I aired my tires down to 16 PSI at Buckhorn lake. Hoped this would be a good happy medium between fuel economy and comfort as it was going to be a bumpy drive. Also had hoped not to have to drive into Wells for fuel if i could help it. I did bring a jerry can just in case.
I fumbled around with the map a little but found my way to the West side of the Willow River, catching glimpses of it though the trees every now and then and i knew i was on the right path. More so when i came to a wash out that was familiar from my last trip. It had gotten a little meaner since the last time I was there. I didn't get very many good pictures here, specially of the tough part. I had to put my passenger tire on the dam to avoid a deep hole on my side, was a little nerve racking as it was holding back a fare amount of water.
The trail was well worn up to the washout, soon as i got across I could tell that many turned around there as I was met by a few fallen trees, then it seemed to be a bit of a theme. On this section of the trail I had to remove maybe 8 trees in total and drove over more than a few that were down flush to the ground. A few were stubborn to get passed with my hand saw and axe.
Another interesting part of the trail i came across was this overflow area. It looked more intimidating than it was. The back side of the dam (water side) was sloped nicely in my favor. Four low and lockers engaged just in case but i think i probably could have done it in 2 wheel drive.
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| Looking back after I'd crossed |
There were a a few old bridges across some creeks and more fallen trees but more importantly there were some nice sights.
Stopped at Stoney Lake to have a drink and a snack. Excellent recreation site, looked to be three main areas and a few random trails going towards the lake. Will have to spend some time here in the future exploring/camping.
Played in many puddles along the way. Had a scenic stop or two.
This is my kind of main street!
I stopped at a nice look out as I was getting into more mountainous territory. Thinking i was close to my destination, found a small trail off the road and quickly noticed the sign that this was the trail that I had been searching for. I took a video of 90% of my journey up, missing some obstacles at the bottom, I sped it up as it was a long journey as it was. Video editing isn't my forte.
Only had to move one tree on the way up. It began to rain, then turned to sleet as i kept climbing. Stopped for a few pics at a scenic point where you start to drive around the backside of the mountain before making the final steep and rocky path up to the peak. As i got to the top, snow/hail and fog! Was fun watching the fog roll over the tops of the nearby peaks and into the valleys.
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| Almost the top |
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| Looking nearly straight down! |
Video of driving up. Make sure you watch in HD, its a bit long. As usual, mounting the camera on the dash doesn't do justice on how steep it is at times.
I stuck around for an hour and ate some dinner. Paged through the guest book in the fire tower and found my old signature in there. Also found a geocache up there and signed that for fun too. The snow really started coming down and I figured I should be on my way before it gets dangerous. Half tank of fuel left, I used my jerry can just in case. Shortly after leaving, I came across 3 hikers in the snow. One was in shorts and T shirt. They said they were fine, asked how long till the top, discussed the weather and I was on my way. It wasn't bad heading down and once i got back into the trees the snow turned to rain. I believe by the time i got to the bottom it was no longer raining. I did take video down as well but I've yet to sort through it. Heading back I backtracked to the Willow River and took a route that my GPS suggested I took to get there all day. It was the main FSR road though and was on the East side of the river. Was fairly easy driving. Was maybe three hours from the bottom of the mountain to my door. I made one stop on the bridge crossing the Willow and again to air up at the same place I aired down, Buckhorn Lake.
