ROAM Industry; Roam if You Want to, Roam Around the World.

Roam Industries

265 North Main Street

Monticello, UT, 84535

Phone: (435) 590-2741

Email: info@roamutah.com

Website: http://www.roamutah.com/

“I hear a wind

Whistling air

Whispering

In my ear”

“Roam” by The B-52s

Surrounded by majestic Ponderosa Pine; sailing upon a one-track trail and the breeze whispers into ears a blessed silence.  Welcome to mountain biking in the Abajo Mountains with Roam Industries.  Opening its doors July 2018, owners Dustin and Natalie Randall, enjoy the great outdoors of San Juan County.  They wanted to bring mountain biking, hiking and winter sports to visitors, and locals, of this vast area. 

When it comes to mountain biking, Roam Industries became the organizers and hosts of the Abajo Enduro.  A yearly mountain biking fest which has grown to a 2-day, 3-State event, and has sold out the past two years.  What started out, as a handful of friends, to ride and have friendly competition, is now a full on event, maximum participation of 50 riders!  

“…dancing down those dirty and dusty trails

Take it hip to hip, rocket through the wilderness”

“Roam” by The B-52s

Mountain biking, as well as hiking and climbing, tours are offered during the spring to fall months.  Tours are initially 1-3 days of exploring various sections of San Juan County. Climbing is mainly in the Indian Creek Valley, or what is now part of the Bears Ears National Monument. 

Roam Industries offers the service of a mobile tiny home; sleeping 7 and room for supplies; it is camping with the comfort of home.  Currently the tiny home is up at Buckboard National Forest Campground.  Sports of shoe shoeing and cross country skiing are a major draw during the winter months.  Natalie Randall helped develop the trails that extend from the Dalton Springs and Buckboard campgrounds.  Through her grant writing, Monticello has been able to expand other trails as well for biking and walking.  A hut system, throughout San Juan County, is now in the works.

Do not think cross country skiing is your sport of choice?  Dustin Randall states, “It takes about one season to learn, and become proficient, on the skis.  After that though, you will love it!”

Another benefit of visiting Roam Industries is their self-serve snack bar and relaxed seating section.  Delicious scones of Lemon Rosemary, Pumpkin, Coconut, Ginger Apricot and more are the creations of home baker, Hannah Plemons.  Crisp around the edges, tender and fluffy inside, the fruity to savory concoctions are pleasing to the taste buds.  Along with coffees, teas, water, the scones are an indulgent start to the day’s event, or a relaxing finish.  Hannah’s scones are available Monday and Wednesday at 1pm, and they are gone in the blink of an eye!

While Roam Industries did have some success with a connection with Airbnb, it is mainly word of mouth that sustains this business.  Repeat customers and great reviews feed the trickle down effects to the City of Monticello.  Hotels, restaurants, and shops benefit from the influx of visitors, their families that come along, and the friends that decide to have their own Roam adventures.  What better way is there, for economic sustainability, and development, then to have local businesses holding hands, with each other, in camaraderie?

Current winter hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 1pm-6pm.  Once spring’s warm fingers begin to caress the land, more adventurous opportunities will become available.  With the summer months, family reunions are always looking for activities; how about a group tour with Roam Industries? 

“Roam if you want to

Roam around the world

Roam if you want to”

“Roam” by The B-52s

Mary Cokenour

Shay Ridge Trail - Here's a Tease.

Shay Ridge, Shay Mountain and Shay Canyon; a trilogy that will soon be completed by Roy and myself.  When it comes to the 4 Corners region, I still have a five page to-do list of sites to visit and things to accomplish.  Just as I cross off one at the top, another three get added to the last page; so is it any wonder I have to live to age 100 to possibly get it all done!?!

The trailhead for Shay Ridge can be accessed at Foy Lake; it begins as FR 104 to 6.2 miles which can be traveled via 4 wheel drive, ATV, mountain bike and hiking.  There are designated camping areas; we found a real beauty at 2.8 miles with stone barbecue and a creek.  At the end of 6.2 miles, the trail (changes number to 162) becomes narrow; nothing larger than an ATV can continue on.  There is a wooden fence there with an opening just large enough for an ATV, but an SUV can't get through.  There's also an informational sign there that lists rules for traveling the next section of this trail.

Along the 6.2 miles, the landscape is quite stunning; within the forest the Ponderosa Pine trees are amazing!  I have to admit that I actually put my arms around one and Roy took a photo.  It was really the only way the size of the trees could be seen without being up close and personal.

This blog post will basically be a tease; it was the first time we went onto the trail, but a sudden thunderstorm moved in quickly.  We hightailed it out and back to Monticello, making it home just as the rain began to pour down.  When we went up a couple of weeks later, the mud slides were apparent; this is an event we certainly did NOT want to be part of.  Oh, we did get to Foy Lake just in time to see a cattle drive; recorded it and the YouTube link will be listed below.

So, enjoy the tease...

Trail is loose dirt, sand and small rocks, but graded for easier travel.

Campground and Creek at 2.8 miles 

Prickly Pear Cactus

 The Cattle Drive at Foy Lake

Cattle Drive Video

There will be more to read about on this adventure, so keep a look out; better yet, subscribe to the feed and become a follower!!!

Mary Cokenour

Copper Ridge to Klondike Bluffs - Part Three

So there we were, back at the 1 mile junction (from Route 191), trying to figure out which was the 4 wheel drive trail while the mountain biking trails were quite obvious.  Scanning the landscape, we noticed two pickup trucks parked in the distance and simply followed the trail they were on back to us; now we knew how to head on.

While a passenger car could make it to the dinosaur tracks area (see Part Two), this trail was a definite 4 wheel drive must; having a skid plate helped a lot too, and hope you don't mind tipping to either side here and there.  I'm not huge on tipping vehicles, so I did end up walking a quarter of a mile sometimes, but hey, it's good exercise!

At mile mark 1.4, there is a junction for three separate mountain biking trails; at 1.6 miles, the Dinosaur Stomping Trail begins which can be hiked or mountain biked.  As much as we wanted to see the other dino tracks, we were not fully prepared; not enough water for a major hike plus continuing our exploring of the trail we were currently on.  Have to play it smart to stay safe and healthy out here in the desert; it's not a Disneyland park, and it's most definitely NOT idiot proofed.
















Driving on, the landscape stays pretty much prehistoric; mile mark 2.3 are bike trails for Baby Steps and Jasper/Agate; 3.3 miles is the Little Salty Trailhead.  Yes mountain bikers, you may all thank me now for giving you this information; investing in maps is still a good idea though.

At about 5 miles the Klondike Bluffs offer up a peak at them; 5.4 miles is a junction and here is where it might get a bit confusing.  So, the sign for Klondike Bluffs points to the left, but there is a sandy trail to the right with no information.  Checking our maps (yes, we carry more than one type always), the trail to the left is the Jeep Safari trail.  Ok, how bad can that be, right?  Wrong!!!  We had only traveled 3/10s of a mile and came to...hmmm, how to describe this....a rather large step to reach the next section of trail.  To the side of it, hikers or bikers could get easily through, as a couple of mountain bikers soon showed us as they whizzed by (showoffs!!!)  Yeah, no, we weren't doing this on our own; at least with Jeep Safari, there is a group of Jeeps and people to help each other out. 

Klondike Bluffs Jeep Safari Trail

Cross over a dry wash.

The "Oh Hell NO!!!" moment - it's steeper than it looks in the photo.

We went back to the junction and sat for a few minutes deciding if we should return back the way we came, or try out the sandy trail that was now in front of us.  The unknown won, and would you believe, in just one mile we reached the staging area on Klondike Bluffs Road (see Part One).

So Close, Yet So Far.

Since we had just traveled this road, we knew that turning left onto it would bring us to the "Blue" movie set; just one mile.  The "Fallen Peace Officers Trail" is located there, so decided to check it out, and have lunch too.  We had only gone one mile which included ascending slickrock before we came to a very rocky section and decided this was best left to ATV riders, not us.  In fact, a senior couple drove by us while we were there, and then back again; they seemed to be having a good time.  However, it was a glorious picnic site with stupendous scenery; that's why I always tell folks, "Bring a picnic!".

6/10s of a mile later, we came upon another section of "Fallen Peace Officers Trail" and tried it out; a little rocking and rolling until a sign (3 miles later) that stated we had reached the boundary of Arches National Park; no motorized vehicles allowed.  Now who came riding towards us, that senior couple and they were as confused as we were.  How can you have a 4WD/ATV trail that crosses through a National Park, but you're not allowed to ride it???  We know this trail also has a start off Route 191, but the maps have it looping around several times, including through the Arches, so....yeah, confusing.  Oh well, back to Klondike Bluffs Road....


About 2.5 miles onward we noticed another sandy trail marked with cinder blocks; seeing the Bluffs, and Tower Arch, across the desert, well hell yeah we were trying this out!  There were several camping areas along the way, and the trail finally did end at a dry wash, but we were able to get some nice shots of the Bluffs and Tower Arch (thanks to the zoom lens on my camera).

Tower Arch

Tower Arch

We went up and down a few other trails, but nothing brought us any closer to the Bluffs.  It was starting to get late, we were very exhausted and headed towards Dalton Wells; we did get another view of the Marching Men though.  We got home to Monticello in time to say, "The hell with it, lets go eat out at Shake Shack!"

Future plans are to come back, and check out more trails we saw, but just were too tired to explore this day.

Mary Cokenour