Ticket to Ride

My son James Jr. won one of the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Ticket to Ride prizes for the motorcycle classes, and Anthony Stone won the other. Anthony had a mishap beforehand and was injured, but that didn’t stop Rocky Mountain from bringing him and his friend Alex and putting them in UTVs so they could still enjoy the adventure.

I was honored that my son chose me to take this trip with him. Justin from Rocky Mountain ATV/MC sent us GoPro footage of the riding location along with emails about how great it was going to be. After a few months, we were obviously getting anxious.

Day 0 – April 21

The time came, and we were on our way. From the time we got to the Salt Lake airport till the time we left, I don’t think any of us stopped smiling. The Rocky Mountain crew treated us like kings and showed us stuff I could have never imagined. From their huge and scenic mountains ranges to their giant warehouse of parts and accessories, we really enjoyed the sights.

Now comes the real good stuff! We headed out of their warehouse with trailers in tow on our way to what we thought was just another riding spot to have a blast at. Just getting there, as you can see in the photo, was like looking at a painting.

We had some good stories from everyone on the three-hour drive to the small town of Green River, Utah. We went to dinner and met the rest of our riding group. I was surprised that there was a large age gap, so I was thinking it wouldn’t be a fast ride, but rather a fun trail ride. Well, I was fooled!

We got settled into our hotel to rest up for the next day of fun.

Day 1 – April 22

Morning came, and Anthony and Alex headed to Moab with Jason and Travis (from Rocky Mountain) to ride the UTVs.

We headed out to the Dubinky riding area. Wow! I have never seen anything like this in my entire life. It was the most beautiful place, and we got to ride there – jackpot!

Patrick Garrahan, a KTM rep, joined us. Tad and Ryan from the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC dealership (KTM/Kawasaki) in Washington, UT came and brought the bikes we were about to have the time of our lives on. And finally, Justin and Eric, our trail bosses from the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC headquarters, were there to lead the ride.

They put James Jr. on a 2014 KTM XC250, which he had wanted to test for a while. We dialed in the bikes a little and headed out on an adventure, one I could only wish to share with everyone.

We rode on and off of rock. They call it slickrock, which is really like sandstone, so traction was not an issue. The sights were amazing, such as a scene looking out over a 100-foot drop to see rocks with sand dunes at the base.

We dropped down right into some sand wash roads/trails between huge rock hills. I was on a 2014 KX450, I was going along pretty good – or so I thought till I started losing everyone as they pulled away on me. I thought, Okay, time to go. So I gave it some serious throttle, and I was just staying within view. At first, I thought the pace would eventually slow down… not! We kept that pace most of the day. Needless to say, my son had a smile from ear to ear.

I watched the modest Justin lead Jr. and Patrick up a vertical transfer from sand to rock to air. That was impressive! We rode the whole day on beautiful countryside that even had free-roaming cattle. I could go on and on just about the first day.

The day ended with a great dinner at a local stop that was filled with more adventure stories from everyone. Then it was back to a well-needed night’s sleep.

Day 2 – April 23

As awesome as the first day was, the second day was just as good (and in some aspects better). We headed into the town of Moab to ride the trails in that area. The sights made it hard for me to watch the trail – they were simply amazing.

We were on a slower pace this day, but that just meant the terrain was more technical. We headed into the Kane Creek trail, and I can only compare the area to what Wile E. Coyote & the Road Runner played in – mountains of rocks and drop offs up to 600 feet. Now if you can picture the stuff you can barely climb up without ropes, that is what we were riding down, around and up on bikes. We got to see the trails where Jeeps and UTVs go rock crawling. (Some of these trails were the ones Anthony and Alex rode in the UTVs.)

On the Pritchett Canyon trail, we took a break and got a great show watching Jeeps and UTVs hit this steep wall we had just come down, but they were going up. Neither video nor photos can show you how impressive this type of stuff really is.

So back out through the canyons we went till I had a little tip over. It was on a rocky hill that was rather simple; I just put the wheel where I shouldn’t have. I found out what even a little tiny cactus feels like because after about two minutes up the trail, the jersey had to get plucked along with my shoulder (but not too bad). All was good because we stopped again in another gorgeous spot.

By now, most of you are probably thinking this guy thinks everything is beautiful. Well, I’m not that guy who stops and sees the sights, but on this whole trip, I couldn’t not look. It was that cool.

We headed back on the trail through some washes and more rocky walls. We ate lunch and headed to a popular trail in Moab called Hell’s Revenge. This area has something for everyone, whether they’re hiking or riding mountain bikes, UTVs, Jeeps or (of course) motorcycles. It was like one giant rock with a path of white dotted lines to follow – and for good reason. You could be going along, and if you chose not to stay on track, you could be over some cliffs that I couldn’t see the bottom of. We rode this area all over with some more stops for sightseeing.