ATV Adventures: Discoveries on new ATV trails out of Marysvale
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- This view of the massive rock walls in Dry Creek Canyon is a favorite.
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- The Big Table Trail is a delightful ride through the woods on the east side of Marysvale Valley.
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- This section of the Big Table is a twisty trail through a burn from four years ago.
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- Lynn Blamires
After the Silver King Fire wreaked havoc on the mountain west of Marysvale, I invited a group of riding buddies to meet me there to learn about remaining riding opportunities. Sam Steed of the Rocky Ridge Resort offered to show us some new reasons to ride the Marysvale trails.
The weather was perfect as 24 machines lined up to see what Sam had to show us. We turned left on the south side of Liz and Charlie’s RV Park on Paiute Trail No. 77 which follows part of Old Highway 89.
We stopped at the Lazy L Ranch, home of the first jail in Marysvale. It was moved there from town and is famous for housing Butch Cassidy and Jesse James, but not together. Butch carved his name on a wall of the jail with his pocket knife, which begs the question, who left him incarcerated with a knife? Jesse only had a pencil to scribble his name on the wall.
Leaving that piece of history, we made our way across the Marysvale Valley to the entrance of Dry Creek Canyon. This is a beautiful canyon with massive stone outcroppings. We climbed to the top on a series of switchbacks and stopped to let everyone catch up.
This is a popular trail on the Paiute Trail System. Sam told us it was badly washed out from spring runoff and became dangerous to ride. He worked with the county to make the trail safe again. In doing so, the graders cleared some brush at the top where we had stopped, revealing a waterfall that no one knew existed.
Sam showed us the best place to view the falls deep in the canyon. We could see a narrow gap between enormous boulders where the waters of Dry Creek had found a place to spill down the mountain in the shadows of the rock face.
While we were stopped, I saw Fred, our tail gunner on this ride, counting machines. As I approached him, he scratched his head and said, “We have picked up two machines we didn’t start with.” I found out later that two couples in UTVs had spent the previous day looking for trails to ride. When they saw our group leaving town, they figured we knew where we were going and slipped in line. We were glad to have them.
When we reached Paiute No. 1, we turned left for a short distance to the Dry Creek restrooms for a break. From there, we rode south on a route not on the map. It is called Big Table and it took us on a twisty trail through huge aspen and pine. It turned eerie toward the end of the spur because a section of the woods we rode through had experienced a fire about four years before.
We arrived at Big Table Point which affords an amazing view of the valley. We could see Marysvale and Piute Reservoir. The town of Junction was by the reservoir and Circleville was over a ridge.
After a break, we rode to the junction with Paiute No. 1. Sam needed to help with the Dutch oven dinner he was serving when we returned. We left him to return while we turned north toward Manning Meadow Reservoir. On the way, I stopped at the turn to Barney Lake to drop a rider to block the turn. The rider thought I was directing them to Barney Lake. When one went, they all went.
When everyone was back together, we made a loop around Manning Meadow Reservoir and down to Upper Box Creek Reservoir on Paiute No. 86 where we stopped again. Things got interesting when we finished the loop at the junction with Paiute No. 1.
I turned right instead of left. I didn’t realize my mistake until I got to Barney Lake. “What?” I thought. “I’m at Barney Lake again. I made a wrong turn.” I turned everyone around and we headed back. These riders represented about half the group. The other half (the smart riders), were waiting at the junction. They were all pointing in the direction I should have gone. Without stopping to explain the obvious, they followed me back to Marysvale and the dinner that Sam had planned for us at his resort.
We finished a ride of about 74 miles — of course, half the group didn’t ride as far as I did because of my wrong turn. When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down and plan your adventure on the Marysvale trails.
Contact Lynn R. Blamires at quadmanone@gmail.com.
