Of course we started our Silverton adventure soon after arriving. After we got settled in and everyone was ready, Mark looked in our ATV Trails Guide Book for a nearby trail that wouldn’t take too long. In addition to the guide book, we also use the Polaris Ride Command App. Many times it will have smaller trails that guide books leave out.
Right behind the campground stands Kendall Mountain. We decided that would be the first trail we tackled on this trip. It calls out as a moderate trail with some rocky sections. Nothing too bad and certainly nothing that our RZR or a Jeep couldn’t conquer.
We followed County Road 33 up the mountain. It was a steep climb and passed an old train car. Both of us wondered how the heck it got there since there weren’t any visible train tracks. It’s been there a very long time.
We continued up as the trail climbed up the side of an alpine meadow. There were a bunch of rocks, I mean hundreds of tan rocks in that meadow. Only they weren’t rocks; they were sheep. I told Mark I thought I saw some of the rocks moving but couldn’t be sure because we were bouncing around on the trail. He laughed! For the rest of the trip, anytime we saw a herd of sheep in an alpine meadow, Mark shouted out, “Look at the moving rocks!”
The guide book talked about views of town from the trail so we turned left from the meadow and headed higher up the mountain. We were above the treeline and the trail was rocky shale.
Our stopping point was straight up from the campground. We could see our motor home from 12,000 feet up! Two of our friends didn’t come up with us so we called them. We were jumping around and waving while Mark talked to Dave but they couldn’t see us. Not only did we get a great view of Silverton, but we also were able to see some of the trails we would be taking in the coming days. We had stopped at the end of the trail and the spot to turn around was teeny tiny. We slowly and carefully backed up three RZR’s to a better spot to turn around. I walked Mark back as our spare tire takes up most of the visibility in the rearview mirror. Up on this mountain top trail was not the spot to back up without help.
Our next stop was an old mine. It was fenced off which meant no chance of tippy-toeing a few feet inside. When we got closer we saw snow inside! Wind had blown the snow through the fence. The mine was at the top of my sheep rock meadow. Along with the sheep sat lots of pretty high mountain wild flowers. It amazes me that they grow every spring as soon as the snow thaws. God’s beauty in action I tell ya.
After the mine, we continued on our exploration. Back through the meadow of the moving rocks we went; there was another promising looking trail up here. We drove through aspen groves and great smelling pine trees. My eyes were peeled for animals but no such luck. We reached the end of this trail and it was time to head back. The clouds were looking more ominous. It was a great first day of our RZR vacation. I couldn’t wait to see what our next day would bring.
Check out our great base camp and our daily adventures here: