Uinta Adventures, Utah

Less than an hour east of Salt Lake City, you’ll find Kamas, UT. Don’t skip it, because this no stop light town is the gateway to the Uinta Mountains and home to Uinta Adventures.   

Join host Jared Christie, Polaris Adventures Market Development Manager, as he travels to Kamas to experience both a winter and summer playground.  

Book your next adventure @ www.adventures.polaris.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Well, there's a ton of great options all over the country. If you're looking for land state that has options, I would suggest Utah, the mountains, the rock-crawling dunes, there's even lava flows and lava tubes. You can find just about any type of riding in Utah. With all those options, I'm excited about my next guest. Please welcome to the show Van Kelly, one of the owners of Uinta Adventures. Van, how are you? I'm good, Jared. How are you? I'm doing great. I'm doing great. We're in the middle of winter right now. I'm sure the question you get asked on a daily basis is how's the snow, or how much snow do you have right now?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Right, right. It is. In fact, I we we had several calls today. You know, how is the snow? And it's it's good. Um it's really good in in the areas that we go. So yeah, we're we're we're taking out people every day, and and uh some of the boys just got back from a morning tour and they said the snow was phenomenal. They got into some powder. Uh so yeah, it's been fantastic where we are. It's still dry though. Um but that's the beauty of the of the UNA mountain range where it runs east and west, it's collecting a lot of those northerly storms, and and we get those, you know, those winter snow showers that come in and they'll dump, you know, 10 to 12 inches when it's still sunshining right here in Canada.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

That's fantastic. Well, good to hear there's a good amount of snow there in Utah. Before we dig in and talk about all the fun stuff you guys have to offer, we should probably tell everyone where you went to located because you guys are pretty close to Salt Lake City.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Oh man, you you nailed it on the intro. There is not a better place to recreate than Utah. I mean, you can fly in to Salt Lake City, you're 40 minutes away from you know, state-of-the-art hotels and and fine dining right there in Park City, where you know, where a lot of the Olympics held. You can ski, you can snowboard, you can snowshoe, you can do all those items there. But when you're wanting a break from the slopes, you can just come 15 minutes east of Park City and and run this little valley, a little high-altitude valley called Camas, Utah. And it's a the gateway of the UNA mountain range. I didn't realize you guys were that close. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we're 15 minutes from Park City. Um, and you're really only about 45 minutes from Salt Lake. So you can you can be on a snowmobile, you can fly into Salt Lake, and I mean we'll even come pick you up at the at the airport if you want to. But you can fly into Salt Lake, be to Camas in 45 minutes, be on the mountain snowmobiling within, I mean, really within an hour and a half of you getting off of a plane, you can be on a sled. The town of Camas, what's that like?

SPEAKER_00 3:20

I've never been there.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

So the town of Camas is a small, sleepy community. It's almost like a bedroom community of Salt Lake. A lot of people travel to Salt Lake to work, Park City to work. Um it's it's a no-stop like town. So it's your ideal town, but everybody's friendly. Um, there's some really good food places to eat here. Uh, but the riding and the views are phenomenal. In fact, you pinch yourself all the time. So um again, it's the gateway to the UNA Mountain Range, which the UNA Mountain Range is the um one of the only, well, it's the only continuous east-west mountain range instead of north-south. So it's east, it runs east-west. Um, it has the highest peak in Utah. So King's Peak is um over 13,000 feet. Uh, and then there's it's amazing riding for razors and for snowmobiles all throughout. Um and you're you're really 15 minutes from the trail ahead.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

I feel like you're stealing all my questions because I was gonna ask you, why is that town such a great spot for what you guys do?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Well, in 2020, so during the COVID years, uh, we were we were sitting at at a gas station here in town, and they make donuts. In fact, they won Donut of the Year a couple years ago uh for a uh fritter, an apple fritter that they made, uh, or that they make. And so we're sitting there, and for us, we're seeing trailer after trailer and of razors and everybody going up the canyon to camp because amazing camping opportunities. And there's over 2,000, you know, small lakes and ponds in the in the UN mountain range. And so everybody's going up the canyon, and we're like, man, somebody really needs to open up, you know, a razor rental place on this side of the mountain instead of on the Wyoming side. And so we we jumped in and and started a razor rental business, and then it expanded to the snow business, and it's been phenomenal. Like, just because there's so much mystery in in the UNA mountain range, but there's gold mines that are that are there but mysteriously covered up. You know, there's Sasquatch sightings, there's you know, amazing fishing, camping. So it's like the Mecca of hiking and recreation right here at our doorstep, but still you're only 45 minutes from Salt Lake, only 15 minutes from Park City to have amazing, you know, outdoor experiences. And you don't have to be, you could be a novice, you don't have to be an expert.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Well, so now you've got me to you into adventures, one for the writing, but also for the for the donuts now. Uh it's the middle of winter. Where are we going? What am I doing? Fill me in.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Well, so uh obviously if you if you're a cli it, I mean, if you're just you're looking for a place for your family, okay, where am I gonna go this winter? I'm you know, I'm in Florida, I'm in California, um, you know, they're they're fighting the fire. I need to pick my my family somewhere. And you're you're flying into Salt Lake, you're you're you know, renting an Airbnb or a verbal or whatever, or staying at a hotel in in Park City. And I I I'm breathing the most pristine mountain air I mean, where we live is is where everybody comes to get away from chaos. And I live here every day. That's that's the beauty of it. I mean, so you you come come ski in Utah, come snowboard in Utah, and then on your day off, when you want to get a little more adventure and and go a little faster, then you call us and we'll come pick you up at the hotel, or you know, we'll we'll give the directions to our our location, which is really easy because we're on the main highway of 248 coming into Canis from Park City. And so you can't miss us. I mean, it's it's we have two snowmobiles out in front that say rent me right now. Um our our staff takes care of you. They're extremely knowledgeable. This year we we do a we could do a private or just a regular guided mirror lake tour. You can do a as little as a two-hour rent up to a full-day rent. Um, a lot of their novice people just go for two hours and then they miraculously cancel their their ski appointment the next day and go for a half-day rent. So we've had a lot of return customers.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

What's the backcountry riding like?

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Oh it like right now you're you're in, you know, they're in four feet of powder. So uh it's still there's still meadows that are untouched, and you're you're hitting some amazing, amazing powder. Uh the avalanche control up there has been has been awesome, so it's not scary. Uh the machines that we got from Polaris are fantastic. They do have ride command on all of them, so you're you're not worried if you're you know it'll breadcrum you in and breadcrumb you right back out.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Well, that sounds like a lot of great snowmobile rides. When does your winter season end and when does your off-road season begin?

SPEAKER_01 8:48

So our winter season, all depending on on snow, right? But our winter season usually softens up the first of April. Um still some amazing rides. I mean, that's the only that's that's really the time that you're you're out there snowmobiling and you know, you take off your jacket and you're snowmobiling in a short sleeve shirt because it's so beautiful. And there there are no clouds, you know. Like right now, it's it's blue sky and beautiful. So if you have listeners in Chicago or or whatnot, that you still gray sky, they really need to come out here. Like there really is a blue sky out there. I can show you. Um, but usually first of April, even about April 15th, is about the time when we tell people, you know, our winter riding is over, and then first of May, the they they start plowing Mirror Lake Highway again. And and first of May we open back up for summer sports, but it's about May 15th, you know, to the end of May when a lot of our upper uh a lot of our upper trails are melted off and and you can get through them.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

For sure. Well, let's talk some dirt. Utah is an amazing off-road friendly state, and I'm guessing you've got some unbelievable rides.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Oh, we do. We we I Mirror Lake, you have about 12 different trailheads that that are all right here that you can choose. And when I mean trailheads, I mean, you know, 12 different really great riding trails that you can go up and access within five minutes of us. And it's you know, you can choose the one right here and then, or you can go up a little ways and and choose Norway Flats, and you can go up five minutes or three minutes past Norway Flats and hit Soapstone Basin and Spring Lake and Murdoch Basin. So um killer riding. Uh, if you want to, I mean, if you're an outdoor enthusiast and you want to go cliff jumping, you can go cliff jumping at one of the lakes. Um, if you want to go to a big rope swing out in the middle of out in the middle of nowhere, I mean it's it's like literally your influencer's paradise of of saying, hey, look at look at this. This is cool. Um but you're you can still drive that same Mirror Lake Highway. Well, that same Mirror Lake Highway goes up over the top. Um but we stay on we stay on those, you know, on those roads that connect all the way through it. So there's over 500 tra 500 miles of trails that border this highway that you can you can get clear back in there and and hit these amazing fishing, you know, fishing backcountry lakes that are stocked with a with an airplane. And you can fish, you can hike, you can camp. Um we do have a lot of people that take, you know, one of the expeditions with the tent on the top, and they camp overnight or camp for the weekend. Yeah, that sounds like fun. Oh, it's killer. It's absolutely killer, you know, and you can you literally can go, it's in our backyard. So you you jump in the razor, blast through the trailhead, and you can park anywhere along the trail. You find a place where you want to want to camp and you you set up camping and then go fishing or go hiking, you know, and and there's there's a trail that is one of the longest above 10,000 foot trails that's 63 miles long, that that a lot of you know outdoor enthusiasts do just because it is, I mean, 63 miles is a long way to hike. But there's a lot of people that take the challenge and go. I don't recommend that. You can do day hikes on it as as well, but we tell people just stick to the stick to the cool stuff. The the Razors Expeditions in Generals is where it's at.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Let's talk about some of your more popular rides that you guys do. Uh Little Deer Creek Falls.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Yeah, so uh Little Deer Creek Falls is is an amazing um it's an amazing ride in and out. Uh it's it's a trail that you know that doesn't take an uh it doesn't take an experienced driver to to drive. And uh there's some beautiful uh water enthusiast opportunities there. So it's perfect for for kayaking, paddleboarding. Uh there's excellent fishing back in there with with the lakes that are around with Pira uh Pyramid and Echo, Marshall, and Hoover, all those lakes are stocked with our local local cutthroat trout. Um so yeah, uh that's a that's a great that's a great ride.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

You guys have been with the adventures for four or five years now. What's that experience been like for you guys?

SPEAKER_01 13:47

We we did our research on the competitors, and one of the biggest selling factors is that ride command for us. Because, you know, your cell phone won't work up in the Una Mountains. You can download an app, but the forest service is right here at the mouth of the canyon. So people will stop in there all the time that are visiting and grab a map because you'll get up in there and service is quite spotty. That ride command is a staple. So we've set waypoints in in ride command. That was our biggest thing. So we we we said, hey, you know, Polaris is where it's at. This is what we need to do. And then they just kept getting better and better with with their, you know, the new Razor that they they came out with this year is phenomenal. And you know, the six-point harness, the everything is is just top tier. The Rockford Fosgate, the the speaker system, you know. I mean, we we like to make sure that we're outfitted correctly, but but that ride command was the the absolute selling point for anybody coming out. They want to know where they're going. And they want to know, okay, this is how I get back out if I if I need to. Not that you don't, but there's a lot of logging roads that you can you can go clear in there and feel confident that you can come clear back out. So we partnered with with Polaris and then uh you know, became an adventure outfitter, and and we love our rep. Um, Leslie's done a great job for us. Uh, she she works hard. And we we love the communication, the weekly community, you know, the the weekly calls or the bi-weekly calls that we have with her, and she keeps us informed about all the new things coming out. But yeah, highly recommended to anybody else that's looking to become you know an outfitter. I would, in a heartbeat, do it all over again with players.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

So you guys are having uh a good winter, you've got a summer coming up. Um you're pretty much running all seasons long, aren't you?

SPEAKER_01 15:48

We are. We are. Um, you know, we we we have the we have the summer sports and the winter sports. Uh by far, this has been, you know, this has been a great year for our snow sports. Uh we've we've doubled our our revenue and our rentals from last year. But uh yeah, it's just been it's been all around the smart thing to do. If if anybody's thinking about you know going to a four-season or going year-round, I would recommend absolutely doing it because it keeps it keeps people coming back.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Well, Van, you guys sound like you're in a great spot out there with so much activities, both close to Salt Lake and and there in the in the mountains. I can't imagine uh you uh ever have days where you're like, what am I going to do today?

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Our staff is fantastic and they they love what they do. So it it actually leads over to our clients because you know they have a great time. And it helps when you're writing, you know, great machines that run well. And and again, I can't say enough about Polaris, but they've done a great job at constantly updating and and getting better and better.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Well, that's terrific, Van. Thanks so much for being on the show. And next time I make it out to Utah, you pick me up at the airport, then we hit In N Out Burger, and then we go to your place. That sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Oh, yeah. Or Smash Burger. I don't know if you've had a Smash Burger. Yeah, but we use Smash In N Out is good. We can get animal fries and animal, we can get an animal style fries, it'll be the best.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

That's the best. That's the best. Well, be sure to like and follow the Polaris Adventures podcast wherever you listen to your podcast, and we will talk to you again soon. Remember, every adventure counts.