smfulle
Active Member
- Location
- Plain City, UT
I asked everyone I knew if they could go with me for a jeep ride on Thursday, June 19th. I didn’t really have a plan, but I had the day off and my wife was working all day, so I had to go. No one could go with me, so against all common sense, I mapped out a route, wrote it down for my wife in case I didn’t come back, and headed out.
I started out from my house in Plain City, UT at around 9am. I headed up to North Ogden and over The Divide. It was a little cool, but beautiful and clear. Here’s a picture of Ogden Valley looking Southeast from the Divide.
I drove through Eden and around Pine View Reservoir to the intersection near Huntsville for Hwy 39, Monte Cristo Road. I drove up Hwy 39 past the snowmobile parking lot at Ant Flat and past the Monte Cristo campground near the top. I finally turned off of the pavement onto BLM 059. Here’s a picture of the trailhead.
There was a fair amount of snow from the storms of the last couple of days. The road was muddy but not rutted. I think this road could be travel on by a standard SUV in dry conditions. The mountain was beautiful and I really enjoyed just riding along at a casual pace. I had to go through a few small snowbanks, but nothing that was even close to holding me up.
Here’s a short video of driving along.
http://youtu.be/cSxd7bZ32Q4
[video=youtube_share;cSxd7bZ32Q4]http://youtu.be/cSxd7bZ32Q4[/video]
There were several of these little lakes or springs. This one is called Joann Spring.
I have never been on this road before and the maps I had were a bit confusing, but I finally figured out that I need to turn onto BLM 060 towards Rock Creek Junction.
Then just a short while later I took another left turn to get onto BLM 130
On the map I had, it had a point of interest along this road called Baxter’s Sawmill, but I never saw it. This road was a little rougher than previous roads, and I would not take my wife’s Santa Fe on it. Lots of ruts.
The views on this road were amazing. Here are some photos that don’t even come close to the real thing.
Also along this road I came across a bunch of cattle. Small bunches would get in front of me and run along ahead of me bawling like I was really scaring them. I tried to go slow to give them a chance to get out of the way, but they didn’t seem too smart.
After the cows and the ruts, I turned right onto BLM 054. The sign said I could get to Logan Canyon Sinks on this road, but I didn’t stay with it that long. After about 3 miles I turned left onto 057 that took me down a big hill at the bottom of which I turned left onto BLM 231, which apparently is the top of Left Hand Fork of Blacksmith Fork Canyon. There was a sign there that said “VERY NARROW ROAD. ROAD NOT MAINTAINED”, and just past the sign was what I think was a Ford Explorer, stock, trying to figure out a way to turn around. He let me by and said that he could not get down there, but that maybe I could with my little Willys (1948 CJ2A).
Here’s my first look at the top of the “road.”
I decided, I had come this far, I might as well try it.
Just around the corner form the previous picture, I came onto this lovely section of “unmaintained road”. I stopped under this tree in the shade to eat my lunch and ponder backing out, or going down.
This is my lunch view.
Once again, after walking down and thinking I had a pretty good line to get through, I decided to head down. It was really rough and I really had no business being there by myself. I got a little scared in a couple of spots. Got high centered a couple of times, but spun the tires and got off. Finally made it through the worst of the rocks to this lovely little highway.
Here’s a video of coming down this road in some of the nicer portions where I could hold the camera and drive.
http://youtu.be/-P2l85zePkY
[video=youtube_share;-P2l85zePkY]http://youtu.be/-P2l85zePkY[/video]
I thought I was through when I came upon another rock slide area.
I finally did get through all the rocks and could start to enjoy the ride again. (I actually had fun on the rocks, but worried the whole time about breaking something and having to hike out..)
http://youtu.be/Msl6qsuGxPk
[video=youtube_share;Msl6qsuGxPk]http://youtu.be/Msl6qsuGxPk[/video]
When I got past all the rough spots I started to see lots of campers in this canyon. It is really a beautiful place. I can see why people would want to camp there. No real established camp grounds. People just pulled their trailers off the road and set up camp.
Here’s a couple of shots of Grey Cliff Spring that I passed coming down. The water just comes gushing out of the rock. Very cool!
Hit the blacktop again and then turned onto the main Blacksmith Fork Canyon Road, just below Hardware Ranch.
This is where you would turn off if you wanted to go see Grey Cliff Spring without crawling over rocks or if you wanted to camp in the canyon.
I dropped down into Cache Valley and visited my cousin in Nibly for about an hour, then drove back home to Plain City via Sardine Canyon and arrived back home in Plain City around 6pm.
Great day! Great ride!. Next time I’m getting someone to go with me. Took a little bit of the fun out of it.
I started out from my house in Plain City, UT at around 9am. I headed up to North Ogden and over The Divide. It was a little cool, but beautiful and clear. Here’s a picture of Ogden Valley looking Southeast from the Divide.
I drove through Eden and around Pine View Reservoir to the intersection near Huntsville for Hwy 39, Monte Cristo Road. I drove up Hwy 39 past the snowmobile parking lot at Ant Flat and past the Monte Cristo campground near the top. I finally turned off of the pavement onto BLM 059. Here’s a picture of the trailhead.
There was a fair amount of snow from the storms of the last couple of days. The road was muddy but not rutted. I think this road could be travel on by a standard SUV in dry conditions. The mountain was beautiful and I really enjoyed just riding along at a casual pace. I had to go through a few small snowbanks, but nothing that was even close to holding me up.
Here’s a short video of driving along.
http://youtu.be/cSxd7bZ32Q4
[video=youtube_share;cSxd7bZ32Q4]http://youtu.be/cSxd7bZ32Q4[/video]
There were several of these little lakes or springs. This one is called Joann Spring.
I have never been on this road before and the maps I had were a bit confusing, but I finally figured out that I need to turn onto BLM 060 towards Rock Creek Junction.
Then just a short while later I took another left turn to get onto BLM 130
On the map I had, it had a point of interest along this road called Baxter’s Sawmill, but I never saw it. This road was a little rougher than previous roads, and I would not take my wife’s Santa Fe on it. Lots of ruts.
The views on this road were amazing. Here are some photos that don’t even come close to the real thing.
Also along this road I came across a bunch of cattle. Small bunches would get in front of me and run along ahead of me bawling like I was really scaring them. I tried to go slow to give them a chance to get out of the way, but they didn’t seem too smart.
After the cows and the ruts, I turned right onto BLM 054. The sign said I could get to Logan Canyon Sinks on this road, but I didn’t stay with it that long. After about 3 miles I turned left onto 057 that took me down a big hill at the bottom of which I turned left onto BLM 231, which apparently is the top of Left Hand Fork of Blacksmith Fork Canyon. There was a sign there that said “VERY NARROW ROAD. ROAD NOT MAINTAINED”, and just past the sign was what I think was a Ford Explorer, stock, trying to figure out a way to turn around. He let me by and said that he could not get down there, but that maybe I could with my little Willys (1948 CJ2A).
Here’s my first look at the top of the “road.”
I decided, I had come this far, I might as well try it.
Just around the corner form the previous picture, I came onto this lovely section of “unmaintained road”. I stopped under this tree in the shade to eat my lunch and ponder backing out, or going down.
This is my lunch view.
Once again, after walking down and thinking I had a pretty good line to get through, I decided to head down. It was really rough and I really had no business being there by myself. I got a little scared in a couple of spots. Got high centered a couple of times, but spun the tires and got off. Finally made it through the worst of the rocks to this lovely little highway.
Here’s a video of coming down this road in some of the nicer portions where I could hold the camera and drive.
http://youtu.be/-P2l85zePkY
[video=youtube_share;-P2l85zePkY]http://youtu.be/-P2l85zePkY[/video]
I thought I was through when I came upon another rock slide area.
I finally did get through all the rocks and could start to enjoy the ride again. (I actually had fun on the rocks, but worried the whole time about breaking something and having to hike out..)
http://youtu.be/Msl6qsuGxPk
[video=youtube_share;Msl6qsuGxPk]http://youtu.be/Msl6qsuGxPk[/video]
When I got past all the rough spots I started to see lots of campers in this canyon. It is really a beautiful place. I can see why people would want to camp there. No real established camp grounds. People just pulled their trailers off the road and set up camp.
Here’s a couple of shots of Grey Cliff Spring that I passed coming down. The water just comes gushing out of the rock. Very cool!
Hit the blacktop again and then turned onto the main Blacksmith Fork Canyon Road, just below Hardware Ranch.
This is where you would turn off if you wanted to go see Grey Cliff Spring without crawling over rocks or if you wanted to camp in the canyon.
I dropped down into Cache Valley and visited my cousin in Nibly for about an hour, then drove back home to Plain City via Sardine Canyon and arrived back home in Plain City around 6pm.
Great day! Great ride!. Next time I’m getting someone to go with me. Took a little bit of the fun out of it.
That's a great area to explore.
