have you heard of the A.R.A.P.E.E.N. trail system

[andy d]

my buddy told me about this a.r.a.p.e.e.n. trail system in the manti lasalle mountains. he said that there are jeep trails and 4 wheeler trails. one that goes from I-70 all the way to flaming gorge. is anyone familiar with this? he found it when he was in Ferron last weekend.

 

[Beanie]

Google is your friend

http://www.atvutah.com/arapeen/arapeen_trail.htm

 

[Herzog]

Yes, I know of a few of these trails. My parents ride with a group of ATVers that take care and maintain ARAPEEN trails. They spend a lot of time up there keeping the trails clean and passable (removing fallen trees, blocking illegal routes). It's really cool.

Apparently there are a ton of them.

You have to note that some of them are designated for ATV because of the narrower track through parts of the trails. So if you guys end up down there, please obey the signs.

 

[Herzog]

one that goes from I-70 all the way to flaming gorge.

I don't think that is true. The trail cover a huge area, but not even close up to flaming gorge. Maybe they were thinking Scofield or something. Anyways, most of the trail are accessable by a maintained dirt road called Skyline Drive.

Another cool thing is that they are accessable from both sides of the mountain. Meaning you can drive into Ephraim or Manti and get to them just as easy as you can from Ferron or Huntingon.

 

[iceaxe]

I was just up there over the 4th, explored some last year too. The top of the mountains are broad with big flats of treeless lush green meadows and small lakes. There are narrow cliff bands and forested canyons dropping away and on a clear day you can see very far. It's like being on top of the world. Last year I went up Ephriam Canyon and took skyline north for several miles untill a huge snowfield blocked the road, turned around and descended to Joe's Valley Res. and followed the road below it down to Caslte Dale through a nice canyon, then returned on Hwy 31 (I Doubt there is a more scenic drive in all of Central Utah than Hwy 31 between Huntington and Hwy 89)

last weekend on the 4th I went up Ephriam Canyon again then went South on Skyline Drive, there was a bypassable snowbank at Jet fox Res which was a nice light blue kinda glacial lake look. I saw signs for the Manti canyon north and middle trails on respective sides of Jet Fox but decided to continue to the South/main Manti Canyon road since I didn't know the area.

The map on that link is great. Next time I go that way I'll have to check out all of the blue("jeep") trails with square boxes(more difficult). Looking at the map, there aren't any blue trails with diamonds(most difficult), whats the deal?

 

[andy d]

the trail system sounds cool. i got the map off of the website. thanks for the input. do you think it can be a day event or should i plan a weekend? are any of the small lakes fishable? is it better in 4x4s of 4wheelers?