2/27 Viva Naughton hills

[Marty Lowe]

Matt and I knew the snow would be sketchy , and it was.
Reminded me a lot of days at Strawberry when there is not enough snow
Sage brush air pockets and some bumpy drifts behind them.
But the area is also huge, with rolling hills and and scenic like Strawberry.
Bet last year was great with all the snow.

The snow got softer and the wind got lighter as the day went on,
we had to walk back the last little bit
but it was on a sled trail, so pretty easy.
We'll go back, but we want stronger wind and better snow conditions.

We drove to the end of the plowed road. From there we had to kite down a draw, next to fences, over cattle guards, through the bushes over the stream then up the ridge to the mother load.
Or we could have just taken our sleds and rigged a couple of miles up the road, ha

I didn't take any photos, I tried my POV camera but it sucked.

the link below is the location.
http://tinyurl.com/7evyb4u
http://www.findmespot.com/mylocation/?i ... 110.66454W

[matt dadam]

This park and ride zone has huge potential. And within striking distance of a day trip from SLC.

Reminds me a lot of strawberry, you are riding the hills around the lake. The area we rode was about the size of the strawberry river area or a little bigger, and a little higher elevation. It's kind of blocked off from the other zones in the area by river drainages, etc. But there may be potential to link up the multiple zones out there for a huge XC style mission. Again, much like strawbs. Easy to gain about 1,500 vertical from the parking area to the higher ground. Marty did a good job describing the launch, kind of hairy but easily avoidable with a 10 minute walk on a packed trail. No problem for the advanced kiter.

Snowpack is fairly thin but not bad, about 3 feet in most places with the tops of the sage poking through. Lots of soft stashes to be found in the lee of drifts. The wind blows hard and often in this part of the country, guessing the surface is wind-jacked more often than not. NW to SW wind ought to work great out there.

Also, there is quite a lot of fences and no trespassing signs posted out there. The way Marty and I did it was legit, park at the end of the plowed road and head NE avoiding fences and private property. If you go out there please be respectful of property.

Nothing beats kiting in new and unfamiliar terrain for me. Had a blast. Should have shot some photos. Please post your experiences if you head out there, it would be great to learn more... I'm fired up to go back!