The Paiute Trail

Dave says: Alisha arrived home on Monday and by Tuesday we were already heading down south to hang out for the Fourth of July. I planned an ATV adventure with Daniel and Parker on the Paiute trail based on a trip that I did with Alisha a few years back. On Wednesday morning, we strapped everything to our ATVs and headed out from Freemont Indian State Park up a rocky trail into the mountains. Soon, we were driving through pine and aspen forests and fields of mountain wildflowers. We took a brief stop under some trees to avoid a light afternoon rain before descending down to the town of Fillmore (through some patches of snow) for dinner. The trip up a canyon outside of Fillmore to our campground is my favorite part of the trail with lots of stream crossings on a tight little trail.

The next morning we hit a challenging section of black-rated trail before climbing up out of the Fillmore area and over to Salina. We ate lunch at a little hamburger stand in Salina before heading on some of the fast, low elevation sections of trail running back to the south. We climbed up into the mountains outside of Koosharem and found a primitive camping site for the night. In the night we heard owls, coyotes, and elk.

Our final day started with a quick trip down to Koosharem to refuel. We then went up over the top of the mountains and to the west to reach Marysvale. We ate lunch at the Prospector Cafe which had the best food of the whole trip. Finally, we drove up into the mountains west of Marysvale and headed north to return to Freemont Indian State Park. It was a warm day and Daniel was enjoying hitting the water crossings with a bit of speed.

Overall, it was about the most fun you could possibly have without getting your heart rate up. The trails were amazing and we hardly saw anyone until Friday. The variety between the high mountains, lowlands, small towns, fast and smooth roads, and tight trails makes every part of the 350 miles that we did seem unique and fun.

I made it back to town on Friday afternoon where Alisha had been diligently waking up early every morning for long bike rides by herself (trying to avoid the infamous Cedar City wind). The highlight of her cycling week was riding through the little town of Summit with her US national kit on and being mistaken for part of the Fourth of July parade. She also got to play slip and slide with Brody, we played lots of board games with Shane and Mandy, and we went on a little hike and drive up the mountain with my family.