First Anniversary Issue
October 9, 2001 was the day
we were able to move our ideas out to “utahatvtrails” on the world
wide web. It started out a rather modest effort with 19 ATV trails
documented and a few articles in the ATV University. Today we have
61 documented trails, and 39 different articles in the ATV University.
The site now has over 250 html files and 1000 graphics and images.
Perhaps the most incredible thing of all has been the response received
from our readers. The dozens and dozens of kind words have been
a significant motivation to continue the effort even in the face of mounting
personal challenges and adversity. While largely a personal effort,
the amount of cooperation received from sponsors, the US Forest Service,
BLM and Utah State Parks and Recreation, as well as the many ATV and 4x4
clubs through out the state have made this effort all possible.
Where do we go from here?
As near as we can tell we are on the right trail. We will continue
to add new trails and information germane to our incredible sport to the
benefit of our recreation community. The speed at which this
is done will largely depend on the resources we find to accomplish such
tasks, but not withstanding those limitations, there are still hundreds
if not thousands of trails to ride and document. We won't be satisfied
until we have covered them all. It is not infrequent that we receive
requests to branch out our efforts to other states and other forms of OHV
recreation. In time, this too may be possible. Plans are presently
under way to capture single track trails and share them with our motorcycling
brothers. Since this baton is being carried by a relative it
is not likely to dilute our efforts to continue to document the wealth
of 2 track trails.
What can you do to help? Well,
in fact you can help. You can help by sharing the URL to the web
site with your ATV riding friends and neighbors. The more people
we have join this cyber community the better our communication and effectiveness
will be. We are hoping that the day will come that an ATVer would
never consider taking their machines out of the garage without having first
consulted the Utah ATV Trails web site for a legal and open place to ride.
Hundreds of people are doing this now, we just need to turn than number
to tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. That would be good. |
|
| Hot Stuff
Helmet Cam - You've
seen the Saturday afternoon sports shows with the cameras in the
race cars, motorcycles and skydivers. Now you can also join in the
fun in recording your favorite trails for posterity.
Action Sports Cams located in Hanover, PA offers a relatively inexpensive
attachment to your mini-cam corder that makes it all possible. You
can attach an Action Sports Cam to your helmet, goggles, or base ball hat
and with your mini camcorder safely tucked in a fanny pack you can jaunt/race/trek
off to any venue with your camera running. A handy remote control
allows you to stop the action when ever you feel appropriate.
Just think how fun it would be to spend some of those snowy winter evenings
reviewing some of the great rides you took last summer. Or even better,
you could review your days ride in the evening back in the trailer or motor
home. Wouldn't it be great to have documented proof that trail riding
ATVers rarely scare the wild animals into a dead run out of fear?
This tool would provide just such proof, we all know exists. But
if you stop to pull out your camera, then the animal life will take caution
and move away. Better tell Santa now so you'll find one under your
tree. For more information on this handy unit please see
http://www.actionsportscam.com/
|
| Cool Stuff
So the clouds have just filled the valley and though you
can't see the tops of the mountain any more, you know that there is snow
up there that has every possibility of staying through the winter.
You have been waiting for the deer/elk season and have only a few weeks
left before it starts. Now it looks like the snow is likely to make
using your ATV impossible in your favorite canyon. Thoughts
of using a snowmobile to get there run through your head and somehow it
just doesn't paint a sporting picture to use a snowmobile on the deer/elk
hunt. Not only that but you've already invested $5 or $6K in an ATV,
how are you going to be able to justify another $7 or $8K for a snowmobile.
If only you could turn your ATV into an over the snow machine.
Good News! You can put
snow tracks on your ATV that will give it many of the same features and
function of any snowmobile. The tracks come in models for both
two and four wheel drive ATVs. The two wheel variety have skis that
replace the front wheels, and the four wheel variety have tracks on both
the front and rear drive tracks for each wheel. You can also
put a ski on the front of a four wheel drive unit with the freewheeling
axial that comes with the ski. According to the President of Arctic
Trax, Doyle Knight, it requires only about thirty to forty five minutes
to convert your ATV to an over the snow machine. The performance
of the ATV with the Arctic Trax features installed is very similar to that
which you experience with rubber tires. The differences you
will notice is that the tracks will make your machine at least eight to
twelve inches wider with the tracks sticking out from both sides of your
trail machine. When you face the deep powder your Arctic Trax
equipped ATV will float over the deep powder like it was a sailing ship.
Just don't decide to bounce off or your machine or you may be in powder
over your head…
Arctic Trax can save your hunt
as well as keep you going all winter long with your ATV through all
kinds of mountain experiences. With Trax on your machine you
are open to use the same terrain as the snowmobiles and are not limited
to the packed and groomed surfaces as you would be without the Trax feature.
When installed the typical ATV is between 50 and 53 inches wide.
The tracks themselves are only 12 inches wide. However an additional
1 foot is added to the length of the machine. It may be tough to
fit a pair on your existing trailer once fitted with the ARCTIC TRAX, but
you can over come that problem in one way or another.
What would you pay for a new
snowmobile? Well the Arctic Trax will save you big time in the long
run. If you are looking for the bullet speed of snowmobile, you may
be a bit disappointed, but for those of us who like to meander gently
through the back country, this could be a good solution that could save
you a bundle. When the snow melts again you can replace the Trax
with your old wheels and be off down the trail having enjoyed the
full year calendar in ATV enjoyment. For more information on
ARCTIC TRAX write to Doyle Knight at PO Box 685 Loon Lake WA 99148 or call
him at 509-233-2107 Dsknight@spocom.com
|
Web Site Updates:
New Pages
Trout Creek Trail - Trail Menu
Rocky Mountain ATV Jamboree - Trail Menu
Fillmore Loop Trail - Trail Menu
Manti Canyon Trail - Trail Menu
Thousand Lakes Mountain Trail - Trail Menu
Revised Pages:
Future Rides - Main Menu
Closed Lands - Trails Menu
ATV Kind Words - (more new comments) Bulletin Board
Want Adds
Link Page - more great links
|
Coop Creek Bridge a cooperative effort.
After a complete NEPA study by the WCNF and a generous donation by the
State of Utah Department of Parks and Recreation of some of their off highway
vehicle funds for the materials, a bridge has been constructed over Coop
Creek about 150 yards to the north of State Road 150 (aka the Mirror Lake
Scenic Highway) between Upper Setting Road and Taylor Fork.
This bridge will permit a reasonable
connection between Taylor Fork OHV Campground and Upper Setting Road.
An old road presently exists in this area that apparently accomplished
the same task without the bridge, but the bridge has permitted its use
by OHVs winter and summer to connect the two popular areas.
The Utah State Department of Transportation has approved the crossing of
SR 150 and will mark that crossing with a sign.
Nine interested OHV community
volunteers, all participants in the Good Will Riders came up and assisted
in the manual labor to lay down the bridge decking and handrails.
In total ,over 65 hours were donated on this project. There was also
assistance provided by the Kamas Ranger District field construction team.
Final grading to connect the bridge level to the trail is now needed to
complete the ability to use the trail.
The work will be completed as
soon as the weather permits. However it is likely to show its first
availability sometime next spring. |
Private Land Concerns
The Mayor of Lindon, Larry Ellerton,
gathered a group of varied interest OHV enthusiasts and State and Federal
Land managers on Tuesday the 24th of September for a discussion of
possible OHV venues within his community and adjoining Utah County Wasatch
Front communities. At primary question was the suggestion of
a new law that not only uniformly standardized the penalties for trespassing
by OHVers but significantly increased the penalties. The Mayor
was interested to find out what impact this local legislation my have.
The OHV participants, without
variation, sustained the notion that private property should be respected
and that trespass without permission should be punishable by law.
It was noted that the laws against such unauthorized use were presently
in place and in the opinion of many, the uniformity of penalties would
not likely have any real impact in compliance with such laws.
The greater concern should be
given to the education of the OHV community to respect and comply with
the wishes of the private land owners. There appears to be
a misconception that established use to the point where a road or trail
may appear on private property creates some type of community use right
of way. This misconception is not supported by public law, regardless
of its popularity among undereducated members of the general public.
The rules of imminent domain simply don't apply when it comes to traditional
use of OHV routes on private land. It creates a much different
precedent when historic use of a road or trail exists on public lands.
Other alternatives were
discussed, such as the possibility of creating a multiple use route that
would go completely around Utah Lake and incorporate a trail out to the
Prospector Trail System at Five Mile Pass. While there are many private
land issues to overcome on such a route, there will be no solution if planning
for such community amenities is not incorporated in the near term.
Mayor Ellerton is to be congratulated
on his effort to get a broad understanding of the conditions and situation
in his community. |
|
| Public Lands Day at Five Mile Pass
The BLM has an uncanny ability
to forecast rain. All they need do is ask for a service project at
Five Mile Pass and bingo! Rain. Fortunately, the most recent effort
was much less encumbered by rain than the first clean up earlier in the
year.
Rain notwithstanding there was
an enormous turn out by OHVers of all varieties…. Humm? Where were
the tree huggers? If they were there they kept a mighty low profile.
There were representatives from several 4x4 clubs and of course the Utah
ATV Association, UTMA and PLEAA made a remarkable showing with dozens of
participants (if not hundreds). The BLM and State Parks and
Recreation department were also well represented with dozens of participants
also helping with the clean up. Even Subaru came to show of their wares.
All in all, there were tons,
literally tons, of garbage collected and deposited in the dumpsters.
Secretary Norton was represented
by an undersecretary at the event. She was involved in a celebration
with the Governor at the This is the Place State Park in the mouth of Emigration
Canyon.
Thanks to all to participated
in the clean up. |
| FIRE
DANGER?
Rains and
snow have lowered the fire danger and all previous restrictions have been
lifted, except for one. Good common sense is always required to avoid
serious damage to our public lands and private property.
|
ATV Posse Alert List - WE NEED YOU
 Those
of us who participate in the ATV Posse Alert List are pleased that there
have been no need to call out the posse in the past month.
I can't help but believe that it is because the bad guys know that someone
will be on their case before the sweat dries, that has them thinking twice
about performing their nefarious deeds. Notwithstanding the lull
in the action, there continues a constant need for more participants, so
we will be ready when we are needed again. Please, if you have not
joined previously, please do so now. Click here
for more information. |
Counters not counting!
An auditor might look at a counter on a web page as an unbiased trigger
demonstrating actual activity on a web page. That would be true if
counters worked on web sites the way they do on manual click counters.
The fact is, counters will only augment their count when they are called
from the server where they are located. The thing that is different
about computer browsers is that they have what is known as a "cache" where
they save information, in case it is needed again. When you once
visit a web site all of the graphics, including a counter, is actually
saved in the cache on your computer, on the outside chance that you may
want to come back to this page in the near future. When you do come
back, your browser program will look first to its cache for the needed
information and only go out to the web for the information that it does
not have. This speeds up your access time considerably. However,
it does not augment the counter, even if you have been to the web site
twice.
Information on how many hits and visitors are attracted to a web site is
valuable, thus many domain hosts offer statistics programs that actually
keep track of these numbers in a more reliable and verifiable manner. Even
though we had almost six months of hits on the counter before the statistics
program began counting the more accurate Statistics program has now exceeded
the number of counts on the counters. The counters will soon disappear.
We apologize for any confusion that may have resulted from this situation,
but it is a characteristic of the computer that can not be changed.. |
Shooters Head Check.
Even better than
having an annual clean up of the public lands, would be to have people
take care of their garbage in a more appropriate way. Home appliances,
abandoned automobiles, television sets, couches, bottles and beer cans
are lousy targets anyway. How much real skill is required
to hit a three foot by three and a half foot washing machine and dryer?
If you can't hit that from just about any distance, you can't shoot your
way out of a paper bag. No skill required there. Just
a reminder no shooting is permitted at Five Mile Pass. There are
just too many people recreating out there anymore. A fellow
ATV rider, Chris Brimhall, tells of coming down the trail to find someone
with their weapon leveled at a bottle set up right in the trail ahead of
him. The dust flew to his right and only just missed him. It
could have been a tragedy. Shooters will need to go farther
west for your target practice now, and how about taking along your targets
rather than your household trash. I promise that no one will complain
if you pick up your spent shot gun shells wherever you go. You can't
act like a slob then wonder why there are so many people who oppose shooting
sports. If you have a head under that ball cap, then why not
try using it? For best results, why not try an organized
shooting range. There are several around. You are far more
likely to improve your skill and find just as much enjoyment blasting away
at skeet or nailing the bullseye of a range target.
[Editors note: I actually
have no fear that any of our readers are guilty of any of the actions mentioned
in this article, (after all you can read) but just for the record,
I had to take a stand against wanton trashing of our public lands] |
WCNF Management Plan
In a recent conversation with
staff members of the Wasatch Cache National Forest it was learned that
the 1985 Forest Management Plan, which is presently in effect requires
the monitoring of several species of forest fauna in order to determine
the prevalence of such species. When the new planning document was
being prepared it was noted that no data was available on all the subject
species. To comply with the management plan presently in effect it
became necessary to complete the study of the several target species in
order to determine if there had been any improvement, decline or static
status of these species. The completion of the new plan is awaiting
this data. So until then…. We can plan on a wait until the target
species are counted. |
Rocky Mountain ATV Jamboree
You can say what you will about
large group ATV activities, but this year's Jamboree in Richfield Utah
was really a great activity. A rather opportunistic rain storm kept
the dust at a minimum while the trails were fantastic.
Click
here for a complete description of the activities from a participant's
point of view. |
San Rafael Saga
By Brian Hawthorn
You will remember that in December 2000, USA-ALL won
a major victory when the federal district court in SUWA v. Babbitt dismissed
SUWA’s claims that attempted to close existing roads in several wilderness
study areas and other areas proposed for wilderness study by SUWA.
Unfortunately, on August 29 the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed
the district court's ruling in a 2-1 decision. The majority, while
not ruling that SUWA would ultimately win, ruled that the matter must remanded
back to the district judge for further consideration.
If there is any good news, it
is that the decision is extreme and without precedent such that it invites
reversal. The dissenting judge emphasized that no other court in
the country had ever made such a ruling and, in a long and well reasoned
dissent, showed why the court of appeals was making a big mistake that
would “open the floodgates of litigation” to challenge agencies’ failure
to undertake discretionary duties under land management guidelines and
plans.
USA-ALL intends to petition
the entire Tenth Circuit panel of judges to reconsider the ruling “en banc.”
Although such consideration is discretionary with the panel, we are hopeful
that, given the novelty of the law pronounced and the vigorous dissent,
the panel will accept review. |
|
Please visit our Sponsors.
Their
assistance is greatly appreciated.
Please join us in our ever ongoing effort to educate the
public about the safety and trail information found on the Utah ATV Trails
web site. To make this easy we've created a page
that permits you to print off cards you can cut up and share with your
friends and neighbors and people you meet on the trail.
If you have a web site we also invite you to share your traffic with us
by posting a link to our web site. In most cases, we are happy to
reciprocate. No one has a more extensive ATV link page than we do. |