Last year I had the privilege of touring the Yamaha Motor Manufacturing plant in Newnan, Georgia, which was kind of a big deal. In the past, the company had been hesitant about allowing outsiders onto the manufacturing floor, let alone a magazine writer carrying a large video camera.
Our access was largely due to the corporation’s new president, Bob Brown, who thought it was important to show Hook & Barrel readers how things are done and how committed Yamaha is to making the best products possible for consumers.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was impressed with the whole operation. It was my first time inside such a large manufacturing and assembly facility, and it didn’t disappoint. The factory floor is like the scene in Wall-E where all the robots are buzzing around prepping for EVE’s return to the ship. (If you haven’t seen Wall-E, I’m sorry for you.) Anyway, watching 170 people assemble a Grizzly ATV from a bare frame to a running vehicle in an hour is a trip.
The only disappointment was that I wasn’t allowed to ride one. The facility has strict rules about who can use its on-site test track, and if there is a lawyer-approved list of people, I was definitely not on it.
A year later, I finally got my chance—not on Yamaha’s Georgia test track, but aboard a Yamaha Grizzly ATV in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Riding a Yamaha Grizzly in the Rocky Mountains
Last month, I had the privilege of attending a Yamaha-sponsored Grizzly ride in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Taylor Park, Colorado.
Yay! Right? I was excited, but also a little nervous. I mean, I have some backyard-quad-rippin’ experience from when we owned a few 250s when I was a kid, and once or twice a year I poke around the mountains on someone’s big utility four-wheeler for elk camp scouting. But this event seemed like it was going to be a little more advanced, if you get my drift.
The Ride
- 59 miles — Total distance ridden
- 12,300 feet — Approximate high point
- Taylor Park, Colorado — Riding location
- Yamaha Grizzly — ATV used for the ride
Let me put it this way: I was the only person invited who had to borrow a helmet.
Obviously, I didn’t die, because I am able and willing to tell you the tale. But there were a few moments, lying in bed the night after the ride, when I remembered certain parts with wide eyes and a sharp inhale, thinking, “Oh, that could have been bad.”
Maybe I am being a little dramatic. I also want to point out that the staff was very clear this was a “go at your own pace” kind of situation, but who has time for that nonsense? “Go for the glory, Huck,” as Tom Sawyer said.
In total, we covered 59 miles that day, and other than the fact that my shoulders were notably sore for the next few days, all was well.
Putting the Yamaha Grizzly to Work in Taylor Park
The Taylor Park area is amazing. I was told a person could camp out there for a week, ride all day every day, and never have to cover the same trail twice.
Not to mention the scenery, which is some of the best I have witnessed, maybe ever. One timberline trail topped out at about 12,300 feet, looking down into a vast mountain bowl with Mirror Lake shimmering in the distance. Pretty epic.
The Yamaha Grizzly is an impressive machine—much more powerful and capable than what I have ridden in the past. It was nice to finally ride one somewhere that could showcase what the machine was capable of.
I was riding a standard Grizzly model with a few upgrades. Yamaha added rock-guard plating to the underside so us media people didn’t get into trouble breaking anything while being silly. They also added heated grips, which weren’t necessary because the weather was beautiful, along with oversized foot pegs and a rear storage box where we kept our lunches, water, extra clothing and other gear.
I had an incident in the storage box involving a bottle of hot sauce and a packet of Liquid I.V., but you will have to read the big fancy print piece to get all those sticky details.
A Little Fishing on the Side
Something that is not in the big print article is that we stayed at a lodge called Harmels on the Taylor. As the name suggests, it sits on a private stretch of the Taylor River, and there were some big trout visible on the property.
There are two kinds of trout on private waters: the large, dog-food-fed, dumb planters that are lured into hanging out on a particular stretch because they get all the food and face little pressure because you have to pay $40,000 a year to be a member of a club to fish there; and the over-pressured, smart, wary veterans that have seen every fly, every day, and are not interested in the nonsense you have to show them.
In my very limited experience, the fish in the stretch of water at Harmels on the Taylor are mostly the latter.
But I digress.
What Comes Next
This story is a teaser. A preview of the full experience.
Can that be true?
Could I possibly give you the full experience in 1,600 printed words? Obviously, no. But I hope you have a chance to check out the full article, photos and video in an early 2027 print edition of Hook & Barrel Magazine and see, albeit secondhand and limited by my narrative abilities, just how special an experience this was—with a great group of riders on a badass Yamaha Grizzly ATV.
