KAWASAKIS IN UTAH
P84
Feature
getting up on a proper enduro bike, so
jumping into a Teryx4 is a little like chan-
neling my old Aussie roots as we cross
the road into Sand Hollow State Park and
head south. The deep sand dunes are
littered with thick tire tracks, and I start get-
ting seriously confident in the Teryx4's and
my abilities to get through this mammoth
sand castle safely.
Our first stop is Top of The World, an
aptly named point in Sand Hollow that
overlooks a god almighty large canyon
with the ever so faint lights of Las Vegas
flickering in the distance on a clear night.
As we charge back into the park in
the Teryx4, we encounter some properly
large rock formations that the Teryx4 sim-
ply eats up. It's more a case of holding my
the street on the expansive Sand Hollow
Reservoir, getting to know the Kawa-
saki Jet Ski Ultra 310 LX. This thing is
like a Ninja H2 turned into a watercraft.
The 1498cc, inline four-cylinder super-
charged engine is so bloody fast it feels
like it will literally pull your arms from their
sockets. And the acceleration is instant.
I mean, to the tenth of second. It goes
from zero to holy-sh!t before your brain
has time to catch up, yet if you want to
be smooth and have some slower speed
fun, it'll do that too.
Doing drag races with your buddies
is all well and good, but I find it more
fun to play with the waves, creating one
and bouncing off the other in a figure of
eight. It's doing slow speed stuff like this
nerve than the vehicle not being able to
make it. Like some kind of aluminum and
plastic covered bear, the Teryx4 crawls
up near vertical 10-feet-tall rocks like
it's nothing. Even though this particular
side x side is more for fun cruising than
serious terrain smashing, it's still impres-
sive to see where it can go, matched to
an engine that's far from fast but ideally
suited to the sand formations in Sand
Hollow State Park.
The rest of the drive, I rein the enthusi-
asm back in somewhat. A few more rock
crawling missions, some nice photos
and a safe return to base is a welcome
respite from knowing I could have royally
screwed myself out there. A burger and
fries is well in order.
The final few hours are spent across
This is the
kind of vista
on offer in
Sand Hollow
State Park.
Breathtaking
doesn't
come close.
that shows the versatility of the motor,
as at near crawling pace it's sublimely
smooth, just like it is when going flat
out.
All the stuff we got to ride and drive
was cool to experience, but that's not
the take away I'll have from the trip. The
best part was getting lost in Utah, see-
ing the kinds of landscapes and vistas
that are so unique to this amazing state.
A week after this trip was done, I was
back in Utah to ride through Moab. If
ever there was a visual example of Kath-
arine Lee Bates and Samuel A Ward's
1883 song America The Beautiful,
this place is surely it. There's so much
history, so much charisma to this state,
and it's best explored and devoured by
motorcycle. I can't wait to get back. CN
