2011 Green River Ride Report

Dear Friends,
 
For the past 36 years, 1976-2011, we have been holding the Green River Ride, formerly the Ten Mile Wash Ride.  It all began in April of 1976 with five dirt bike riders who decided to venture to the Moab area and ride the White Rim Trail.  Those riders were: Paul Edmunds from Cedar City, Mark Sumsion from Salt Lake City, and Burke Eldredge, Keith Haslam, Gary Rhoades from the Uintah Basin.  The next day they enjoyed a ride on the Slick Rock Trail; then they began to explore. 
 
The next year a group of 12 riders stayed in Moab and rode the Slick Rock Trail and other areas.  They ended up riding into the Ten Mile Wash area and decided that would be a nice area to ride for a day.  The next year, 1978, eight riders trailered bikes to the Ten Mile Wash area via the Moab Airport road and rode some of the Ten Mile Wash.  One rider, yours truely, was successful in finding quick sand at the head of Ten Mile Wash with his '77 Bultaco Frontera and had to be extricated out of the mess.  But that didn't stop riders from showing up at Ten Mile Wash each year.  And in 1980 it just happened that one of the members of the riding group, Burke Eldredge, wanted to travel from Ten Mile Wash Butte over rock and sand to the north; they discovered the White Wash Sand Dunes area. 
 
By 1985 over 45 riders were attending our annual ride held in April.  It was in this year that the decision was made to stay in Green River at the Bookcliff Motel rather than Moab.  That meant there would be no more riding the Slick Rock Bike Trail out of Moab each year.  It was also during this particular ride that Dick Brass from Helper showed up.  He and Paul Edmunds discussed the possibility of forming a riding club to protect public riding areas to OHV's and sponsor other rides throughout the year.  Dick suggested that an acquaintance, Ron Stokes, who has just moved from Idaho be involved in the planning.  By the next year, 1986, the Utah Trail Machine Association was formed.  And their first project was the Paiute Trail with the help and dream of a US Forest Service professional, Clyde Lay.
 
However, the three-day Ten Mile Wash Ride was the premier ride of the newly form UTMA.  Participation grew from a few dozen riders to the hundreds of riders.  It included the UTMA hosting the Idaho Trail Machine Association in 1989.  Guided rides were the order of the day with dozens of rookies enjoying the adventure including selected rides with newly found trails.  Many of the new trails including Dead Cow Wash and The Tubes were discovered by Dick Guy and Joe Furuli from Colorado.   Each year Dick and Joe delighted in guiding what they referred to as a High Tech Ride with thier friend, Sumner Gleason--and it lived up to its name.           
 
The UTMA grew its membership with Rainer Huck becoming the president.  The Ten Mile Wash Ride grew in numbers with riders coming from Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, California, Utah, and as far away as Minnesota, New Mexico, and Washington.  A raffle was included as a fund raiser for UTMA and included a hosted continental breakfast on Saturday morning.  Unique Ten Mile Wash riding jerseys were printed up and sold.  It seemed this ride would never come to an end. 
 
But as time evolved, Federal government permits were required, portable toilets had to be put in place and paid for from club dues, and other various and sundry regulations and restrictions were enforced.  One year law enforcement folks showed up on a "fishing expedition" and wrote dozens of tickets for seemingly senseless "violations."  They chased riders including children on ATVs up and down the sand hollows in their vehicles.  These same folks showed up a second year to make sure no "violaters" would be present even though they had been reprimanded by superiors for their despicable behavior the year before.  It soon followed that the UTMA paid the government agency over 600 dollars for the "privilege" of hosting the Ten Mile Wash Ride.
 
Last weekend there was no UTMA raffle held, or hosted continental breakfast.  There were no organized rides staged from White Wash.  There were no multitudes of riders representing UTMA membership who showed up.  The only redeming grace was the fact that the White Wash and surrounding areas were open to OHVs with restrictions.  No more "open" riding area. 
 
I enjoyed the 36th Annual UTMA Green River Ride with my son and son-in-law.  And I must state that I enjoyed myself.  I rode challenging trails and areas that I remembered from the 1970's and 1980's.  And for the most part, they are still open with few restrictions.  I visited with friends including Steve Milner who was looking for someone to ride with to the Geyser, and Rainer Huck who was camped alone with a friend on the White Wash Ridge.  Nope, didn't see my friend Brian Hawthorne camped on the flat, or his friends from Colorado, or the Dale Larson family and friends from the Uintah Basin riding around by the dunes.  But I had the privilege of meeting new friends on the trail.  
 
See ya'll in 2012! 
 
BTW: Give my son, Charlie, credit for the wheelie in the sand!