I’ve never had gooseberry pie but I have ridden the Gooseberry ATV Trail. I don’t know if I like gooseberry pie but I do like the Gooseberry Trail. This was the featured trail on the opening day of Utah’s newest jamboree; the Salina ATV Rendezvous. I was invited to join the festivities by Kevin Arrington of the Sevier Travel Council along with Steve Brown from the KFAN radio program “Inside the Outdoors.”

Salina is uniquely situated as a stop on the Paiute ATV Trail and connected to the Great Western and Gooseberry Trail systems. Another benefit of staying in Salina is that you can ride directly from your camp or motel to the trails.

We left the Motel 8 and headed north into town with a group of riders, including one dog who loves to ride. Our route took us east out of town along a frontage road to I-70 past Twist Canyon, under the interstate and past Rattlesnake Point. We turned north past the Gooseberry Road, changing our course to avoid fording Salina Creek because the creek was still running high.

Crossing an ATV gate restricting machine width to 50 inches, we soon learned why as we climbed the side of Maple Spring Canyon. We traveled through a narrow tunnel of oak brush so thick that branches were brushing our machines on both sides. It was easy to see that this trail would not work for a side-by-side.

We dropped down into the bottom of the canyon and then began our climb up the other side. Topping out on the Oak Ridge Road, we skirted the top of Dead Horse Canyon and snaked our way through Telephone Hollow. Now that did not sound like a pioneer name to me and I could not get any reception on my cell phone so we moved on. We sneaked by Creepy Spring for obvious reasons and continued weaving through the trees on a very enjoyable ride.

We turned south toward Taylor’s Flat on a more developed road and made a loop around a series of lakes that offer some great fishing opportunities. Farnsworth Lake is the only body of water that winter-kills every year, but it is planted with rainbow trout in the spring and the fish grow fast for great fishing in late September and October. Salina has rainbow and Hamilton has brook trout. Gates has rainbow, brook, and the fun to catch tiger trout, while Abes has cutthroat, rainbow, and brook trout. I got this information from Tom Torgerson, one of the local fishermen in Salina. I won’t tell you anything about the size of the fish in these lakes because in my excitement, I shared some of Tom’s fish stories. I learned it is best not to share “fish stories”; it will not build your credibility.

You may ask why I am giving a fishing report in an ATV article when stopping to fish means I have to get off my machine and I have not learned how to troll while riding. Well, I have been on some ATV fishing trips and I have learned that it is better to fish with the rest of the guys than to sit on my quad watching them.

We stopped at an overlook near Gates Lake. We were right at 10,000 feet looking west at a breathtaking vista. I noted that Steve, being a fisherman, saw Rex Reservoir while I, being the ATV rider, spotted trails to ride. It is all in the eye of the beholder.

We made our way back on the main road then took Soldier Canyon back under I-70 to Salina. We finished a trip of about 64 miles that took us through some of the prettiest mountain country Utah has to offer.

This event is now in the history books, but there is still time to register for the Rocky Mountain ATV Jamboree September 20–24 in Richfield. The Salina Rendezvous was first class and these same people organize the Richfield jamboree, so expect no less. When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down, and don’t believe all the fish stories.

You may reach Lynn Blamires at quadmanone@gmail.com.