Pizza. Kevin Christensen with Sanpete County told me that we had about 140 machines in that lineup. These were mostly UTVs so there were more than driver’s in the group. That makes for a lot of pizza, but they kept it coming — hot and in a big variety.

As we checked in, we were split into two groups — red name tags for a milder ride and blue tags for the more advanced route. We were in the advanced group, not because we were advanced riders — I just like the color blue.

We headed up Ephraim Canyon just after 6 p.m. and turned down into New Canyon. This ride would have been more of a night ride had it been at another time of the year. This was the 19th of June, just two days away from the summer solstice, so we were into long days.

The sky was clear and the temperature was perfect for an evening ride in the Manti La Sal Mountains. We rode through a huge stand of aspen as the setting sun sent its rays streaming through the trees. Mike commented on the scene — the white bark with numerous black eyes reminded us of a Bev Doolittle painting and we almost expected to see something camouflaged in the picture.

Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner

I was impressed with the guides on this ride. I have my OHV education certificate so I understand the rules of the road. This trail had a lot of mud pits that looked daunting. Had I not seen the driver ahead of me make it through some of these, I might not have been so confident. Trails had been made to get around these pits, but the guides ignored them and we dived right in. My certificate is evidence that I understand that those work-around trails are not acceptable. Those pits were challenging fun.

With the high runoff this year, we also came through some deep water crossings. We negotiated the deepest of those crossings at about 7:30 and allowed time for everyone to catch up.

I wandered around listening to people talk shop. It happens every time a big group of riders gathers. They talk about their tires, suspension, machine models and accessories. Sometimes you will learn more than you ever wanted to know.

We could feel night coming on and after we had gathered for the beginning of the night part of the ride, nobody had to announce that it was time to light up their bling — it just happened. The light bars, light sticks, rock lights and all things bright flashed on and lit up the night. The darker things got, the brighter we got. I was just glad I had a light bar, side lights and rock lights. I didn’t want to be the dim guy in this bright group. It was fun being a part of this light parade as we rode into the night.

Our final stop before heading back to town was a campfire that was set up in a clearing off the trail. Chairs had been set around the fire and we were served a variety of cakes.

Photo supplied

We pulled in and found a place to park so we could join the group. By now, it was just cool enough to need a light jacket so it felt good to be near the fire.

As we sat around that fire, we were entertained by a cowboy spouting poetry. The stories he told made us smile.

Soon the party was over. We were on our own heading back to town, but it was just a short ride to the Ephraim Canyon Road and back to town. We made it back to our motel at about 10:45, finishing a ride of 32 miles.

This was the first of five OHV ride events scheduled this year. The next one will be the Manti Mountain Summer UTV Run from July 11-12. To register, go to https://utvevents.weebly.com. When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down and sign up to ride the Manti La Sals.

Contact Lynn R. Blamires at quadmanone@gmail.com.

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