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Arrive at 12-mile Flat Campground.
Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner
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Crossing an aspen wall on the Arapeen trails.
Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner
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Negotiate one of the many mud pits on the Arapeen trails.
Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner
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Lynn Blamires
Photo provided
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Arrive at 12-mile Flat Campground.
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Crossing an aspen wall on the Arapeen trails.
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Negotiate one of the many mud pits on the Arapeen trails.
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Lynn Blamires
Earlier this year, my nephew called me and asked for a sample of what I was writing. He wanted to have a real mountain biking adventure for himself and his family. I liked the idea.
We set a date and started planning. He has four kids—three boys and a girl. I have a four-seater Kawasaki Teryx4 LE that took care of half of them. He rented the same Kawasaki so he had enough room for the rest. His oldest, James, is 17, so I brought my single-seater Polaris Ace for him to ride. We had a convoy.
We chose Ephraim as our base of operations. It seemed very official. We checked into the Willow Creek Inn and went to Mexican. We had two rooms and four beds, so they played rock-paper-scissors to see who got to sleep in the same room as the aunt and uncle. It got funny.
The Arapeen trailhead is in town, so we didn't need a trailer. After breakfast the next morning, we headed to Ephraim Canyon. The Arapeen is a beautiful trail system.
The canyon road is easy to ride and I wanted to get the new riders used to their machines. We turned south on Willow Creek Road. It's a good way to get between Ephriam and Manti without getting on the highway. It's also a nice trail to ride.
After looping around we headed back to Ephraim Canyon Road. This took us to Lake Hill Campground where we took a break. They have flush toilets.
Joining the canyon road, we climbed to the top and turned south on Skyline Drive. It's like being on top of the world. This road runs from Highway 6 in Spanish Fork Canyon to I-70 near Salina and there is a 58 mile stretch that stays above 10,000 feet in elevation. You are on top of it all.
We passed Snow Lake and Jet Fox Reservoir heading south. We looked at Duck Fork Reservoir and Ferron Reservoir before descending to the 12-mile Flat Campground where we stopped for lunch. I have clown horns on all my machines, and Edison—their youngest—couldn't help but honk at them.
We got back on the Skyline and took Ephraim Canyon Road. We turned off that road and took #42, the Left-Hand Fork Trail. This is a real 4×4 road. After crossing a fork in Cottonwood Creek, we came to a big mud hole. We had to lock up the four-wheel drive to get through this hole, but a 12-ton service truck didn't do as well. The crew was using a hoist to get it out. It didn't look promising.
We exited Ephraim Canyon on New Canyon Road and headed back into town. Then it was pizza, rock-paper-scissors, and lights out.
The next day we were back on New Canyon Road. We took Route #45. This was another real 4×4 trail with steep sections and narrow, tight trails. It took us back to New Canyon Road where we picked up Route #42, the trail where we got the service truck stuck in the mud.
They must have realized this because the truck was gone. The mud hole was still there, so we had to drive through it one more time. However, as we approached the Ephraim Canyon road, I could see what appeared to be huge white boulders on the trail. I didn't remember seeing any large boulders on the road the day before.
As we got closer we realized it was a sheep camp and the sheep were lying on the trail. We approached cautiously to avoid causing panic among them. They slowly moved away from the trail, but one small sheep was sleeping soundly in the middle of the trail and wouldn't move. I asked my passenger to guide me around him. He didn't wake up until we were almost past him. We had one more mud hole to cross and then we were at the top and on our way to Joe's Valley Reservoir.
We had lunch at the campground and then headed back up the mountain. We stopped at Grassy Lake to watch the fish. They were jumping like crazy.
After dropping the jumping fish, we worked on a logging operation and climbed the Clay Bench. This brought us back to Skyline Road where we headed back into town, finishing our second day.
If you decide to go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down and have your own mountain bike adventure.
Contact Lynn R. Blamires at quadmanone@gmail.com.
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