ATV Adventures: Riding the John Taylor Loop at the Outlaw Jamboree
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- My little Polaris Ace 570 bounced around like a ping-pong ball in the rock garden.
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- Entering the rock garden.
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- In line to follow the leader through Ashley National Forest.
It was the first day of the 2026 Outlaw Jamboree in Vernal. I was with three friends who chose the John Taylor loop because it was rated 3 out of 10. We were looking for an easy ride through the Ashley National Forest. While we did get a beautiful ride, we also got more than we bargained for.
I chose to bring my little Polaris Ace 570 to ride the Outlaw Trails at this year’s jamboree. It has all the characteristics of a side-by-side – a steering wheel, a roll cage, and a gas pedal – but it has only one seat. I felt like a little chihuahua puppy running with a pack of big bulldogs.
We were able to ride from downtown Vernal north on 2500 W, which becomes the Taylor Mountain Road as it approaches the mountains. This road is smooth and well-maintained on the initial climb into the Ashley National Forest. After entering the forest, we turned left onto the Red Cloud Loop Road, then onto a two-track trail that wound through groves of aspen just beginning to bud, and tall pines.
Our first stop was the Ashley Gorge Overlook. We were on the edge of a cliff that dropped hundreds of feet into this enormous gorge. The views were breathtaking. The trail continued along the edge of this beautiful gorge, where we crossed Grasshopper Flat, and stopped for a second look at this massive canyon from another vantage point.
The trail continued up and down the ridges on a tight forested two-track until we rejoined the Red Cloud Loop Road. Continuing north, we stopped at a campground, where we enjoyed lunch in the warm sun. We were at an elevation of just under 9,000 feet.
After lunch, we left the main road and traveled east on forest service roads. At the Iron Springs Campground, we turned north and passed Parson City Spring. In the shadow of Dyer Mountain, we stopped at the Dyer Mine. This old copper and silver mine had remnants of mining equipment from its days of operation.
At this point, the trail turned from a 3 to a 10. As we left the mine, I noticed a sign with a trail rating. It was a double red diamond laced with lightning strikes. We were going into a serious rock garden, no, I mean a boulder garden.
Trails are marked for difficulty with color-coded markers. A green circle indicates an easy trail, a blue square suggests a more challenging trail, while a black diamond is the highest difficulty rating. The double red diamond with lightning strikes goes beyond the highest rating. I have only seen one other of these signs, and it was on the Hog Canyon Trail near Kanab.
My little Ace is only 90 inches long, with a 61.5-inch wheelbase. I upgraded the tires from 25-inch to 27-inch tires, but that only added an inch to the 10.25-inch ground clearance. These big rocks were more of a match for me than it was for the bulldogs I was running with.
Bry Davis, one of the three buddies in my group, was riding behind me, watching me negotiate the boulder field. He said that I looked like a ping-pong ball bouncing around in those rocks. He added that at one point, he was sure I had only one wheel on the ground, with the other three in the air.
I was told the rocky section was only a mile long, but it felt more like a month to me. We also had to deal with logs on the trail amongst the boulders. I was able to squeeze between two logs in one section, but a big machine behind me got high-centered on one of them
We made our way down to rejoin the Red Cloud Loop Road following Anderson Creek. Our group of four broke away from the main group and took the longer route around Sims Peak and down through Dry Canyon back to Vernal on the Red Cloud Loop. We came across a section on the east side of Sims Peak with hundreds of water ponds. This part of our ride turned out to be our favorite. It was fast, fun, and beautiful.
When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down, and if you are going to take this trail, take a big machine to handle those boulders. As a side note, the Ride Utah Challenge pamphlets are now available at Young Powersports dealers.
Lynn R. Blamires can be reached at quadmanone@gmail.com.
