The schedule is packed with fun beginning with registration day on Wednesday, Sept. 25. This is a travel day with registration beginning at 4 p.m. and an ice cream social at 6:30.

Breakfast is bright and early at 5:30 a.m. Thursday. Due to longer trailering distances, some rides will leave at 6:30 a.m. The others will start at 8 a.m., but everyone will be back in time to participate in the Corn Hole Tournament and the banquet at 6:30 p.m. All are invited to light up their bling at 7:30 p.m. to participate in a Night Parade on a loop through town.

Friday features the same morning schedule with breakfast and ride departures. Food trucks will be available for the evening meal. A special night ride is featured. All registered riders will gather at 5:30 p.m. at the Iron County Fairgrounds. At 6 p.m., riders will travel up Parowan Canyon taking OHV trails to Yankee Meadows Reservoir and returning to Parowan. The ride is 23 miles.

Saturday’s schedule will be the same for breakfast and the rides. At 5 p.m. a BBQ will feature hot dogs and hamburgers followed by a Poker Run at 6 p.m. All riders will be entered as a part of registration, but extra hands are available for purchase. Raffle tickets will also be drawn for many prizes provided by sponsors.

Photo supplied, Lynn Blamires

The registration fee is $125 per person, including a jamboree T-shirt and a fun swag bag. There are 10 trails to choose from that are unique to Iron County. Some of them are offered on more than one of the jamboree days so that riders can include the trails they want to take. It is important to register before Aug. 27 to avoid a registration penalty.

I joined jamboree riders on two trails offered again at this year’s event – Black Mountain and Stateline. Both of these were worth the trip. 

Black Mountain is a 65-mile ride from a point on I-15 where Highway 20 heads east to connect with Highway 89. It goes through mountains in the west desert on an Old Wagon Road section. The highlight of this trail is a stop at the Parowan Gap.

Parowan Gap is a wind gap because the waterway that created it is not there anymore. It is famous for the Indian petroglyphs that adorn the walls of the Gap. Information on plaques located in the Gap helps with some understanding of their meaning. It is thought that the Gap’s geological features offered a means to chart seasonal celestial movements and that the petroglyphs reflect that astronomical knowledge. This place is sacred to the Hopi and Paiute Indians.

The Stateline ride is a mix of ghost towns and burned-out woods from a fire in 2020. The ride starts in Modena, which has yet to reach ghost-hood status. There are still a few people living there – trains pass through daily and it remains worthy of a post office. It feels like a ghost town because of all the vacant buildings you pass through town.

Photo supplied, Lynn Blamires

The ride crosses into Nevada to the town of Fay. This is a full-fledged ghost town, but at one time, it had four saloons, several stores and a post office. A lot of buildings are still standing in this interesting place.

The trip to the third ghost town is through a large section of burned-out woods. Washouts from run-offs make this part of the ride more challenging than it would otherwise be.

Stateline had reached ghost-hood status, but in its day, 300 residents shopped at three general stores, frequented two saloons and dined at a restaurant. A daily stage brought passengers to a fine hotel in town. In researching these articles, I find exciting stories about cattle rustling, outlaws and everyday life in these old towns. The history is one of the things I love most about riding in the backcountry.

There are 1,115 miles of trail in the Color Country Trail System and this jamboree is a great introduction to these trails. They include trails high in the Tushar Mountains and Utah’s west desert. When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down and sign up today.

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

Photo supplied