Duck Creek, Utah ATV Ride

Oct. 01, 2001 By Pattie Waters

If you follow these ATV pages of Off-Road.com, you've already been introduced to some of the most ATV-accessible areas in south-western Utah, most recently in July 2001 when we explored the Paiute ATV Trail System. Following up with another easy weekend get-away, we check out the Duck Creek area of Bryce Canyon country.

Coming north from Las Vegas on I15, it's an easy drive into Utah, staying on the main interstate all the way to Cedar City.

(If you have generator, solenoid, or meet-up-with-your-group problems, you can have a lovely overnight stay in the WalMart parking lot as we did, or skip that adventure and head on down the road.)

Here you head East on Hwy 14. It's 29 miles to Duck Creek with nothing but trees and cliffs between the two, so gas up in Cedar City. Enjoy the view as you go, and make sure you pull over and check out the Zion overlook, between mile markers 16 & 17. You'll also find a good pull out to overlook Navajo Lake a couple miles further.

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We headed this way over Labor Day weekend, and found quite a bit of traffic.

Campgrounds are few and far between and of course full, so we recommend going on an off weekend. If you are self-contained or prepared for "dry" camping, there are several options - before mile marker 23 on the right side, is the large meadow area of Deer Valley. Staying off the meadows is key, but there are plenty of camping areas among the trees and trails that border the meadow.

No facilities are availble except for one lone out-house, which looks as though it may have only been there for the busy weekend so be prepared to pack-it-in, pack-it-out. We saw no running water either in that area, though further exploring by quads did lead to some hidden camping areas tucked in around streams. Good luck finding them!

First afternoon we checked out the Ranger Station at Duck Creek (manned by staff that are very welcoming, until you mention "ATV", when the welcome cools considerably. This is definately NOT Paiute Country! While your tax dollars pay for this public land and these people's salary, it's another case of "you can use it, but we don't have to like it....") and picked up maps galore.

Found lots of fisherman checking out the area and people getting wood cutting permits, as well as many who were headed in for opening weekend of bow hunting season. It would be a busy couple of days in those woods!

Just up the road snuggled on the edge of a meadow is Duck Creek Village, and don't even think about finding parking if you are towing a trailer.

Drive on past, park beside the highway, and walk back. There are several general stores, couple places to rent cabins, and even ATV/snowmobile rentals. Pick up your ice and last minute supplies here. It's the end of civilization. We met the owners of Meadowview Lodge and Cabins (beautiful facility) who also rent ATV's (1-877-384-0361). They were very helpful and provided us with a hand-drawn map of the trails in the area, carefully noting where you could NOT ride legally.

Much of this area winds through public land and private property, and rumor has it that you do NOT want to see the ticket for riding an ATV on or along Highway 14. There are numerous side trails, use them.

It was lunchtime by then, so we headed back to the open meadows of Deer Valley, and found ourselves a place among the trees.

Didn't take long to set up and head out for first exploration of the area. The trails are marked at the head only, and while it's helpful to have a map, it would be almost impossible to keep any map completely current and accurate. However, most of the trails in this area seem to either dead end or wind back around to where they started, so you can't go too wrong.

We found trails that were easily ridden and some great mud holes. Vehicle traffic was a concern all weekend since most of these trails are wide enough for a 4x4, though not maintained so you're really on your own if you decide to try it.

Looked as if a little more rain and it might be very interesting on some of the trails! Ruts were deep, and water stayed long. We wandered around through a recently logged area, and were heading on a rapid pace toward home when I put a good sized stick through my brand new Razr tire! Dang!

Seems the boys had trouble getting the tires to seat on the rims, so they had rather over-inflated them, and that makes for a deadly combination with sharp objects. The stick served as a rather good plug for a short distance, then I felt the "flop flop", it pulled hard to one side, and I knew we had lost the plug. So two bodies headed full speed for camp, racing the setting sun.

I started a slow limp that direction, staying off anything that might mangle my new rim.

Thought I was doing ok, hanging way off one side to keep the weight off the rear, when it just wouldn't steer at all - I looked down and the tire was coming totally off the rim. So I pulled off the road, found myself a large rock and big stick to serve as a jack, and waited for the rescue crew.

They weren't gone long. Good thing, because the two quad riders and one pick up truck that passed me didn't even bother to slow and ask if I needed assistance! Hmmm... Rescue crew returns with one new tire each and a few tools, quick tire change, and we're back into camp before dinner time. First time we've carried a full set of spare tires with us, and you can bet it will be required gear from now on!

We made several runs Saturday afternoon, and one Sunday, and by then had explored most of the existing trails and decided to check out other areas. Next we headed up the road past Duck Creek Village, to the Strawberry Point turn off. (Road to the right - Strawberry Point, go left - Uinta Flats.) We saw a large, accessible parking area next to the highway so parked it there for the afternoon. Unfortunately, what we didn't see off to the left was the beautiful meadows and

abundant camping spots that actually had trees and grass.

We'd find those later, but for now, we parked it in the lava rock, watered the dog, and headed out on the gravel county road for Strawberry Point. It was long dusty adventure, passing lots of passenger cars and other ATV's, but worth the view when you finally got out to the point.

We made good time and an easy journey of it out to the point, and then the adventures started. Trying to find a side road home that took us to ATV-accessible areas and off maintained country roads, we made a few wrong turns, passed several very remote campers, met lots of head-on ATV traffic, and had a great tour of the country. We stumbled into the residential southern side of Duck Creek Village and Highway 14 several times and had to backtrack, but eventually found our way to the Ice Cave. Explored this large cool cavern, then meandered our way back by other roads, of course getting lost and backtracking again, at least twice.

As we said, a map helps, but plenty of gas and a sense of humor are more important!

We had lunch back in the lava parking lot and just thought we'd check out the area on the other side of the highway, and as I said, found THE spot. We crossed over and camped actually right by a large group of fellow Las Vegans (Vegans? Veganittes?

Las Vegimites?). We didn't know them by name even, having only seen them at adjacent camps at Dumont Dunes, but knew if they were camping there, it must be ok! Exploring the Uinta Flats area definately called for maps, and these were mostly right -though we found trails that went north around a knoll when the map showed south, trails that appeared maintained on the map that didn't exist in real life, and fences that heaven only knows where they came from!

But we had many more great adventures checking out tree-lined trails, rocky paths, large open meadows, and even climbed down in a few caves. Back to the RV in time for campfire and roasting marshmallows, and a peaceful evening of NOT hearing motors race through camp. Ah, it's hard to miss the dunatics!

It will soon be too cold & wet for the mountains and we'll be putting those paddle tires back on, but we definately need more time to explore this area.

Also heard great things about fishing in Mammoth Creek and it appears much of it is accessible via ATV, so we may set up base camp next time slightly farther north and continue the adventure! Stay tuned, and send us an email if you're up for the ride!