2016 Off-Road Adventure -Fillmore, Utah (Elevation 5,135)

Departed Oak Harbor, Washington on 17 June 2016 headed to Fillmore, Utah.  I will be attending the National UTV Jamboree.

1^st day (Friday, June 17^th) I traveled to Pendleton, Oregon (360 miles) spent the night at the Wild Horse Casino parking lot, went in for a beer, and then settled down for a nights rest.

2^nd day (Saturday, June 18^th) I made it as far as Brigham City, Utah  (505 miles). I didn’t worry about getting lost, drove on Interstate Highway 84 all day. Had heavy wind and rain for the 1^st 4 hours.  Highlight of the day was going over Blue Mountain Pass, great scenery.

3^rd day (Sunday, June 19^th) made it to Fillmore, Utah (200 miles), was glad to arrive; little hot for my taste (92 by mid day).  Settled in at the Fillmore KOA with a slight glitch, they had me departing on June 24^th instead of the 27^th.  Luck was on my side, The person that had reserved the spot I was in cancelled.

4^th day (Monday, June 20^th) 12 of us left Fillmore on our Quads for an overnight camping trip to Castle Rock Campground located in the Fish Lake National Forest. Along the way we saw some amazing scenery, went through multiple river crossings and stopped at a cattle ranch crew shack. It was called “Cabin on the rock”, for obvious reasons.

  

After off-roading 5 or so hours we finally arrived at the campground, set up our tents and immediately was treated to a Dutch oven dinner: chicken, potatoes, roll, beans and cherry crunch for desert After dinner, 7 of us along with our trail Guide took a night ride up to the 9,000-foot level to enjoy the scenery, which added another 25 Dirt Miles (recorded miles when off-roading) for a total of 85 Dirt Miles for the day. Upon returning to base camp we were treated with fireside stories about some of the local history by an elderly gentleman (75 years old).  Yep by the end of the day I was tired.   

"Cabin on the Rock"

"River Crossing"

"Castle Rock Overnight Camping"

"Night Ride"

5^th day (Tuesday, June 21^st) In the morning I awoke to the smell of bacon cooking.  We were treated to a great breakfast, eggs to order, scrambled eggs, and leftover potatoes from the night before, pancakes, coffee, juice and fruit.

We broke camp, left at 9am, headed out for our days ride after we visited the Fremont Indian museum. http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-fremont.html

Once we visited the Fremont Indian exhibits, we decided which trails the 60 & 50 inch Side X Side would take. One of the routes back only allowed 50-inch access so the group had to break up. The National Forest folks put 6-inch metal posts that you have to fit in between.

 I informed my guide that my Polaris RZR tires were actually 55 inches because I had changed the rims and tires.  He decided that if my Side X Side would fit at the top gate, I should be ok for the bottom gate. I was able to fit in between the gate guards at the top so we contained on.

Big mistake, after crawling through the forest for about 3 hours, we came to the end of the 50-inch trail gate at the lower level. Yep you guessed it, my RZR would not fit.  There was no way around it.  The group decided that they did not want to go back up the hill, so we had to come up with another solution.  We ended up removing the rock slider on one side, removed the front rim and tire, drove part way through the gate as 4 guys held up my front end, put the front rim and tire back on, and repeated the process for the back tire. I got through, put my RZR back together and headed towards Fillmore. Sure made a good story that evening at the event tent, the word had already spread by the time I arrived for dinner.

"Squeezing through the 50 Inch Gate"

"Nice spot for a snack break"

6^th day (Wednesday, June 22^nd) Today was a non ride day, did some laundry, reviewed additional trails, reviewed the features on my new Magellan eXplorist TRXt GPS, got some repair done on my RZR, and went to the evening Jamboree  dinner/entertainment

7^th day (Thursday, June 23^rd) After having an event sponsored breakfast, 17 other quads and I left for our days ride.  We departed at 9:00 am on a trail called Devil’s Armchair. The name came from a rock formation that looks like a huge chair.  We climbed over a mile in evaluation through loads of Aspens. Once again the scenery was outstanding.  Once we reached the summit we were provided a vendor sponsored lunch of pulled port and steak burgers. After lunch we headed back to base camp.  We clocked in 78 Dirt Miles. The whole trip took us 6 hours. After dinner we were entertained with an UTV obstacle course event.

"Devil's Armchair"

"Obstacle Course, Sled Pull"

8^th day (Friday, June 24^th).  We departed for our daily ride around 9am, trail was scheduled for about 5 hours and was headed up to a local ridge called Kanosh Ridge overlooking the city called Kanosh, Utah (go figure) The 1^st part of the day was great, then after lunch things started to fall apart. We had two Quads overheating a lot so we made numerous stops and worst of all around 2pm our guide discovered she had taken a wrong turn and we were lost. I mentioned to her that all we needed to do was follow the sun and take trails headed west; sooner or later we would be back on the correct side of the Range (hey, that’s what I do in Washington, works for me). 

Around 4:30 she finally realized that we were on the wrong side of the range because the City below was Joseph, Utah not Kanosh which is 50 dirt miles and 4 hours away. By this time my GPS indicated to me that I had traveled on the current trail before, so I was able to locate the correct turn. I decided to only speak up if she took the wrong turn again.  I had my GPS set to “ Track Me” so it would find my way back to base camp. It worked perfect.

In middle of all this turmoil, a Quad went over the side of a cliff.  The driver jumped off so he was ok. We winched his Quad back on the trail, luckily there was a cattle truck that passed by, we threw the Quad into the cattle trailer, and started our trip back to base camp. 

We had about 35 miles to go when my RZR completely shut down, all power was lost.  Since it was so dusty, I had turned on all of my lights (vehicle light, front bar light and 2 back up lights). Somehow it sucked more juice then I was producing. I carry a spare battery and booster cables with me so I was back on the trail in about 5 minutes. 

We got back to base camp at 8pm. I was schedule to participate in the drag races that evening, however after driving 7 ½ hours, traveling 106 dirt miles and spending 11 hours on the trail, I felt it was best to just watch the event. 

During dinner, they held the awards ceremony. I was awarded the “ Mountain Man” award. Given to me for my looks (beard) and my ability to survive and solve problems in the wilderness.  So now my Nickname is (Mountain Man Jacques)

9^th day (Saturday, June 25^th) Non ride day. We had breakfast at 8am, and then we participated in the UTV Triathlon  (3 different events were held: horse shoes, golf and skeet shoot) and I attended a local car show.  Saw a blue F1 Ford Pickup truck just like mine, it won 1^st prize for the 1940 category.

"Triathlon & Car Show"

During my visit to Fillmore, Utah, I socialized with some fun loving folks; I hung around mostly with 2 families, one from Georgia the other from Arizona, The Georgia couple decided to meet me in MacKay, ID in early July for the Rally In The Pines Side X Side (Quad) event.

On Saturday evening we did a pot luck BBQ.  I provided salmon which was well received. 

"Debbie, kristin, Rick and Al"

All in all it was a busy week, however I had a great time.

10^th day (Sunday, June 26^th) Today I’m going to rest a little, wash my RZR, clean the Motor home and do some laundry.   Tomorrow I leave for Marysvale, Utah.