When:  Thursday, August 5^th, 2010 – 9:00am

Details: The Manti-La Sal National Forest is hosting an Arapeen ATV trail work day in 6-Mile Canyon (east of Palisade State Park in Sterling, UT) on Thursday, August 5th.  Work will take place at the eastern end of the Harmon trail where it intersects with the 6-Mile Canyon road (Forest Road # 0047) about 2 miles below six mile ponds.  Work will consist of re-construction of three trail bridges crossing drainages on the eastern end of the trail.   Access to the work site is best by ATV, but owners of high clearance 4X4 vehicles can also park at the end of the trail and easily walk to the worksites.   Work will consist of abutment excavation, hauling rock to fill gabion baskets, setting stringers, decking the trail bridges, and rehabilitating areas where trails have been created around them in the past.

Work will begin at 9:00 AM and continue as long as there are volunteers willing to work or until the bridges are constructed.  Volunteers are encouraged to participate, even if they only have 2-3 hours available to devote to this project.  Volunteers should bring work gloves, sturdy footwear, water/lunch as well as some basic tools if they have them:  shovel, pick, 2 pound hammer, and 5-gallon buckets.   Children under 18 years of age who are interested in participating must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Interested volunteers can contact the project manager:

Bill Broadbear, Manti-La Sal National Forest, 599 West Price River Drive Price, UT 84501 bbroadbear@fs.fed.us Ph # 435-636-3516

Please help us get the word out by inviting friends, family, and neighbors to come make a difference on our local public lands.

From Potter’s Ponds we headed west back up to Skyline Drive.  This 7 mile section of the trail is fairly rough.  We passed a small mud slide that covered the road along the way, but it was easy to get around.

After reaching Skyline Drive, Trail #1, our group headed north to loop back to the parking lot along highway 31.  The trip was very scenic and enjoyable.  The trip is about 34-35 miles, and depending on stops, takes between 2-3 hours to ride.  There are several bathrooms along the way as well.

Sanpete County Travel and Heritage Council is in the process of making all 30 volumes available in .pdf.  This will allow historians and descendants to quickly search for desired information.  The first 7 issues have been placed online and the remaining volumes will be posted as soon as they are converted into electronic format.

The Narrows has been discussed and promised to Sanpete County for nearly 80 years. When complete, it will provide a means of storing water that runs out of the mountains for use as mid and late summer irrigation and culinary water.  This new reservoir will be a great recreational destination for fishing, boating, and camping.

For Official Sanpete County Water Conservancy information on the Narrows Project visit: http://narrowsproject.com/

Maple Canyon is as just as amazing in the winter as it is in the summer, minus all the rock climbers.  There are, however, a number of people who come to the canyon in the winter to ice climb the numerous frozen waterfalls.

While snowshoeing  we found a cave that I had never been to before.  It  leads back into the canyon wall about 50+ feet. Approximate GPS of Cave: N39.5618 W111.6881

The snow wasn’t very deep last weekend but is was very unstable.  As we rode I noticed 3 avalanche areas.  The largest was near Philadelphia Flat at an area know by local sledders as the “Super Monster”- a really fun place to hill climb.  The avalanche had  exposed the rocky hillside below.

Since yesterday morning, Tuesday 22nd, we have received lots of fluffy powder, which made it easy to shovel the drive with my ATV last night.  I am sure that avalanche danger will remain high through the weekend so please be careful if you plan to sled.  I also recommend wearing and avalanche beacon and carrying shovels and probes.

Trail grooming began up Ephraim and Mayfield (12-Mile) Canyons this week.  With this last storm, I hope they will begin grooming Manti and Fairview Canyons as well.

For more information about Snowmobiling in Central Utah, including snow depth and trail maps, visit:  http://sanpete.com/pages/snowmobile

The tour begins 1.4 miles east of the forest boundary and ends at the Summit Overlook. There are 6 information stations along on the tour.  It is a great excuse to get outdoors and enjoy the fall colors

OHV Trails in Sanpete range in altitude from 6,000 to over 10,000 feet.  It is a great place to ride that is not too far from the Salt Lake City Area.  There are hundreds of miles of trail.  Most of the trails are UTV (side-by-side) friendly.