Triad trailblazers

Paiute Trail Ride

September 20-28, 2008

That's right, we're heading west!  The TTB is heading for Utah to ride the famous Paiute ATV Trail.  For anyone not familiar with the Paiute, its one of the top ATV destinations in the US, if not the world.  The main trail is 238 miles long with 800 miles of marked side trails.  In addition, there's another 1900 miles of trails and fire roads open to off road vehicles.

If you would like to learn more about the Paiute and the phenomenal riding opportunities Utah has to offer, check out ATVUtah.com.  This site is full of everything you would ever want to know about riding the Paiute and surrounding trails in Utah. 

Do to the magnitude of the this trip, the preparation, planning and logistics have proven to be quite challenging.  We actually started the planning process in November of 2007, a full ten months prior to our planned departure date.  After introducing the idea we did some preliminary cost estimations to help people decide if they were interested or if the trip would even be feasible.  The response we got from club members was outstanding and we currently have 17 members who are committed to making the trip. 

After coordinating the schedules of 17 people to decide on a date, the next biggest challenge we faced in planning this trip was transporting our ATV's.  Since the majority of our group wanted to ride their own equipment instead of renting something out there, getting our machines to Utah became a priority. 

Out of our 17 riders, we have five who have decided to drive themselves out to Utah and haul their own ATV's.  They have secured an RV, and a trailer large enough to haul 5 machines and their currently preparing for the 30+ hour, 2000 mile road trip......EACH WAY!  The remainder of the group has decided to use a commercial carrier to haul the machines and then fly out to Utah and meet them there.

The carrier we chose is a local trucking company based out of Mooresville, NC called Trail Trackers.  This custom built 53' trailer was designed specificity to haul ATV's.  It's got two separate loading decks complete with a power lift and elaborate tie down system to securely haul up to 28 ATV's and riding gear.  All we need to do is drop off the machines on loading day and then hop on an airplane.  The machines will be delivered to Utah, dropped off at our lodging destination and will be waiting for us when we get there.  After that, the only thing left to do is Ride!

The next big task was deciding where we wanted to stay.  After researching the area, it became apparent that the two most popular lodging destinations are Richfield and Marysvale.  As we poured over the trail maps, guide books and GPS data it soon became clear to us that Marysvale was our logical choice.  It sits at just about the center of the Paiute system and affords the luxury of being able to reach just about anywhere on the main Paiute trail loop within a days ride. 

Now Marysvale, Utah is not a sprawling metropolis by any means.  With the normal population floating right around 418, lodging choices are not overly abundant but they are adequate. We chose Big Rock Candy Mountain.  Its a small "resort" with a 10 room motel, 8 individual cabins with full bathrooms, a restaurant, convenience store, laundry facilities and a gas station.  Plenty of room to house our 17 riders for the 10 days we plan to be there. 

What else could we possibly need!

Stay tuned as we continue to plan for this incredible trip.  We're now about  6 months away from our departure date.  All the hard parts of the logistics are done and now comes the fun part.......planning for the riding, where we'll go, what we'll see....

Anyone want to guess how many times we'll get lost!?!?

Stay tuned.........