State HWY to Unknown Trail - NW of Heber / Midway **Lots of pics, 56k beware**

[Meat_]

I haven't made it to topo! yet, but I fired up terraserve..... and I can admit when I'm wrong

Alta IS west of Mineral Basin though

In this pic you can see the trail were it cuts through the meadow..... The trial ends on the ridge south of Brighton, I can't quite pick out the end of the trail in the picture though. Then we hiked over to Pioneer Peak.

 

[waynehartwig]

I haven't made it to topo! yet, but I fired up terraserve..... and I can admit when I'm wrong

Alta IS west of Mineral Basin though

In this pic you can see the trail were it cuts through the meadow..... The trial ends on the ridge south of Brighton, I can't quite pick out the end of the trail in the picture though. Then we hiked over to Pioneer Peak.

What's your email address and I'll send you a map of the area with the points marked - alta, brighton, snowbird, mineral basin, and about where you guys turned around. You can see where we did, because the orange line doesn't go any farther. You guys went probably another 100 yards up the road than we did. We bailed out where the spring crosses the road at a REAL skinny point. Someone had rocked up the side (downhill side) to keep the road in place. Something about muddy road, etc..etc.. that I didn't like Actually, I would have continued on if my friend didn't have to turn around. Yeah, that's it....

 

[Meat_]

meat_ @rockymountainextreme.com (no space)

We were a long ways past that wet spot in the road.

 

[Herzog]

Zog, I won't be able to make it. Today is very unproductive. :-\

Same here... had to make some emergency repairs to the brakes on my truck. :-\

 

[waynehartwig]

meat_ @rockymountainextreme.com (no space)

We were a long ways past that wet spot in the road.

You should have mail Like I said before, where I stopped is where the orange line ends. I put a waypoint where I think you two stopped - basically where that large tree was laying across the road.

 

[EZRhino]

Wow, a few of us are navigationally bankrupt. Make sure my kids aren't under you as scoutmaster, ok? Forget the ariel photos for a minute and look at a map. The town of Alta is directly NORTH of Mineral Basin. The area over the ridge in the photos on page three is Brighton. You can see Dog Lake, Lake Mary and Silver Lake. There is no connection for full size vehicles between Snake Creek and American Fork. (Unless you take the "graded" road all the way around over Pole Line Pass.) There is a hiking trail/mt. bike, however that connects Snake Creek to American Fork via Dry Fork. Also...I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but the trail you guys are on is closed to full size rigs.

EZ

 

[Badger]

the trail i was on and never had a sign stating it was closed.infact there were spots were there were trees across the trail that the park service had cut with chain saws to clear it

 

[Meat_]

You should have mail Like I said before, where I stopped is where the orange line ends. I put a waypoint where I think you two stopped - basically where that large tree was laying across the road.

Cool. We went a LONG ways past that tree....

In the first pic you can see were the tree was, then the trail farther up... then the end... the second pic is a closer view of the end of the trail.

 

[Meat_]

Wow, a few of us are navigationally bankrupt. Make sure my kids aren't under you as scoutmaster, ok? Forget the ariel photos for a minute and look at a map. The town of Alta is directly NORTH of Mineral Basin. The area over the ridge in the photos on page three is Brighton. You can see Dog Lake, Lake Mary and Silver Lake. There is no connection for full size vehicles between Snake Creek and American Fork. (Unless you take the "graded" road all the way around over Pole Line Pass.) There is a hiking trail/mt. bike, however that connects Snake Creek to American Fork via Dry Fork. Also...I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but the trail you guys are on is closed to full size rigs.

EZ

Your directly is kinda dog legged... it's kinda hard to get your north mixed up when it's at the top of your monitor. I WAS looking at a topo, check the top right corner of that link I posted... you can switch back and forth between top and aerial

There was no closed sign, and it's not anything serious.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

the trail i was on and never had a sign stating it was closed.infact there were spots were there were trees across the trail that the park service had cut with chain saws to clear it

Signs dissapear in the FS minutes after they pound them in the ground, and it may have been a user that cut the downed tree... That being said, I will check out the road you were on with the Uinta National Forest travel map...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Heres the deal after reviewing the Uinta National Forest Travel Map (10/13/04), the trail IS open to 4x4 travel to the point it turns off to connect with North Fork AF Canyon... The remainder of the trail heading NWW is private property all the way up and over the ridge back on the Brighton side. So, we need to check with the landowners (or I can chat with my contacts in the PG FS office) and see if they know the status of the Private Property. There is alot of PP open to 4x4's in the Canyon (Miller Hill, Mary Ellen Gulch, top of Mineral Basin, Silver Flat), but there is also alot that is closed (Eagle Earl, Mineral Basin to Divide, etc)... So, for the time being, I would play it safe...

 

[Badger]

another google view to show how much of a climb it is

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Your directly is kinda dog legged...

Pretty damn North to me... (AllTopo Utah)

 

[Meat_]

Pretty damn North to me... (AllTopo Utah)

It's "North" of Mount Baldy

My "Alta is west of Mineral" goes back to where Wayne said (somewhere) that we were looking at Alta and Mineral was just over the hill from that. We were East of Mineral, and Alta is west of Mineral, so if we were looking straight north at Alta as Wayne was first saying there is no way we could look west to mineral basin.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

It's "North" of Mount Baldy....

Your topo shows "Alta" much further West than AllTopo Utah (using the Place feature)

Back to the closure, EZRhino knows more about AF than anyone I know (of course besides me that is ), if it is closed to motorized recreation, he would know... I will check with him and get specifics, mabey the landowner is willing to negotiate...

 

[Meat_]

...Back to the closure, EZRhino knows more about AF than anyone I know (of course besides me that is ), if it is closed to motorized recreation, he would know... I will check with him and get specifics, mabey the landowner is willing to negotiate...

I wasn't even aware of that canyon before the 13th I've been past that trail before but never went up it.

There was one of the brown fiberglass signs right were the trail meets the main dirt road, it was uprooted by the grader that was working on the road.... we didn't stop and look at it but we didn't notice any circles with crosses.

 

[waynehartwig]

It's "North" of Mount Baldy

My "Alta is west of Mineral" goes back to where Wayne said (somewhere) that we were looking at Alta and Mineral was just over the hill from that. We were East of Mineral, and Alta is west of Mineral, so if we were looking straight north at Alta as Wayne was first saying there is no way we could look west to mineral basin.

Here is a direct qoute from what I said (found the original post) -

But you sure that's Snowbird? I don't know where Snowbird is, so I'm not sure. But GPS program shows you right between Alta and Brighton. But that road ends, eh? I was hoping that it would have continued because the next canyon over is Mineral Basin. That would be a cool drive...Start at Provo Canyon and make a loop through American Fork Canyon!!!

I never said you were looking down into Alta...I did say that I was on the backside of Alta after my trip up there. But after looking at the map when you guys went, I realized I was in error and posted the above qouted message. Had I been on the backside of Alta, I would have been in Mineral Basin! I don't know this area very well. I know where some places are, so a map is my best bud!

 

[Meat_]

Here is a direct qoute from what I said (found the original post) -

But you sure that's Snowbird? I don't know where Snowbird is, so I'm not sure. But GPS program shows you right between Alta and Brighton. But that road ends, eh? I was hoping that it would have continued because the next canyon over is Mineral Basin. That would be a cool drive...Start at Provo Canyon and make a loop through American Fork Canyon!!!

I never said you were looking down into Alta...I did say that I was on the backside of Alta after my trip up there. But after looking at the map when you guys went, I realized I was in error and posted the above qouted message. Had I been on the backside of Alta, I would have been in Mineral Basin! I don't know this area very well. I know where some places are, so a map is my best bud!

This is the post I was referencing

I found it... The name of the tunnel was all it took (shows up on the GPS.

We went up and piddled around the mine and kept going up, and staying to the left. After a while we started hitting some NASTY switchbacks on real skinny roads. I think at that point we were on the back side of Alta? The next canyon over from mineral basin. I was hoping to keep going up and over the top and drop into mineral basin and come out. ...I think you still can? The spot at which I gave up was real narrow, tippy, wet and muddy. With those combinations I gave up and backed out.

There is a lot of places to go up there! Lots of cool places to camp, too!! On our way up there were some people coming out of that mine area. One had a 5th wheel trailer, probably 35', a large camper and a black Blazer. Honestly, I would never take a 5th wheel up that road! Too steep, rocky and narrow.

We also tried driving up the road where the avalanche debre was. We were able to get up a ways, but it started getting bad and it looked like it ended another 50' up anyways, so I turned around. That must have been a HUGE avalanche, though! The debre field was HUGE!

I would give it two thumbs up...Only bad part about the trip is the bugs are out!! And not one or two, either....

 

[waynehartwig]

Ahhh.... I meant we were the next canyon over from mineral basin and Alta. A little play on words there....

On the GPS I can see the topo lines and tell where I was. There wasn't anything telling me where Alta and Brighton were, so I was making the assumption of where I was at in relation to those two.

 

[Meat_]

Heres the deal after reviewing the Uinta National Forest Travel Map (10/13/04), the trail IS open to 4x4 travel to the point it turns off to connect with North Fork AF Canyon... The remainder of the trail heading NWW is private property all the way up and over the ridge back on the Brighton side. So, we need to check with the landowners (or I can chat with my contacts in the PG FS office) and see if they know the status of the Private Property. There is alot of PP open to 4x4's in the Canyon (Miller Hill, Mary Ellen Gulch, top of Mineral Basin, Silver Flat), but there is also alot that is closed (Eagle Earl, Mineral Basin to Divide, etc)... So, for the time being, I would play it safe...

...Back to the closure, EZRhino knows more about AF than anyone I know (of course besides me that is ), if it is closed to motorized recreation, he would know... I will check with him and get specifics, mabey the landowner is willing to negotiate...

Any news?