My buddy Eric was in Denver for a conference and decided to stay the weekend. It just so happened a couple friends, Jason and Sean, were going to Moab that weekend. Eric had never been, so we drove over and all four of us met up and rented a couple Kawasaki KRX 1000 UTVs (Utility Task Vehicles) and hit the trails. It’s hard to believe something that fun is legal.

Bolt that punctured tire

The bolt that punctured the tire on my rented UTV.

We started in the morning by heading west of town on the south side of the Colorado River. The road eventually leads up to Hurrah Pass. The views from there were amazing and the roads pretty mellow, which gave us a chance to get used to the machines as that was my first time driving a UTV. I was relatively reserved at first until Sean passed me like I was standing still. That’s when I realized what these machines could really do. Man can they rip! After exploring a bit beyond the pass we headed back to town and grabbed a sandwich to eat on the trail.

For the afternoon we headed up to Sand Flats Recreation Area just east and above town. The views of the La Sal Mountains are astounding and the rock formations are mind-blowing. We got on the Fins and Things trail and stopped to eat lunch. When I got out of the UTV I heard a hissing near the rear tire and damned if I hadn’t picked up a huge bolt in my tire. We headed back to town and the guys at the rental shop were able to swap out the wheel in less than 10 minutes. We were back on the trail about 40 minutes after I discovered the leaking tire. Tragedy averted!

The rest of the afternoon was spent giggling like school boys. Some of the climbs and descents seemed impossible at first, but those machines have no problem at all. I swear they would climb straight up a wall. I took some GoPro and drone footage, which of course doesn’t do justice to the views or the steepness, but it still looks pretty amazing. Just imagine how amazing it looks in person. Take a look and post a comment.