Road from Big to Little Cottonwood Canyon

[cruiseroutfit]

I just took the Cruiser for a jaunt up Little Cottonwood to check out Albion Basin (the flowers are so pretty) and check out some old roads (via my sneakers)

So here is my quiestion to those in the know... Is it possible to still connect Big & Little via the old trail... meaning... "if" (and they never will ) they allowed us to clear it of deadfall, etc (no tractor work)... how much of the old road exists? I know alot of you hike and mountain bike, plus some of you older gents may have driven it years ago.

For reference, I am referring to the road that starts near the Alta Gaurd Station, and continues Northwest to the ridge connection Superior Peak & Flagstaff Peak... and then continues North into Mill D South Fork (Cardiff Fork) then it would have connected to the pavement near Doughnut Falls in Big Cottonwood...

Anyone?

 

[Shawn]

Interconnect..............

Yes, there is a trail.

 

[EZRhino]

Sorry Maynard.

Stop smoking that stuff.......none of these trails will ever be open again, you'd better forget it.

Cardiff pass right now on the Alta side has a road that goes within 1/4 mile if the pass (still driveable) but the last 1/4 is steep as hell and there never was a road to it that I could discern. The other side down into Cardiff only has a foot trail, never was a road.

There is another driveable road up Grizzly Gulch to Twin Lakes Pass, but nothing down the other side but a hiking trail. That same road up Grizzly Gulch forks off before the pass and contours around to Silver Fork Pass.....again, no road down the other side (until you get way further down the canyon).

There was another old road that went up to Catherine Pass from Albion Basin but again it ended at the pass. Only a very rough hiking trail down the other side. I have hiked all of the above references.

EZ

 

[Coreshot]

Sorry Maynard.

Stop smoking that stuff.......none of these trails will ever be open again, you'd better forget it.

EZ

Yeah Kurt, quit trying so hard to open up new (old) wheeling opportunities for us... You should learn to relax and take trail closures lying down like the rest of society.

 

[EZRhino]

I'm telling you Coreshot.....there are lost causes and then there are lost causes. Many of these old "roads" (I use that term loosely) have been 90% reclaimed by mother nature. You gotta realize that Big and Little Cottonwood are looked at by most everyone as icons by the greenie weenies.....sacred virgin mother nature at it's finest.....they don't deserve to be ravaged by a bunch of yahoo's on 4x4's or ATV's. What is Ironic is that those canyons were pretty much raped by the loggers and then the miners and have recovered nicely IMHO. Of course I'd like to see them driveable someday, but we best put our efforts into keeping what we've got open, not try to reopen what hasn't been for 40, 50, 60 years.

EZ

 

[Coreshot]

Many of these roads were open as recently as 20 years ago, in fact, there were many of the mining claims that were (are) still active until very recently. If we don't try to reverse closures, and only work on keeping what we have open, I'm afraid we are enjoying a dying lifestyle. The offroad community needs to be alot more vocal, and certainly alot more conscious of keeping their trails clean and maintained.

 

[EZRhino]

That is some smart thinking there Cory.

However....

Consider the following. We need to pick our battles wisely. If we want to fight to reopen certain jeep roads in the Cottonwoods, we need to choose the correct ones. I suggest starting with the ones that the county has already considered claiming rights-of-way on. (Cardiff, Etc.) I don't recall anything in Little Cottonwood that they were interested in.

EZ

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Not even going to joing the debate except to say... things will change when I am in control... remember there was a time that no-one ever thought that blacks would be free, women would vote, Mormons would be free to worship... things change.... roads can be re-opened...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

... I don't recall anything in Little Cottonwood that they were interested in.

EZ

Nope...

All of their "prospective" road claims were in BC...

Mill F East Fork
Mill D South Fork (Cardiff Fork) (still VERY driveable, by a CAR)
Mineral Fork (still VERY driveable, with some repair needed for FS vehicles)
Silver Fork
Days Fork (still VERY driveable)
Honeycomb Fork (still VERY driveable)
Willow Heights Canyon
American Hollow

EZ, you may know about the condition of the others...

 

[EZRhino]

Hahahaha......

I'll let you have the last word on that one.

EZ

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...Cardiff pass right now on the Alta side has a road that goes within 1/4 mile if the pass (still driveable) but the last 1/4 is steep as hell and there never was a road to it that I could discern. The other side down into Cardiff only has a foot trail, never was a road.

Thats what I assumed... I couldn't spot any remains of a trail...

There is another driveable road up Grizzly Gulch to Twin Lakes Pass, but nothing down the other side but a hiking trail.

How drivable in modern terms?

There was another old road that went up to Catherine Pass from Albion Basin but again it ended at the pass. Only a very rough hiking trail down the other side.

I knew that road was there... it looks like it passes a 1/2 dozen mines along the way to the pass (1.9 miles from the Upper Albion Basin parking lot, the ski lift...)

 

[EZRhino]

How drivable in modern terms?

Very driveable. It is a service road for the power lines that go over the pass, Ford F450 with utility beds go up there.

I knew that road was there... it looks like it passes a 1/2 dozen mines along the way to the pass (1.9 miles from the Upper Albion Basin parking lot, the ski lift...)

Correct.




Remember the "Goodspeed Trail"? That is the trail that goes from Alta to Reed and Benson Mine high on the ridge in Cardiff Fork.
EZ

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...Remember the "Goodspeed Trail"? That is the trail that goes from Alta to Reed and Benson Mine high on the ridge in Cardiff Fork.
EZ

Yes, as I recall that was the very first trail into the Cardiff Canyon... built in 1870, in 1871 a road was built to follow the same trail... In fact the ridge between Cadiff Fork (Mill D South Fork) and Days Fork is called Reed and Benson Ridge.

The initial "connector" road that I am referring to, must be the Goodspeed trail as it runs right near the R&B Mine... Any thought?

Thought the map "sorta" indicates it as a "jeep trail"... usually when a "jeep trail" converts to a foor trail, they indicate it by "pack trail"... but not in this case...

It is fair to say that 100 years ago, there may have been a wagon road... you an I have both seen many cases of roads that have been "erased"...