The promotional flyer for the Fall Color Tour promises 300 plus miles of scenic trails through the Dixie National Forest and through the BLM lands that make up a large portion of the Arizona Strip, and it certainly delivers that. Unfortunately, due to a bureaucratic subterfuge called "Administrative Review", the BLM and National Forest Service withdrew over a 100 miles of previously approved trails, forcing Jim Pilon and Ron Loomis to substitute a greater amount of dirt and paved roads in order to round out this two day ride. This didn't diminish the scenery or the colors of the tour, but it did reduce the challenge that one normally expects to find on a ride such as this. There were still a few more difficult sections left, but greatly reduced from past rides.

At any rate, Friday morning in Ontario, Matt Stegmaier and myself loaded up our DRZ400's and riding gear in Matt's truck and started off for a long, sometimes boring ride along Interstate 15 and across lots of desert. Stopping for a couple of hours in Las Vegas, we fueled up and had lunch with my folks, wishing my dad a happy 84'Th birthday. Then, back in the saddle for a couple more hours until we caught sight of Mesquite, Nevada. This sleepy little burg has turned into a tourist Mecca, sporting a number of new casinos and catering to the gamblers from adjacent Utah and Arizona. After leaving Mesquite, we entered the Arizona strip. Here the Interstate suddenly took a turn to the North and began to climb upwards through the Virgin River Canyon. Suddenly, the scenery changed from the monotonous tan of the desert to the vermilion shades of Utah's canyon-lands country. This proved to be only a taste of what was in store for us over the next two days. This proved to be only a taste of what was in store for us over the next two days.

Entrance to Virgin River Canyon

Canyon's colorful eroded sandstone cliffs

Utah and Arizona's landscape is an amazing testament to the power of running water and time. Equally amazing was the fact that the lazy, little stream in the bottom of that canyon could be responsible for cutting this canyon through solid rock and sandstone. The geology of this area is tied to an event that caused the uplift of the Kaibab Plateau, and the subsequent damming of the rivers that traverse their way to the west and the south from the Rocky Mountains. These rivers were only temporarily blocked, eventually they cut their way though this barrier, forming the mesas and great canyons (including the Grand Canyon) that characterize this area.

Once past Mesquite, we were only a short twenty-six miles from our ultimate goal of St. George, Utah. This town has also seen an enormous growth since the last time I had passed this way (Some 30 years ago, my dad and I had driven my little Volkswagen Beetle home from College after graduation), and St. George was little more than a wide spot in the road and a gas station.) Today, one finds a bustling, modern little town, that has all the amenities that today's tourist has come to expect. There are plentiful hotels, fast food restaurants, parks, schools, etc. and numerous housing tracts that spread into some canyons with truly marvelous scenery. St. George also respects its past, with many historical building preserved. Also available are large campgrounds for the snowbirds and tourists that are attracted to this area for its scenery and recreational opportunities.

First view of the Saint George Valley

Matt unloading the truck in front of room

Matt and I opted for the comfort of a hotel for this trip, and we registered at the Best Western Coral Hills. The hotel itself is very nice, with both an indoor and outdoor pool and (more importantly to Matt and I) Jacuzzis. The hotel management left a little to be desired, however, as we discovered that our requested ground floor room had been given to someone else that very day, and the first upstairs room we were sent to proved to be occupied by other guests. Once we got this situation straightened out, we unloaded the bikes and went down to Pro Cycle Sports, the local KTM motorcycle shop to register and get our first days roll chart.

Since we were registering so early, it was relatively straightforward and our "Tech Inspection" was a snap. When Jim looked at our DRZ-400S motorcycles, he mumbled "Stock" and plunged the coat hanger into the exhaust to insure a spark arrestor was still in place. With that over, it was a question of handing them the AMA Card, and signing a couple of releases. ($5 of the entry fee goes directly to the Ride For Kids.) They handed us an excellent map that showed the route for both days, as well as a roll chart that had blessedly big and dark print. We asked how many people were signed up for the ride, and were told that 150 riders had pre-registered for the event. Matt and I looked at each other and resolved that we were going to leave at 6:00 AM the next morning to avoid the crowds and the dust.

With that behind us, and the roll charts mounted in our holders, Matt and I began to look for a place to do dinner. We happened on a little diner on river road, and enjoyed a great hamburger, fries served with a smile. I kept watching the TVs looking to see what the outcome of the Notre Dame - Air Force game was. It didn't dawn on me until later that evening that this was only Friday, and the game wouldn't be played until tomorrow. We are such creatures of habit! After a little bit of TV, Matt and I hit the sack knowing that that 5:00 AM alarm would come all to early.

Sure enough, moments after my eyes closed, the alarm was blaring and we were dressing for the ride. Fortunately, the weather was perfect for riding, with clear skies, lows in the 50's and a high of 72. Layers were the order of the day, and I choose my heavier set of riding pants and jersey, topped with a riding jacket. We trundled down to the "Continental Breakfast" and were pleasantly surprised to find an inviting spread of donuts, bagels and toaster waffles, cereal, fruit, coffee, juice. After a quick bite, we were off into the pre-dawn darkness. This immediately raised a problem for us, as neither of our roll chart holders is lit. We settled into a routine where Matt would lead and I would follow about a half a bike length behind him, using my headlight to illuminate his roll chart. This worked well from two respects, it provided the light he needed to read the chart, and it kept me out of his dust.

Riding a dirt trail in the dark with our headlights made us really appreciate having a true street-legal machine with a bright headlight. Matt ran his headlight on low to light the nearby trail, while I ran my on bright so we could see what was further ahead of us. This seemed to work well, as neither of us had any real problems. It was my first experience with the dirt on headlights, and it was a little bit eerie to be riding along at 20- to 30 MPH with nothing but a headlight. Fortunately, we were truly the first ones on the trail and didn't have to worry about any other traffic. We were treated to a spectacular sunrise as we climber out of the St George Basin and headed for the high country of the Dixie Forest.

Early morning view of a Mesa

Eroded sandstone formation in Dixie Forest

We also watched the light of St. George winking out as the sun slowly rose, which made up, in part for the cool temperatures we were riding in. I was OK, except for the end of my nose but Matt was pretty uncomfortable for the first couple of hours of the ride. He had opted for sweater over his jersey, and had some cold weather gloves that didn't seem to be doing their job. The wind seemed to be cutting right through his gear, whereas the windproof riding jacket that I had, along with the Kevlar glove liner were keeping me comfortable. I remedied the nose problem with a bandana used to cover my mouth and nose. As the sun came up, we began to shed layers.

The first thing we noticed on our ride was that there were dozens of hunters clad in day-glow orange jackets and hats. As it turned out, the first day of our ride fell on the opening day of deer hunting season in Utah. I'm sure that the hunters were just thrilled to have 150 motorcycles roaring through the forest scaring their quarry and I was glad that we were the first riders through. The other thing that I noticed was the number of hunters motoring around the forest on Quads. If we play our cards right, the motorcycling fraternity will have a real ally here in the access to public lands wars.

Taking a break on the trail

Where in the heck are we?

As the sun climbed higher and higher, we began to get warm and comfortable. Eventually the faster riders began to overtake us, but these were few enough in number that the dust was not a problem, and we now had folks to confer with when the trail got hard to follow. We began to get see more pavement and signs of civilization, which suggested that lunch might be in the offing. Soon, the little berg of Enterprise Utah came into view, and we pulled into the gas station for fuel. Matt and I were surprised at the amount of fuel we still had in our 4-gallon gas tanks after some 90 miles of riding. Even when geared down for off-road use, the "S" model DRZ Suzuki get great gas mileage, Lunch was obviously being served across the street at the hamburger stand. The best thing about Marv's were the milk shakes, which were more like a Blizzard from Dairy Queen, and absolutely had to be eaten with a spoon. The gas was quick, the food was great, and because we were so early, we were soon on our way.

Hand Built, Enterprise Flood Control Dam

Lunch at Marv's Drive In, the place to be

After dropping down in the Enterprise valley, we began climbing into the high country again. Soon we were passing through an area that had obviously been disturbed, with little "gardens" every so often that were flagged an d fenced to keep people out of them. As we continued on, the source of the disturbance became obvious, we were passing through the route of a large excavator that was digging a trench to lay a large-diameter gas pipeline. At one point we were dropping down into a little draw, and here was this huge excavator being serviced by a fuel truck and squarely blocking the road. We stopped and chatted with the crew for a few minutes, and then were on our way. As it turned out, the little plots that we had come on were the plants that the crew had disturbed and were required by law to relocate.

More Trailside Scenery on Day 1

Settler Cabin (Those guys knew how to live)

Further on we came across an abandoned cabin built by one of the regions early settlers during the days of the Mormon migration to Utah. Jim later told me that the settler was a polygamist with 6 wives, and the he lived in the cabin while the wives occupied a shed built behind it. It looked like a really hardscrabble existence, but I suppose it had it rewards.

From there, we started dropping back down towards St. George, but we had one more treat in store for us. Our path was to take us by Baker Lake, one of the most popular fishing lakes in Southern Utah. There were many hunters and fisherman camped around this lake, but the fish didn't seem to be any more available than the deer were.

Baker lake and Reservoir

At any rate, Matt and I finished the 180 mile first day and made back to the motel by 3:00 PM, and treated ourselves to the luxury of lounging in the spa, followed by dips in the pool to cool off. Life doesn't get much better than this.

Saturday's dinner was at a rustic looking hall known as Staheli's Ranch. It was billed as an All-you-can-eat, Western-style, Dutch-oven buffet, with salads, pork ribs, chicken, roast beef, and baked beans. Desert was peach cobbler covered with ice cream, and was some of the best I have ever had. The hall was full, and several tables groaned under the weight of the door prizes or awards. As it turned out, the reason for the large number of prizes was the cancellation of this-years Kennedy Meadows DS due to the fire there. The McLanahans had generously volunteered their time to support this ride, and donated all the prizes they had pulled together for that event to this ride. I think that most people would up coming away with something. Matt and I did better than most; with Matt winning a tow strap and a set of glove liners (no more cold hands or blisters for him) and I won a certificate from Ceet for a new seat cover.

The festivities broke up around 9 PM and Matt and I headed for the hotel and bed. We had resolved to get up at 5 AM again to beat the crowds and dust. When I got back to room, I discovered that the ND-Air Force game had started at 9, and was torn between my need for sleep and desire to see how we did. I compromised by watching the game's third quarter, and then dropped off to sleep.

All too soon, the alarm was blaring again, but I noticed that Matt and I seemed to be moving much more slowly. Polishing off another continental breakfast, we check in at the starting line to find that we had even beat the check out crew. We left a note, and headed southwest for the second days ride of 140 miles. This ride was to prove much more desert like that Saturday as we traversed the Arizona Strip and headed back towards Mesquite, Nevada and our lunch stop.

Again we were riding the first hour in the dark, but this time were bouncing across the desert portion of the trip, complete with sand washes, rocks, drop-offs, etc. Hitting that type of terrain in the dark takes its toll on the machinery especially tires. The next thing I knew my bike began to get squirrelly, and it looked back to see a flat rear tire. Well, so much for our plans of staying ahead of the crowd. I pulled over next to a nice big rock alongside the trail, and Matt and I picked up the bike and put it on top. First we tried pumping up the tire, then we took off the wheel dismounted the tire. Since I wasn't running a rear rim-lock, the valve step had torn out of the tube when the tire deflated. OK, I had two tubes, so we took out the 18-inch tube, only to discover that it too was missing the valve stem (dummy!). No problem, I had a 21-inch tube we'd just use that. Well, that tube had a hole in it (Double dummy!!). Fortunately, Matt had a brand new Bridgestone Heavy Duty tube in his fender bag, and an hour and half later, we were back on the road.

Terrain on day-2 trail

Trail climbing to summit before Mesquite

The terrain became more interesting as we started to approach the mountains that separate Arizona and Nevada. The trail wound upward towards the summit and the roll chart warned of a long steep downhill that might overhead the brakes. We found a trail that started out a little narrow and soon turned into a fun and twisty jeep trail that dropped down the mountain towards lunch. Soon we were speeding along a dusty desert road that wound its way into Mesquite and lunch. Since the organizer couldn't find anyone who would host such a large group, they handed us $5 and told us to help ourselves to lunch.

Steep twisty trail dropping into Mesquite

20 miles of dusty desert road to Mesquite

After lunch, we took a frontage road that paralleled I-15 heading back towards St. George. I briefly hoped that they had discovered a route that would take us through the marvelous Virgin River Gorge, but that was not to be. We soon crossed under the freeway and began following the old road to St. George. After about 15 miles of pavement, the course split into an easy way (the road) and a hard way that took us across the desert foothills and into a canyon that was the home of several desert tortoise preserves. Here they asked us to limit our speed to 35 MPH so we wouldn't hit any of the occupants. From there, the road turned into a power line road that climbed the mountain range separating Nevada and Utah, and then we began our roller coaster descent into St. George.

Top of the trail into St George

Rugged country along the trail

The last half of the second day's ride was the most enjoyable for me. The vistas with the fluffy clouds floating overhead were magnificent, and a fitting end to a truly enjoyable two-day adventure. I think Matt and I had truly stumbled on the holy trail. Seeing a truly magnificent and preserved example of early Indian Petroglyph art seemed to be a fitting close to a great and uplifting experience for us.

Mesa and Badlands coming into town

The best Petroglyphs were right in town

We made it back to the hotel by 1 PM, and decided to high tail it back to California instead of lounging around St. George for another day. It saved us both a day's vacation but it put us in the heart of the Sunday return traffic from Las Vegas and Laughlin. Even so, we pulled up in front of Matt's house at 7 PM, leaving plenty of time to unload, clean up and prepare for the coming week.