Anyone who’s been to Utah, knows there is a lot more to the state than Skiing and Mormons. Utah is filled with beauty from the South to North, East to West, and everywhere in between. The state is known for it’s “Mighty Five” national parks including Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Canyonlands. While these parks include some of the most beautiful country in the world, they don’t scratch the surface of what you can see and experience in Utah if you are willing to get off the highway, get in or on an off-road vehicle and hit the trails.
One such trail is the Bullion Canyon trail near the center of the state outside of Marysvale Utah. The Deranged Off-road crew hit the trail in late August and had a blast! We’re stoked to share our experience with you and provide some insight if you’re considering hitting this trail.
As part of our “Deranged Rides” series, we will review our experience, share with you our thoughts and provide a Deranged Ride Score to help you decide if you want to take this particular ride. Each of our ride reviews rate the experience based on the following categories; was it fun, was it interesting, was it accessible, and was it difficult. Each category is given a 1-10 score with a perfect score being 30. Difficulty will be excluded and given it’s own separate 1-10 rankings.
Deranged Ride Score: 21.5
Ride Difficulty: 2
Location:
The Bullion Canyon trail is located just outside of Marysvale Utah. GPS coordinates to a great unloading point are: 38°26'59.5"N 112°14'30.2"W. You can also use a maps app to navigate to the LDS church located here: 432 W Bullion Ave, Sevier, UT 84766. The unloaded lot is just north on the right.
Overview
There is great info out there regarding the history of Bullion canyon and mining that took place in that area. Grand Canyon Trust provides a great over view of the trail and discusses some of the history of the area. You can find that information HERE. The highlights of the trail are the great little Outdoor Mining Museum and Bullion Falls both of which we had a great time exploring.
The trail leads to a dead end where you can park you ride and take a short hike to an awesome waterfall that has decent flow and is somewhere between 50 and 70 feet tall. If its warm enough outside, you may want to consider taking a dip in the cool water.
Was it Accessible?
Accessing the trail was easy. There was plenty of parking just outside of town and some good options for grabbing some grub in town. There were portions of the trail up near the hiking trail head that were fairly narrow. We were in 64” wide machines and passed a few 50 inchers on their way down and if either one of us were any wider, we wouldn’t have been able to make it through due to the ledge on one side. With that said, it is a relatively short portion of the trail so you could back down to allow the other vehicles to pass. We did not encounter any vehicle width restrictions along the trail however, a jeep would likely be too wide for portions of the trail.
Our accessibility score will be higher due to the trail being easily accessible, and having no vehicle width restrictions.
Accessibility Score: 8.5
Was it interesting?
This area, along with much of the nearby Paiute trail is filled with history. This particular trail, as indicated by it’s name is full of mining related history. The Outdoor Mining Museum had various machinery along a trail with placards in front of each to describe purpose they served. A few of the pieces are still sitting where they left when the mining operation stopped. It’s worth the trip alone if your nearby to ride up the canyon and check it out.
In addition to the mining museum, this trail also provides enough to keep you entertained. There are a few water crossing opportunities, and the opportunity to take a small hike to see an awesome waterfall. The hike to the falls was easy to moderate in difficulty.
With that said, this is a short trail and ride. If you did not stop to enjoy the features of the trail on foot, your ride wouldn’t be much longer the 40-60 minutes. Due to the length of the ride, the “Was it interesting” score will be impacted.
Interesting Score: 6
Was it Fun?
We had a great time on this ride, however much of that was due to what we stopped and experienced on foot, not what we experienced as we were riding. A good portion of this ride is spent on a forest road through some trees along a stream. There were a few short portions of the trail that provided some variety as well as a few water crossings which are always a blast. Overall, we had a great time. Just keep in mind that if you truly want to enjoy this trail, you’ll need to get out of your machine and on your feet.
Fun Score: 7
Was it Difficult?
In short, no. Although there are a couple water crossings, and a few bumps that may require you to take a particular line, this trail is passable with just about any machine. From kids quads, to RZR XP’s, riders at just about any level should be able to ride this trail from start to finish.
Difficulty Score: 2
Conclusion?
While we would not consider this a “Destination Trail” worthy of traveling hundreds of miles to see, it is absolutely worth the trip if you are in the area. The Paiute trail system is nearby and you could easily add a section of it to your Bullion Canyon Trail ride. We did, and we had a blast.
This is just a great stop before you start a beautiful ride over the thushers to Beaver canyon on the other side of the Mountian. Approximately 40 miles over and back to mud lake and back to Marysville.