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Show ; ! i I . - -. . - ' - - . f. :.. ;.-- -f-U'-, '- --" t . ,;; - ' . ... v-;v. . - .. v l. '.;- '.:'v-vr-'J - - ... . . i v ' ; , ' t--.Jf.f '. .';;..; v ; .,'4 ) ' A snowmo.irilo excursion at the base niir. tor there s mueh to see from the of Mt. Peale ( in clouds) took place winter niountaiiiland of southeastern this past w ekend. The sport could I'tah. . . grow and have a much larger follow- Snowmobilers Keep Trails Open To Scenic LaSal Pass m Moab By Dick Wilson Artie dog-sled explorers had nothing on a snowmobile snow-mobile party taking place in the La Sal Mountains Sunday. Some 3o persons on 14 .snowmobiles met above .Stocks Sawmill at LaSal .Sunday morning for the trip to LaSal Pass. "There are about 25 snowmobiles snow-mobiles in the area now," said enthusiast Tom Balsley "and we expect at least 50 by next year." Another enthuiast from LaSal Fred Stocks said that particular route to LaSa! Pass has been used every weekend since before Christmas Christ-mas by snowmobile enthusiasts. enthus-iasts. Sunday's party was made up of persons from Moab, Paradox Valley, LaSal and Uravan. 'We've checked with the Forest Service on the possibility pos-sibility of erecting a warming warm-ing lodge at LaSal Tass," Fred Stocks told Times - Independent.. In-dependent.. "It would have to be a club-affair," Stocks said, "rather than a private effort." ef-fort." The snowmobile boom in the Northwest United States, has increased to such an ex- tent that the Forest Service has laid out thousands of miles of trails for the sport and has constructed numerous num-erous lodges for the enthusiasts. enthus-iasts. Snowmobiling is just getting get-ting a start here and can promise mueh in the way of. winter sports. In fact', if i' catches on and is promoted, the area could become known as one of the very few winter sports areas around that also provid:.' warm canyon adventuring at the same time. Families from distant places could come to the Canyonlands region re-gion and take in high moun tain snow fun as well as trips into the sun-blessed red rock region. Snowmobile country in Southeast So-utheast Utah could include not only the LaSals-. but the Blues and the Book Cliffs as well. West of the Blue Mountains is 9J00 foot Elk Ridge and high mesas which would provide unforgctable Views of Canyonlands National Na-tional Park and Dark Canyon Can-yon to snowmobile enthusiasts. enthus-iasts. East of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation Reserva-tion above the Book Cliffs are hundreds of miles of snowmabile possibilities. Behind the LaSals is a vast forest of pine and aspsn that would provide additional addition-al scenic snowmobile oppoi-tunitics. oppoi-tunitics. It was in this very area that San Juan Lumber earlier proposed the development devel-opment of an access road, a Grand and San Juan County Coun-ty effort, not only for the lumber industry but for the winter sports as well. Sunday's party of enthusiasts enthus-iasts traveled approximately 2a miles round trip on and through snow drifts two to five feet deep. A fire near the top of LaSal Pass served serv-ed as a meeting spot for the families, some of whom brought their skies to try out the higher slopes. Some of the warmly dressed dress-ed enthusiasts snowmobiled over the top of LaSal Pa'is and looked down on the jagged jag-ged west wall of Spanish Valley and Moab. Paradox Valley was seen to the east of the Ut.oro foot pass. Other Oth-er adventurers traveled on to Moore's Range west of LaSal Pass. A blizzard and freezing cold winds struck the moun- tain by ah mt two that af ternoon and the families headed back to their vehicles vehic-les parked a short was above the sawmill. Even though a "white out" occurred it was possible to follow the tracks of iliose ahead and all parties niai! it back to the lower levels. ''It was not the worst wea'lu-r we've experienced up here,'1 said Tom Balsley. ''Most of the Line in previous pre-vious weeks it has beei warm and sunny." Nevertheless several nn Sunday's snowmobile trek behind the LaSals reported the blizzard gave them a thrill and was enjoyable. The trip was just a sample of what Moab. Montice!! ) and Blanding could do 'i; an organized way to promote pro-mote winter sports abov'e Canyonlands. |