Yankee Meadow Reservoir
Fishing, Camping, and Trails in Paradise
Words: Matthew McNulty
Photos: Matthew McNulty, Logan Gallagher
Nestled in the mountains outside of Parowan, Utah is a real gem of a location. If you happened to read our piece on fishing with a Kawasaki KRX 1000 SE eS, you would have heard me gush about how special our location for that adventure felt. Yankee Meadow Reservoir is located 80 miles from St. George, around an hour and a half drive, and provides a great playground for all kinds of outdoor activity.
The turnoff from the highway features plenty of that deep red sandstone that covers southern Utah, as well as more than enough room for a towing rig to navigate the mostly paved road easily. At a higher elevation than St George, there were no worries of being too hot either. The whole climate had firmly shifted to fall in the two weeks I hadn’t been in Utah.
Staying a short drive from the town of Parowan also meant that there were ample options for any emergency supplies if needed. While feeling like we were “in the thick of it” out in the woods, knowing that cell reception and a gas station were only a 20-minute drive from camp made things significantly more comfortable in my mind.
Yankee Meadow’s camping area was primarily dispersed, with a fair share of established campsites that offered plenty of privacy from each other surrounding a large clearing nestled in the valley. The mountains bore the scars of a forest fire, with dead trees surrounding an otherwise lush landscape. With the already breathtaking landscape, it’s hard to imagine how it must have been even more beautiful before the fire.
As the evening light cast a purple hue over the whole valley, it was easy to forget that hours ago we were staring at seemingly endless miles of reddish-orange earth under a clear blue sky. While our decision-making was centered on finding fishing opportunities, I would have been more than happy to have just been camping and riding there, enjoying a bit of wilderness that I was unacquainted with.
After a brief fishing outing, we set up a relatively sparse campsite (just the truck we would both be calling home and a few chairs next to the trailer) and hurried to eat dinner. With both the trailer and the Kawasaki unloaded from the truck, we took a few minutes to admire the last light of the day as it traveled up the valley walls and disappeared.
Electing to get acquainted with the area and try out a few of the dirt roads, we took the Kawasaki out for a run. With some impressive speed, we were soon covering miles of dirt road, limited only by our tolerance for the cold. As we no doubt tortured the wildlife with our choice of music to play over the speakers in the KRX, we managed to see plenty of activity, ranging from rabbits and deer to even an owl descending from the night sky through the headlights on its way to the ground.
While we reached our limit, the trails were well-marked, even in a pitch-black night. If we had proper clothing, higher tolerances, or gone during the summer, riding at night would have been easily accessible, even without additional lighting on our KRX. After asking ourselves plenty of times, “Why did we think that would be different?” while desperately trying to warm up, we spent a few hours just watching what I like to call primitive TV, AKA the night sky without any light pollution. The whole Milky Way was visible, and one could make out shooting stars at frequent intervals.
With a plethora of signs outlining the fire restrictions for the area, we decided to forgo what would have surely been a well-enjoyed fire that night. Even with other campsite’s visible fires, we erred on the side of caution and just enjoyed the view of campfires under a clear night sky. While a bit disappointing, doubly so, owing to the frigid late autumn air that pierced our lungs with each breath, we called it an early night in preparation for a busy morning.
After a bit of a late start to our morning, and some coffee to shake off the exhaustion and cold that had been so pervasive the prior day, we made a mad dash to get the KRX loaded with our fishing gear and get to the reservoir for some late morning angling. After a short stint , we made a committee decision to go and explore more of the area that we had spent the night, albeit this time in a more comfortable setting.
Making a departure right off the waterside, we headed up a climb that wound us through a variety of meadows, aspen trees, and burnt areas. Between switchbacks, there was plenty of time to absorb the views of the landscape that were laid out before us, and it only kept getting more impressive as we meandered up the mountain.
While the trails themselves weren’t anything I would describe as challenging (a good thing for someone with my driving skills and overconfidence), they were thoroughly enjoyable. Plenty of fast turns, straights, and just enough terrain to keep things interesting- if the incredible views weren’t enough for you of course. With my background in desert dwelling, the kind of hues in leaves was an almost alien sight. Sure I had seen fall leaves before, but it certainly wasn’t something that held a candle to the many aspen groves that were in gorgeous hues of yellow and orange along the road.
Plenty of landmarks were reachable along the route we were on, from the ski resort to the tops of the mountains we had camped in the shadows of the prior day, our only real hitch was a limited amount of time to explore. It would have even been possible to make the trip all the way to the town of Brian Head and its ski resort given an extra day. As our trip ended, it was easy to look at Yankee Meadow and imagine spending significantly more time here than we had been able to. With a wide variety of trails, plentiful campsites, and gorgeous scenery to enjoy. If you’re interested in checking it out, you can find more information at https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/dixie/recarea/?recid=74400.