This year we had the opportunity to help out with Trail Heros "Hero for a day" event in Northern Utah. The goal of this event was to give people the opportunity to experience the outdoors that normally would not be able to. A few months before the event we were contacted to assist with getting approval from the Forest Service to hold the event, which we were able to secure without issue. After pre-running Mary Ellens Gulch the week before the event, and running into snow drifts, we decided Mineral Basin would be the better choice.

The day of the event we met at Heritage Park in Highland at 9am. We were served breakfast while we mingled with the participants and other drivers. Around 10 we did official introductions, Rich Klein went over the plans for the day, and assigned drivers to each participant.

Nick Lees was the trail leader for the event, and we brought up the rear as tail gunner. We made it to Tibble Fork reservoir without issue, and everyone aired down that hadn't already. As we started up the trail the Bronco in our group was having some overheating issues so we stuck behind with them as the group continued up to the narrows. After pouring water into the radiator and trying a few other tricks, the Bronco owner decided to call it and head home so his passenger jumped in with us and we continued on.

We caught back up to the group at the entrance of Mineral Basin and started up the trail. Shortly before the rock garden a flatbed ford ranger started having vapor lock issues, so it was parked along the side of the trail, its passengers transferred to another vehicle, and we continued on.

Once we made it through the first set of obstacles, we continued to the lunch spot and met up with the rest of the group. After finishing lunch we decided it was time to turn around so we could get the participants back on time. On the way down we came across a Suburban whose rear brake caliper had come loose. Jensen Paterson assisted with tools and we offered to escort the vehicle down to the reservoir. The driver accepted and we made it to the reservoir without issue.

The rest of the trail group had already started down the canyon, so we headed down to catch up and finally caught up with them right at the entrance to Heritage Park. In the parking lot everyone was speaking about the event, and sharing experiences from the day, before saying their goodbyes and heading home.

We were very grateful to be a part of this years event and look forward to being involved next year as well. It was also the first time we took the new drone out to get some video footage, which was really fun.

Be sure to check out www.thetrailhero.com to get info about the Trail Hero event held down in St George.