Torrey

Torrey, UT, is just west of the entrance to Capitol Reef National Park.  If not for the park, Torrey would not exist.  As it is, it's a few businesses strung along a couple of miles; eating places, atv rentals, guided tours, RV parks, etc.

We are finding, to Mike's immense disappointment, that many/most of the trails in Utah are limited to rigs 50" or less in width.  The trails were originally created for 4-wheelers, not for side-by-sides.  The US Forest Service is reluctant to spend the time and money to remove barriers or widen narrow spots to accommodate anyone with a larger rig.  While I understand why they want to keep trucks and Jeeps off trails (they are too big, too heavy, and they damage the trails), USFS is restricting anyone with a larger rig from the trails.  We see many 50" rigs here in Utah and that's why.



Torrey's trails are part of the Great Western Trail system.


The first full day we were in Torrey, we found a trail which was open to rigs of any size.  In theory, Jeeps and trucks could traverse at least part of the trail but then it narrowed down and 
got STEEP.  The views from near the end of the trail back east were beautiful.

On another run up the mountain, we encountered one of the local tour guides taking clients for a ride.  He quietly told us of a 50" trail that a larger rig could take safely; he also said the locals are lobbying the USFS to make more trails accessible to the bigger rigs.

 Mike did a little test run to see if his Wolverine would fit through the two boulders which limit access.  You can't see the boulder on his right side but it's about the same size as the one on his left.




This is the trail.  It's tight hairpin turns and as you keep going up, it gets steeper and steeper, with no place to turn around if you decide it's too much.  It's roughly 10,000 feet when you top the crest. 

Oddly enough, we encountered cattle up there.  There must be another way up because there's no way anyone could drive a herd up this trail.


Below is a view of the trail from the top.  Just imagine taking your rig out and into what appears to be empty space as you start back down.  (There's only one way back, the way you came up.)

We had "heard" there were good trails across the highway to the south so we ventured out there one day.  The first two trails we tried were obviously 50" trails (although they were not marked) and we wandered around for probably 90 minutes trying to find a trail where we could be legal.  Success at last!  Not very interesting riding, as it was just a really rocky, rutted trail used by the local ranchers to move cattle from one pasture to another on the mountain (more on this later).  We were trying to get to Donkey Reservoir at the top of the mountain but we wasted so much time early that we only got to Round Lake.  The safe decision was to turn around and start back down.

 Round Lake is a beautiful place but the mosquitoes are hungry and numerous.  

When we had started up the trail, another off-roader stopped to tell us that a local rancher was going to be moving cattle on the trail at some point that afternoon.  We fortunately were at a wide spot where we could get out of their way when we encountered them.  The cattle had a perfectly clear, flat trail and they all decided to climb the hill.  The cowboys had to go after them and drive them back to the trail.  

AAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! GNATS!

Twice in the past three weeks, one of Mike's eyes has been seriously swollen thanks to bites by the notorious cedar gnat. These flying nanovampires inflict a bite at least as bad as a mosquito bite and maybe even worse.  I've talked with a lot of locals (including a pharmacist) and no one has a very good repellent.  OFF doesn't do much to repel them.  They seem to like it.

We returned to the park one Friday afternoon and the manager came around to tell us the water was being shut off indefinitely.  The water for Torrey comes from the mountain north of town (where we had been riding) and an old pipe broke.  I scurried around and filled our on board tank immediately, even though the water wasn't supposed to be turned off until 6 p.m.  Guess what...water was turned off at 4:30 p.m. to the entire town, including motels, restaurants, RV parks, everything.  A weekend without water in hot weather in southern Utah.  Splendid.

There is a small town just west of Torrey named Bicknell.  Some enterprising soul bought the old, rundown movie theater, fixed it up, and opened for business.  For Faithful Readers from Coffeyville, it reminds me of the Midland but smaller.  Their snack bar has excellent ice cream and they open at 11:00 am.  

Next stop:  Koosharem to ride trails around Fish Lake.