WHERE TO RIDE: Paiute/Gooseberry Trail Systems

Recently, we visited Richfield, Utah, in Sevier County and rode the Paiute and Gooseberry trails. Sevier is located in central Utah off Highway 70 and has a massive trail system with one million acres of land for trail riding.  There are four main trail systems: Paiute, Great Western, Paiute Side Trail and Gooseberry. We logged hundreds of miles visiting the Silver King Mine, Kimberly ghost town and the Fremont Indian State Park. The scenery we got to ride in was tight, wooded trails and open hillsides with many creek crossings. We spotted elk and deer during our rides and got to try a bit of fishing at one of the many lakes accessible in the trail system.

MORE TO DO
One major event takes place in Richfield once a year for five days of riding, which is the Rocky Mountain Jamboree, held September 21st through 25th this year. This was the 23rd year for the jamboree held at the Sevier County Fairgrounds. Back in 2009, the world record for the longest ATV parade was set with 1,870 ATVs. Two smaller events held during the year are the National Jamboree in late June in Fillmore and the Marysvale Jamboree in August. To register for both jamborees, visit www.sevier utah.net. The trails are maintained by the BLM and Forest Service. When riding ATVs on public roads, speeds are generally governed by the speed limit on the street. If there is a difference, then it is posted on an ATV sign.

STAY AND RIDE
One of the ATV clubs involved with the project of trail maintenance and other services is Sevier Valley OHV Club. All of the towns along the trail system welcome OHVs and are completely user-friendly, allowing direct access via ATVs to services such as gas stations, restaurants, lodging, garages, trailheads, etc., and have plenty of available parking for trucks and trailers. The Paiute Trail runs through Salina, Aurora, Richfield, Glenwood, Monroe, Elsinore and Joseph in Sevier County. Outside of the area it can also be accessed from the towns of Fillmore, Beaver and Marysvale. Other access points are Fremont Indian State Park and Big Rock Candy Mountain.  The Fremont Indian State Park offers many activities for everyone, featuring walking trails to check out ancient petroglyphs, pictographs, pictoglyphs and many other viewpoints and geological wonders.

TRAILS
The designated ATV/UTV routes include 50 inches or less and 60 inches or less. There are also trails for full-size vehicles. The trails meander next to everything from tight, wooded areas to open hillsides. The difficulty level for trails is rated from easy to hard. Any time of the year, chances are good that you will see deer, elk, cattle and other animals in this part of the country. Some of the trails close in the winter because of snow at the higher elevations and do not open until late July each year. The Gooseberry Trail has 250 miles of exploration routes, while the Paiute Trail has 1200 miles. The Old Spanish Trail goes from New Mexico, passing through Sevier County, going into California, and was used to transport goods between the states in the 1800s. This trail is approximately 1200 miles long through a mixture of terrain. One of the more well-known trails is the Max Reid/Paiute Side Trail. The Reid trail can be used to go from Fremont Indian State Park through the semi-wooded, mountainous terrain of Sargent Mountain. At the end of the trail, Silver King Mine is accessible. At the mine, there is a walking tour offered that shows, among others, a cabin and a mine tunnel. There is also the Great Western Trail, which goes through Arizona, Utah, Idaho and Montana. From Canada to Mexico is 4,455 miles. The idea was to create a trail from the Grand Canyon to Yellowstone National Park. The Utah section enters the state from the north near Beaver Mountain and exits into Arizona.

Many of these trails traverse varying elevations, If you need your carbureted ATV worked on or any parts for your quad or other machines, visit Jorgenson’s. This shop provided us with a quad during our trip.

COME VISIT
If you don’t live in the Utah area but still want this riding experience, it is only a few hours from many areas, including Las Vegas (only a four-hour trip along the 15 to the 70). Using the 70, Grand Junction, Colorado, is only three hours away. The towns in Sevier County have ATV-friendly hotels or KOA campgrounds. Our contact section has a list of local clubs and the local chamber of commerce.