Access
We drove down from Ogden on a Friday and stayed at Ruby's Inn, probably the most famous place located about a mile outside of the Bryce Canyon National Park Entrance. From Ogden, it's almost 300 miles exactly to Ruby's Inn. It took us about 5 hours with two rest stops. It's nice to take your time and not have to hurry. There is construction work on I-15 for about twelve miles. Traffic is funneled into a single lane that travels 50-55 mph. It starts a few miles south of Nephi. Take I-15 to Nephi then take exit 222 and go south on US 89 to Salina then take I-70 to The exit just past Joseph. Exit I 70 at the exit past Joseph It is marked for Marysvale. So south on highway 89 59.6 Miles to Panguitch. Make a left turn in Panguitch and go 6.83 miles south on US 89. Then turn left again on SR 12 and go 14.1 Miles east and you will be at Ruby's Inn.
I
won't go into detail about all of the activities Ruby's Inn hosts but I
have to mention a few: Rodeos every evening, Chuck Wagon Dinners, and ATV
rentals and guided tours. If you plan to visit and do this ATV ride,
I'd strongly recommend that you extend your stay. Enjoy some of the
activities and go into the park for at least a day. When you
get to Ruby's Inn, tell them that you learned of their place from the Utah
ATV Trails web site. (Its good for their business and ours)
Trailhead
The best place to start your ride is from the parking lot at Tropic Reservoir. There is plenty of room to unload your machines. There are also rest rooms in the area.
Trail
In August of 2002, we were invited by
the Sand Rock Ridgerunner ATV Club out of Fillmore, UT to a monthly club
ride. They were going to ride a trail starting at Tropic Reservoir,
just a few miles from Bryce Canyon National Park. We had never been
to Bryce Canyon, and wouldn't pass up a chance to ride with such nice people
as these.
ATVs aren't allowed inside Bryce Canyon National Park. Not to worry though. The scenery is fantastic outside of the park too. This Tropic Reservoir ride has to be one of the best in the state. I think the ATV concession inside of Ruby's Inn has a guided tour of this loop too.
On Saturday morning, we trailered our machines to the parking lot at Tropic Reservoir. It is about 10 Miles in total back to the west. There is a sign you will see on the way in. The track below looks a little like the Big Dipper. The ladle handle part is the GPS track from Ruby's Inn to the Tropic Reservoir parking lot. There are rest room facilities at the parking lot. However, as I'll discuss in more detail later. From Ruby's Inn you can drive your ATVs about a half a mile towards the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park and find a Great Western Trail trailhead. From the trailhead you can make your way to Tropic Reservoir without the need for trailering. See the cut off map below.
As you can see from the map, this loop is situated on the large Paunsaugunt plateau that's about 7800 ft. above sea level. The ATV trail is a loop that is approximately 55 miles long. It is an all day ride and is not well marked. You can take a guided tour out of Ruby's Inn or download the tracks and use your GPS if you have never ridden this loop. If you have Garmin Map Source software we can send you the track you can download to your Legend or Vista GPS. Just send us an email.
The western part of the trail takes you
right to the edge of the plateau and it's a vertical drop to the bottom.
The views are breathtaking and the scenery is fantastic.
The photos below were all taken from various stops along the western part
of the loop. 
You can see the hoodoos in the background
in a few of the photos. The picture below was taken the following
day inside of Bryce Canyon National Park, only you can't ride your ATVs
to see these!!
Some of the views outside the park
were so spectacular that we didn't want to leave! There was plenty
of great scenery outside the park too and you can ride your ATV there.
I would have loved to have been watching when the hole fell out of this donut!
The trail isn't very rocky, mostly smooth
riding with a few tight turns. It was very dusty the day we rode.
Overall this is probably a beginner to intermediate rated trail.
The eastern part of the loop is on a graded Forest Service Road and is easy riding. This was a pleasant change since most of the ride is an ATV trail and it gets real dusty in the summer. We were able to spread out on the road back without worrying too much about getting lost.
As you can see in this track picture, you can start at a Great Western Trailhead about a half a mile from Ruby's Inn, toward the park entrance. On the next day, we took this track to fish the Sevier River that feeds Tropic Reservoir.
Due to the 2002 drought conditions though, the river and reservoir water levels were very low. We did find a few deeper holes and had to be real sneaky so we weren't seen by the fish. We caught a few browns and felt like the day was a success. On the way back we saw about 10-15 antelope grazing in the middle of a field. They sure can run fast!
The
Paunsaguant ATV Trails System connects with the Fremont Trail that runs
north-south and the Great Western Trail. It is also very close to
a non-motorized trail on the Powell Ranger District, the Grand View Trail.
In some places, the Grand View and the Paunsagaunt follow the same roads
until the Grand View takes off again. Riders need to be careful to
stay only on the motorized parts of the trails. The Powell Ranger
District is working on getting more signs up.
Cautions
This trail is not well marked.
If you have never ridden it before, find a guide and/or a good GPS and
know how to use it. The scenery and spectacular view are well worth
the trouble.
Stats:
Hi elevation: 9308 ft
at N37 32.555 W112 22.273 (Near George Mountain)
Low Elevation: 7603 at Ruby's
Inn
Trip time: 7 Hours
Trip Distance 55 Miles
GPS Coordinates at Tropic
Reservoir Trailhead: N37 36.568 W112 15.272
Sources:
Dixie National Forest Travel
Opportunity Map (1998)
USGS Maps:
Bryce CanyonDISCLAIMER
Bryce Point
Tropic Reservoir
Podunk Creek