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Area BFE
Moab, Utah
 The US mid-west offers some of the best off-roading opportunities on the continent. Utah's Moab is well known and well covered, but just to the east lies Colorado with over 100 mountains above 10,000 feet. A lot of the land mass just outside the town of Moab, Utah, is held in what's called school trusts. School trusts are lands dedicated solely to generating money for public schools, primarily in western and mid-western states. Congress granted the lands to schools at the time each new state joined the Union, beginning with Ohio in 1803. In all, there are 45 million acres of land dedicated to supporting public schools.  Rick Pewe had the unenviable task of driving last year's Ultimate Adventure Chevy though Upper Helldorado in the BFE Off-road Park. This trail is NOT full-size friendly. The rocks on the driver's side were well coated in yellow paint by the time this beast was through the trail! Leasing or selling the surface or minerals is how the land generates revenue. Payments are received through sales, leases, royalties and bonus payments. Land use varies state to state, and may include grazing, agriculture, timber harvesting, mining, commercial ventures, and rights-of-way. In 2001, school trust lands generated $1.4 billion in revenue for schools. 
The PSC rig above is a Poison Spyder Customs Bruiser 2 seater. It has an LT-1 Motor, 4L60E Transmission, a NP-208 T-case with Ford 9" axle center sections and unimog 404 outers with custom shafts. In addition it has Wildwood brakes and hydro-boost system for braking. PSC full hydraulic steering with a 2.5" double ended competition cylinder a reverse rotation N-Style pump and exteral resevoir with filter. Inside are PRP seats and all Auto Meter gauges. Trust land totaled 7,475,297 acres when Utah became a state. Since then, about half of what was originally granted to the state has been sold to private owners. More than 30 percent of what is now private land in Utah was originally trust land. The cash from the sale of those trust lands was deposited into the permanent funds of the beneficiaries. This is where Area BFE comes in – BFE Films is the entity that purchased the land surrounding the Upper Helldorado Trail. The Lower Helldorado was closed after a similar sale. While Trust lands are open to OHV use and under a permit system for larger events, they too can be sold to generate revenue for the school system. At that point it is up to the new owners as to the activates that take place and I can guarantee most of the time OHV use is not in the plans. BFE saved one chunk for us to play on – a one of my favorite trails in Moab too! 
This cool Willys was built as a right-hand drive. It looks very odd driving though the second section of Upper Helldorado. The rocks on this trail are big and 44-inch Swampers and Dana 60s are typical gear to get a vehicle through safely. As explained by Jeremy Parriott, one of the owners in Area BFE:
The traditional entrance to this trail is behind this Jeep. Water coursing down the trail has removed most of the dirt below the rocks making it near impossible to drive – we flipped the Krawler on those rocks last year! The old bypass is now considered the trail entrance. 
This special event had a few of the competition rock buggies out for the trail ride. This rig was equipped with special sticky rubber Maxxis tires. 
This, ah, buggy sported a 502 big block under the hood and it purred really nice. Even with big IROK's the waterfall at the end of Upper Helldorado was too much for it and a winch cable was needed to clear the top. 
Even though we have shown you mostly the famous Helldorado trail the area is now criss-crossed with trails and challenges for almost any vehicle type. A new parking lot and entrance makes it even easier to get into the area with trailers. 
BFE also holds competitions on the site using the natural rock formations found at every turn. For stages We all need to thank BFE Films for going out of their way to raise the funds needed to save this area after it went up for sale two years ago. These are just a pair of local boys looking out for four wheelers! The loss of Lower Helldorado was hard enough to take, the loss of this area would have been tragic. Buy one of their rock crawling videos and support the company that saved this area!!! BFE Films Co. LLC BFE Trails
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