Where WOULD you live?

[N8ball]

Bull, I live nestled right between downtown and the university on Fletcher ct. The green lot at the end of the street is my garden. If you pedal, you can go up anywhere there is a trail. Anything going up the hill will cross the bonneville shoreline trail, which is a great ride. There are many sections to do individually, but you can ride it from brigham city to Payson (over 120 mi.).

If you are in or on a motor vehicle, the closest thing would be the off road park in bountiful. Hint- it's by the big B on the mountain side. You can stay on the main trail (Skyline Drive) 26 miles to farmington, or stop explore many side canyon trails. There are several obstacles near the base of the B, like a big hill climb and the "Tank trap" where my buddy sunk his Yukon. New 33" BFG's were no match. It took my cherokee and a renegade Wrangler to pull him out. That is north, but if you go south, the first place you can go up is Corner Canyon. At least you could, new development may have impeded access. I destroyed a front drive shaft on my old truck there.

Kennecott Copper owns the Oquirrh Mtns. on the west side of the valley, so there is not much access there. Go around the oquirrhs To Tooele and you can get up the back side. Another 20 mins west is the Stansbury mtns. with several trails going over the ridge and down the other side. Skip that and stay on the highway a few more mins till you reach knolls. Knolls - Utah ATV Trails
A buddy of mine rolled and totalled his TRD Tacoma last weekend there. No injuries though.

If you look around the above site you will find more than I could ever type here.

[N8ball]

I just foud some info on that site that I found interesting- 80% of the state is set aside for public use. Not all is off road friendly, but that is 8 times the area of NJ.

[Bullnerd]

Thanks again N8.
Wow, your close to the mtns!
Whats the big "B" on the mtn?
It looks like theres trails right behind the "U" that go up into the mtns?
Is there anywhere to live where you can ride off your property(bike/buggy) and get onto public land,kinda like Tut does out of his driveway?
Sorry for all the lame questions!

[N8ball]

Nearly all the high schools and universities have a letter on a mountian. It's a western thing. Utah = U, BYU = Y, Bountiful high = B. The Trails by the U are part of the Bonneville Shoreline biking trail. I pedal up there all spring, summer, and fall. After riding up, there are some sweet downhill MTB trails. It's good for walking the dogs but rattlesnakes make summer not the best time for it.

As far as riding straight onto public land, look around Heber, Midway, and Kamas. Those are all in the mountains and 35-45 miles from SLC but if I could afford 5-10 acres out there I would commute. My brother rents a 2.5 acre mini ranch in Silver Summit, near Park City ($$$), and he can ride a mule(kawi) to his work at Promontory Ranch Club. There may be some east draper neighborhoods (maybe Suncrest) thaT COULD ACCESS the corner canyon area I mentioned. Possibly in west herriman you might get up in the southern side of the oquirrh mtns.

The further you get from the city, the better chace you have of finding direct access. Eagle mountain is out there a ways but if you could work in Lehi or american fork, it wouldn't be too bad.

Yeah having the mountains so close has kind of spoiled me. I will be in SLC as long as I can't afford that land I've always wanted. My next door neighbor is selling his place for 380K which seems crazy with the .07 acre lots we sit on, but everything in the house is new and top of the line. He is 36, retired, and not in a hurry to sell so he priced it high. I paid less than a third of that but it was back in '02 before banks started giving money away and driving prices up.

Anyway, don't sweat asking all the questions. I am happy to help, and I can't answer a lot of the technical ?s people ask on here so this is my contribution.

[N8ball]

1 more thing about the trails above the U. You can bow hunt deer and elk up there from just above the houses to the summit and davis county lines and north of I-80. It's the Wasatch extended range and is open longer than any other hunting area in the state. The big guys come down from the mtns. when the snow gets too deep.

[Vanet]

Guess Ill weigh in for AZ as well. Dont much care for Phoenix, but If I were to move from the heaven that is northern AZ I am in now, and offroading was my goal, central eastern AZ cant be beat. Parker, lake havasue city, some where in there is about as good as it gets. Perfect weather year round, a little hot in the summer, but with the lake and the river so close you dont notice it. close to utah, close to Nevada, close to cali, cheap housing. Check it out.

Where Im at on the other side of the state is nice too, but we get pretty cold in the winter so if you dont like the cold and snow skiing stay out of the high country.

Overall I have been all over the country and there is no place like AZ it has everything from the cold and the snow to the desert put your self somewhere in the middle of AZ and you are no more than 2 or 3 hours to sand, dirt, snow, beach, golf, you name it whatever your into.

[Dezzrats]

Anywhere but CA, Yes Off road is big but so is the tax and regulation of it. The trade off is not worth it. I would be gone, but my job only exists in a few places in the country and I own a house in this one and the market is crap.

[Bullnerd]

Thanks guys