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Lunch on the lake at Ferron Reservoir.

Courtesy Lynn R. Blamires

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Lynn R. Blamires at the highest point on the Skyline Drive.

Courtesy Kat Hensen

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Ferron Reservoir is one of the many lakes that dot the Manti-LaSal Mountains.

Courtesy Lynn R. Blamires

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I like knowing about the history of the country I am riding in, and there is a lot of history to enjoy in Sanpete County. While Ephraim is the largest city in the county, Manti is the County Seat. Ephraim is the geologic center of the state, and also of Sanpete County.

Early residents were predominantly Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian immigrants, leading to the nickname “Little Denmark”. By 1880, approximately 90% of the town’s population was Scandinavian. They celebrate their heritage every year at the end of May with the Scandinavian Festival, featuring a parade, Scandinavian dancers, a yeast bread bake-off, and more.

Outlaw Matt Warner was born in Ephraim. He robbed banks and trains with Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay. After jail time, Warner became a respectable lawman in nearby Price, Utah. He spent a lot of time trying to discourage others from following in his footsteps.

The ATV trail system is named after Chief Arapeen, brother to Chief Walkara (also known as Chief Walker), who belonged to the Timpanogos band of the Ute tribe. Chief Arapeen’s Trail offered the most direct route over the mountain from Manti to access the Old Spanish Trail headed for New Mexico. It was faster than traveling south to Salina.

Armed with this information, our little group of modern-day adventurers headed out from the Willow Creek Inn for another day of fun. This time, after a short stretch on Ephraim Canyon Road, we turned left onto the New Canyon Road, designated trail #42 on the Arapeen Trail Map.

I like the way this trail begins. It is a nice, easy trail that begins at an elevation of 6,400 feet and starts to climb. It turns south near New Canyon Reservoir at an elevation of about 8,800 feet and continues climbing.

The trail took us through pine forests, large stands of aspen, and beautiful fields of wildflowers. I love riding through the deep, dark woods, but there is nothing like a trail that goes through a large stand of closely spaced aspen with their bright white bark. This trail was going too well. Where were the potholes?

We found them, and they were every bit as challenging as those on the first day of our adventure. Again, they were dry, which made them easier to negotiate, but they were big. They were fun, but they were big, but they were – never mind.

We finally came out on the canyon road at the 9,000-foot level. Travel was easy on the canyon road, but I found a fun little shortcut at the 9,000-foot level, near some old Forest Service cabins, that led us to the Skyline Drive. We were on top of the world again, headed south.

We looked down on John August Lake to the east as we passed by. We also passed Snow Lake again and Jet Fox Reservoir. I was surprised to see how low the water level was on this last one. There is a sign on the side of the road indicating that it is the water supply for the city of Manti.

After passing the high-top sign with its beautiful view of Duck Creek Reservoir, the trail drops off the ridge, offering a scenic view into 12-mile Canyon. Yesterday we dropped down to 12-mile Road and into the campground for lunch. Today, we followed a trail that zig-zagged off the top and down to Ferron Reservoir, to some picnic tables by the lake. We had a picturesque view of the lake while we enjoyed our trail cuisine. It was a great place for a lunch break.

Packing up after lunch, we headed back the way we came, enjoying the views from the top of the world. We turned down Manti Canyon at the junction. I was looking for one more adventure before we finished the day’s ride.

We followed the canyon road down to the 8,800-foot level, turned onto trail #32, and began to climb. We forded Hougaard Fork, and the trail took us around a knoll. It took us into a no-name canyon, where we followed a no-name stream back up to the Skyline Drive at the point where it passes Jet Fox Reservoir. It was worth the detour.

We followed the Skyline back to the junction that took us back down to Ephraim, finishing a 74-mile adventure. When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down, and for your next UTV adventure, consider the amazing Arapeen Trail System.

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