Providence/Logan Area to Bear Lake

[jeffha4]

Hey guys, I've been lurking here a while, first post. I have a question for you guys familiar with the logan area...

I have a family cabin in bear lake, and I've been reading up on the trails up there, I want to do some wheeling to get from logan to bear lake. Probably going tomorrow.
I drive a Range Rover Sport. It's got 31" all terrains on it, but other than that, completely stock. So after doing research, I don't think I'll be able to do providence canyon with it.

So what route would you guys suggest I take? I see on goog maps a road that goes up from the Millville area that looks pretty well manicured. OR another option, another canyon(spring creek?) looks to be about midway from providence canyon to that Millville canyon. From there I'll hit logan peak, and then forest roads/old ephraim trail from there to hit hwy 89 where the bear lake overlook is.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm down to get this car dirty(my wife might not be...) SO I'll do anything that won't destroy my body panels(wish I had sliders).

Or, I have a fullsize pickup I could take, PRO: more ground clearance, CON: it's much bigger...

Let me know what you guys think. If i'm restricted to groomed forest roads, that's fine. I just want to do some back-country driving this weekend.

Thanks, Jeff.

***As a side-note, I've done the skyline drive/bountiful-B trail in the RRS. That's about as rugged as I'd want to get in this car. And I don't mean the dirt road, but rather the trail that goes up from the ATV playground at the 'B' up to that campground, about midway to bountiful peak.***

 

[mbryson]

You can drive dirt all the way from Blacksmith Fork to Bear Lake. Not sure I remember all the twists/turns/routes, but it's been done before. (I will not comment on why I don't remember...it's been a while and I may/may not have been inebriated). I know Left Hand in Blacksmith connects (or used to?) the area that Millville Canyon will get you into. From my memory, it's not much actual low range stuff, but a funnish drive

 

[jeffha4]

In doing a little more looking around, the road I referenced to as 'spring creek' is, i guess, the providence canyon. Shown on google maps here. So I guess I just need to ask, providence canyon or millville canyon?

 

[Toad]

You can take millville up to the top of Mt logan (just for the view). Then come back down continue to "four corners" keep going straight that will take past old ephraims grave. Or you can go through hardware ranch hang a right at the baxter sawmill road and take that over to the south end of bear lake. I have a great map of utah that has most trails and roads on it. If your interested I would gladly let you borrow it. five one two- 6 nine 4 three

Jon

 

[jeffha4]

So we went up yesterday. Wanted to see the quarry, as I guess I had a great grandfather that worked there back in the day, and practically got blown of the mountain with dynamite... So I figured I'd check out the trail up Providence. It's pretty gnarly! I made it up the first section to where there is the huge drainage pipe that runs across the trail. At that point, my wife was sketching out because of how slow we were going. Although the car was doing quite well. I hadn't aired down or anything, so I don't think it was doing as well as it could have, but still, quite well. But with all the water, it was slow progress, so we turned around at the big pipe thing and headed to Millville. From there we made it all the way to the bear lake overlook area on dirt. I was going to continue a little further west and head down fish haven canyon, but it was already late, so we just drove down hwy 89 or whichever it is that goes down into garden city.

As it was just me and the wife, I don't have many action pics(or like any). But here's a poser pic after coming down from logan peak.

 

[Troop92]

How muddy? Might head up that area (Mt Logan/Four Corners) with a buddy this coming week if he can get free...

 

[THSDragoon]

nice car! just my two cents here; you would be able to do a surprising amount of wheeling with your range rover. i know it's more of an on road car with moderate off road design blah blah blah, but the heart, and core of land rover (in my opinion!), especially the range rover, is to go anywhere and do anything. to put things in perspective, my trooper was able to do the snakes with balding tires, and a 100% stock lift. true, it did take some careful driving, but it made it anyway. also, i do realize the price tag of a range rover sport, and not wanting to damage it or nothin, but i'm just saying that you can go almost anywhere you like as long as you pick the right lines (almost is the key word).

 

[Rot Box]

Somehow I missed this one. Glad to hear you were able to check out the area and nice rig you have there We went up Providence on Saturday and didn't have too much difficulty however we tried to head over to Millville from up top and it was another story. A steep sidehill with lots of slick mud made for white knuckles and some winching. It ended up turning into work so we headed back lol.

 

[jeffha4]

Rot: I know what you're talking about, it was so slick up top. I had to dig out once due to sliding downhill on the snow and mud.

Troop: It looked like it had snowed overnight before we headed up. So it was really wet with the melt. With how warm it was today though, I would imagine that it's dried up a bit. I really only had trouble at the very top when driving on a side slope, it just kept pulling the car sideways downhill.

THS: I know what you're saying. If only I could convince my wife! I'm not nearly as afraid of scratching paint or scraping some plastic on rocks as she is. I've been pleasantly surprised with its abilities. As for making it up providence, I know I could have if it wasn't any worse than the first section I was talking about above. I just didn't want to find out on my first time up there without another car with me, or a spotter. My wife likes to come with me, but I can't say she'd be the best spotter on the technical sections.