Pittsburgh Lake 09-14-07

[Meat_]

I've had a burning desire to get back up there so I decided to hoof it up there today.... 1500ft in 1.29 miles.... 1000ft of it in .75 miles

The good news is that the road is still passable, the bad news is that we will most likely never get it open again.

If we did, there are some trees at the bottom that would have to be moved, and there is some stuff to trim back towards the top... other than that the road is passable as is, with TWO lockers and probably 33"'s LOW gears would be required for the decent, no brakes are good enough for that entire road.

Anyway, onto the copious pics.

Start of the trail



Remnants of a cable system



I took an up and down shot for almost every turn....


First steep stretch



First corner



Halfway up second switch back, it might eat a rocker on a lower rig...

 

[Meat_]

The first and ONLY place you could pass two rigs until you get to the meadowy parts up by the lake.



I think there is a tunnel here

 

[Meat_]

roady

 

[Meat_]

roadmore



Tyng's Grave




road

 

[Meat_]

Another cable structure, the third pic is pretty close to lined up with the first structure at the bottom






Another cable

 

[Meat_]

Not much farther




Which is when it decided to poor on me and I hid like a b!tch so I didn't have to hike in wet pants



Getting close



Camp spot just off the lake

 

[Meat_]

We have lake!



Some diggins up on the side

 

[Meat_]

Cabin





Door...



To where?




I wasn't really happy when I noticed this

 

[Meat_]

How would you like to have this view out your front door?



Or this view to come home to?

 

[Meat_]

I can't believe this thing is still there, it looked just like that 10 years ago



Then it really hailed

 

[Meat_]

The storms came and went fast






Here's some panorama lake action

 

[chadschoon]

nice

 

[scoutabout]

Thanks for the pics Meat! Man, that hail is crazy. I'm drooling over that road, but I appreciate how beautiful and practically untouched the lake is.

Joe wanted to hike up to Mineral Basin, after he chickened out on driving the FS truck through the rock garden. I was not going to be doing such a hike.

 

[NE_Utah]

Man it must have been back in 94 or 95 I was up there in a Jeep. it looks the same.

I pray all the time that God will make people open there hearts and allow us to drive that road again.

Who owns that property? I have heard many stories but none have been that same. Steve, Kurt? anyone with an answer?

 

[Paudrhound]

thanks for the pics

 

[Greg]

Yep, looks the same as it always has. We got a Jeep up there with opened diffs & 33's back in the day, it was a challenge! I've hiked it 4-5 times since it was closed, it made me sad that they closed it, but I agree with Steve... it's good to see how it's taken care of itself. The fishing was never great and that raft is pretty spooky.

 

[hambone]

Then it really hailed

atleast you had a cabin to hang out in

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...Who owns that property? I have heard many stories but none have been that same. Steve, Kurt? anyone with an answer?

As of recent... the US Forest Service. As suspected it was private property when it was closed and for the past years... but as recent as last year it was either donated or land-swapped to the US FS. However, they have very little interest in re-opening it to motorized use. Steve would likely know more about their current standing, but from a safety aspect... its not a road you would want open to the public? Even on quads its a bit steep and narrow to pass.

The mines you saw Meat are the Uncle Same (later known as the Centennial Mine??) and the Smuggler Mine, the mines above are the Pittsburg Mine and Adit. It would have been really neat to see the mines in their glory years. The Pittsburg Mine had a tunnel that connected to the Alta side of the hill, just so they could transport ore in the winter months, and two aerial tramways moved ore from the mines to the canyon floor, likely near the Bog Mine? I've never hear where it terminated. From there 6 horse teams moved the ore down the canyon, likely to Deer Creek where it was loaded on the train.

Love that trail

 

[Badger]

see it would be cool if it was fenced with a gate so that limited rides could take place.maybe a once or twice a year closed ride with a limited amount of vehicles .some like short term registration for a drawing for a trip.it would be cool to be able to drive up there camp out for the night and come back down.

 

[benjy]

cool pics