Riding up Farmington Canyon is always an adventure because it gets you off the highway and into the backcountry, where you will see the real Utah. You enjoy the changing seasons in the canyon, the wildflowers, the wildlife, and the mountain views. Stories come from things that happen unexpectedly, choices made that turn out to be stories not soon forgotten.

In my 33 years of riding ATVs, I have made many memories. Some I have written about, and others have yet to be written. Here are some new ones that are just being inked.

One year, I took my son, David, and some of his friends up Farmington Canyon in the winter. I was trying to reach the lower parking lot for the fire break road, a trail that runs south on the bench of the mountain. I had four ATVs loaded on an 8-by-16-foot trailer, and the truck was in four-wheel drive when the road turned steep and icy. I was making no forward progress, and putting on the brakes didn’t keep me from sliding backward. In this course, the loaded trailer was dragging us off the road and down into the canyon. Quick thinking and action saved the day. My son, David, and a friend jumped out of the truck, grabbed the trailer, and yanked it back onto the road. The trailer moved easily on the ice, and they guided me back down to safe ground.

On another trip up that same canyon in the spring, we turned off the road to play on a large snow field on ATVs. We were all having fun riding on the snow when suddenly I noticed that there was a deep crevasse right in front of me. I stopped just as my front wheels were dropping into it. Trying to back out was useless. I couldn’t get any traction in the snow. I called my friends, who were able to use a tow rope to pull me out. I was reminded of the first rule for riding in the backcountry – never ride alone.

Lynn R. Blamires, Special to the Daily Herald

The weather is a wild card when riding in the backcountry. I have started many rides with only a tiny white cloud in the sky, only to be well into the ride when that cloud turned black and filled the sky.

I was with a group of riders on the Paiute ATV Trail, riding to Richfield from the west. We were coming over the top when the storm broke. The rain was coming down in sheets. It wasn’t long before we noticed that water was pouring onto the trail in rivers from the fields. We were riding in mud that was beginning to build up on our wheels. I don’t like to ride in mud, but when you are well into the ride, either way, you have to finish the ride.

By the time we were on the last leg of this ride down into Richfield, the rain had stopped, but the mud had built up in our wheel wells to the point that turning left or right was extremely difficult. We spent a small fortune at the car wash to be able to continue our ride.

The Paiute ATV Trail is the source of another tale on the trail. Early in my riding days, I camped on the trail. Nowadays, roughing it is a motel that doesn’t serve breakfast.

Eight of us were riding the trail marked No. 01. It makes a 275-mile loop on the Paiute Trail System. We planned a three-day trip, with our first night spent at the Castle Rock Campground. The second night, I was looking for a good camping spot. The moon was full that night as we pulled up to a grove of aspen at the top of Pine Canyon on the west side of the Paiute.

Lynn R. Blamires, Special to the Daily Herald

As the story is told by the other riders, “You passed up some of the best camping spots to pick this one?” We bedded down among the trees with their white bark reflecting the light of the full moon. It was not easy to sleep with the lights on. When we woke up, we realized that the ground was covered with cow pies. I never did hear the end of the whining about that night.

When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down and make your own memories on the trail.

Lynn R. Blamires can be reached at quadmanone@gmail.com.