Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Paiute ATV Trail

Every since we started ATVing and found out about the Paiute Trail in the mountains of south central Utah we have wanted to come here. So when we started making our "bucket list" we knew we were headed this way!

The Paiute ATV trail is a 236 mile loop over three mountain ranges and through rugged canyons and deserts that have been designed for recreational ATV riding. From the main Paiute Trail there are numerous side trips leading to spectacular scenery and all kinds of opportunities which make up over 800 miles of open roads and trails open to ATVs.

We made reservations for a week at Lizzie and Charlie's RV/ATV park in Marysvale, UT and that was the beginning of a "beautiful relationship"!! From our site we can see mountains on 2 sides of us and the Trail is right here! So cool! ATVs are allowed on the streets and they are everywhere. There are about 90 sites here in the park and at each site you will see at least one ATV and usually two or three. And everyone is so friendly. Marysvale was hosting a UTV rally and the park filled up quickly with campers and all kinds of ATVs and UTVs.

As soon as we pulled in and got parked our neighbors beside us and behind us came over to say hello and to welcome us to the park. Bob and Loretta, beside us, have been coming here for 6 summers and know all the trails and offered to take us out on some. Their friends, and our "behind" neighbors, Karen and Jim are here for about a month. Jim and Karen travel in a 37 foot motorhome with their family of 5 dogs and live in their motorhome fulltime. I can't believe we were so fortunate to have parked by these fun and friendly folks!

The first day here we explored just a little on a close portion of the Trail and the next day we joined up with Bob, Loretta, Karen and Jim and took off on our quads for lunch in the small ATV friendly town of Koosharem. By the end of the day we had traveled over 90 miles up and down and through the most beautiful mountains, large stands of aspen, and spruce forests with spectacular views from mountain tops.Wow. It was a fun day but our tushes were pretty tired at the end of it!

By the end of the first week we had ridden almost every day and we just couldn't get enough! The park sits at 5800 feet elevation and we have been up as high as 11,500.This place was everything we had hoped for. We decided we needed more time to see and do so we paid for 3 more weeks here at Lizzie and Charlie's and will ride ride ride!

We like the weather here too. It gets into the mid to high 80's through the day(sometimes 90)and down to 50 or so at night and day time humidity has been as low as 14%! Just right to leave the windows open for sleep. If we do run our A/C it is just for a short time in the late afternoon. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the Sevier River runs along part of the Trail and we hope to get to get on it in our kayaks! We will need to do that during the week though because the week-ends the river is busy with white water rafters. There is a lot to do in this area. So if you are ever near Marysvale,Utah be sure and stay at Lizzie and Charlie's RV/ATV park. You can read all about it on their web site www.lizzieandcharlies.com/

I will post more later in the week and hopefully some pictures. Until then you will find us on the trails!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Month 2 of Summer travel






We started our second month in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We had enjoyed the lower part of the state so much we didn't think it could get any better. But it was great.

We explored the Lake Superior area for a few days and found it to be beautiful, peaceful and remote a lot of the time. We camped in a Michigan state forest campground along the great lake. We were able to hear the waves at night and ride the quads through the day. We had no cell service, no TV and no internet....again! But it was so much fun to take the ATV trails to some of the light houses and to pick wild blueberries that were growing along the trails and county roads.

We got suggestions from people we met as to what we should see while we were in the U.P. and did actually take in a lot of the places mentioned. One of these places was Tahquamenon Falls. They are touted to be one of the largest falls east of the Mississippi.The Upper Falls has a drop of nearly 50 feet, is over 200 feet across, and can propel a maximum flow of more than 50,000 gallons of water a second over the edge. There is also a Lower Falls located 4 miles downstream that is smaller but just as spectacular. We spent several hours there and were glad we got to see it.

We also drove(the truck this time) to Pictured Rocks National Seashore and it went on for miles! It was well worth the time we spent. We had great weather for our time in the U.P. We were able to leave the bus windows open at night and the days were just right for exploring.

We knew we only had so much time so after our day at Pictured Rocks we moved south a few miles to a National Forest campground on Lake Colwell and rode the quads on the trails in that area. Here the trails were also snowmobile trails and weren't as much fun as the actual ATV trails we had enjoyed up near Lake Superior and down in lower Michigan. But the area was just as beautiful and we are glad we got to see it.

We left Michigan and stopped in Crivitz, Wisconsin to see our friends from Texas, Ed and Karen Dimmick. Karen had told us when we all left Texas that if we got close to Wisconsin to stop in and so we did. They took the day and showed us around where they live. And let me tell you the U.P. has nothing on this part of Northern Wisconsin. Absolutely beautiful. They have the tall pines, blue water, waterfalls and much more. And while we were riding around they took us to see other Texas friends,Roger and Gloria, Rosie and Jim, and John and Carol(only John wasn't home)It was fun to see where everyone lived. What a great day with good friends.

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