Riding the Paria

Saturday morning Leslie and I got up early and went 4-wheeling with our buddies, Robert and Palma. Originally we talked about going out to a place called “White Pockets,” which is supposed to be very pretty, but at the last minute Robert suggested we go back to the Paria River (which we’d done last summer) because some environmentalists are proposing to close it off to vehicle traffic, so we opted to go to the Paria, potentially one last time. As we were passing Kanab, Robert asked if we wanted to stop in at the rally. ??? Then he explained that all the 4-wheelers in southern Utah were going to ride the Paria that particular day to protest the potential closing of the area. We opted to not stop and listen to the speeches, but rather to hurry to the river and get ahead of the big group – we didn’t want to eat their dust all day. As we unloaded our 4-wheelers at the old Paria movie set site, a ranger came by and told us that the river had technically been closed for over 20 years but that the closure just hadn’t been enforced, that there were hordes of environmentalists looking for a fight already in place, media ready to document any clashes, and that there were other law enforcement officers up the river who might want to talk to us if we proceeded. We decided to go anyway. So we buzzed up the canyon a ways and came across a group of park rangers who chatted with us for a while, tried to talk us out of proceeding by telling us that we were seriously outnumbered, and then let us go on our way. Then, a bit further up, we came across another group of park rangers, dressed in full riot gear, who took photos of us and our vehicles, but let us proceed. Shortly after that we passed a meager dozen or so environmentalists sitting in lawn chairs off to the side of the trail and holding signs telling us to “Obey the law;” they also took our photos and we waved as we went by. The rest of the way up the canyon was very pleasant and relatively isolated. On the canyon walls we saw Indian petroglyphs and pioneer writing; the pioneer writing (seen in the attached photo) is dated 1888 and was put there by the Hancock family as they used this route to migrate from Payson to Arizona. As it was the last time we rode the canyon, it was beautiful with red, pink, and purple colors, the water was refreshing, and the ride was a ton of fun. It was a 30-mile ride through the river up to Cannonville (named after George Q. I’m sure) where we ate our picnic lunch and gassed up our 4-wheelers. On the way back down we passed dozens, if not hundreds of other 4-wheelers, who were still going upstream. When we got back to the south end of the canyon, the protestors and law enforcement had all left. We came home, tired and sore and glad we’d made the ride, especially if it’s our last opportunity.

You can read the media’s view of events, including some photos, at the following websites: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=6442676 and http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12334760.

Note: the main voice in the on-line slide show at sltrib.com is of Mike Noel, who was our bishop when we lived in Kanab, and is currently in the Utah state legislature.

I also signed an on-line petition to request that this route be kept open to the public; they sent me the following letter to share with you all:

Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the online petition:

"CITIZEN’S PETITION OPPOSING A FEDERAL TAKING OF OUR PUBLIC HIGHWAYS IN KANE COUNTY"

hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/paria/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

Best wishes,

Colin