Phulcrum
Adventurist
There is a lot of controversy over wether or not the trails at the reservation are open to "off-road" use. Hopefully this trail report can clear some of it up- as much as it can be.
elripster and mcmattp left the 15 & 76 meeting spot around 2pm and headed to los coyotes via 15n to 79. Myself, Anne, my dad, and Brandon left the 15 & 76 at 330 to head up via the 76. Both groups arrived at the guard shack at exactly the same time. So i guess we now know which way is faster.
The cost to camp is 25$ a night, and includes running clean (non-potable) water, unlimited firewood, and a campsite with a fire ring and a BBQ. Most "sites" have benches too. The campground is set in a oak and pine forest (some of the pines are widowmaker pines). The entire campground was beautiful and shady, almost no sunshine poked through.
About two hours after we arrived, we were greeted by officer Robert. He is without a doubt the friendliest most easy going law enforcement officer i have ever met - and i am related to a couple. I chatted with him about the reservation and mentioned that we had hoped to explore the roads and trails. His response was pretty much " Enjoy". We briefly discussed the different types of crowds that could be drawn to this sort of place, in short the good and the bad. I made it clear we were the former of the two. Robert was so pleased to see [responsible] people visiting the reservation he offered to pick up anything we had forgotten in town!
Saturday morning boby91yj showed up with two other jeeps. boby, and the jeepers were ready to roll before the "other " vehicles were so we agreed to split the run. I should note that my dad and bvandeberg were in jeeps to, but elected to go in the "other " group. maybe they wanted to be with us in case we needed rescuing? As it turns out the jeeps were much faster moving on the trail and the rest of us would have held them up all day. I'll let bobby describe his groups run and trails.
Bobby picked a cool string of trails for us that we followed from about 1-2 hours behind his group. dead cow road, and then dangerous road , then - for us - back to camp. dead cow road had one tight squeeze for annes FJ, because her sliders stick out a little, but other than that is was all view and a little pin stripping.
Top of dead cow road where it meets the main road , i didnt get the epic view in the backdrop but i think someone else did.
Choke Cherry road road took us to dangerous road, which is where the challenges are.
Everyone had a great time picking their way up the obstacles on this trail. I think Jared (from MUD) got some minor carnage on his left rear quarter panel, but that was all the damage done.
We passed the jeep squad at the top of dangerous road - they went back down it- and headed for camp early. Some of us had small kids ( 2 babies) that were trail weary.
Saturday night camp included some good food and and music provided by my brother and Elripster, who both have great guitar and vocal skills.
Wyatt REALLY likes camping.
Sunday morning we half-packed after breakfast and headed up to the look out. we passed some friendly hikers on the way up and we made sure to slow down to mitigate the dust for them . then we passed not so friendly hikers, but i guess you get all kinds out there.
My pics from the look out tower. epic views.
Awesome stress free trip. I think the take-away on the reservations status is that if you go up there and are a respectful, responsible camper the officer on site might allow you to explore the res. if you go up there and are chucking beer cans out your window -expect to lose your rig. the reservation was very clean, I only had to pick up one beer can!
I hope the other participants were better about the photo documentation. Thanks again to all who came out, it was a pleasure.
elripster and mcmattp left the 15 & 76 meeting spot around 2pm and headed to los coyotes via 15n to 79. Myself, Anne, my dad, and Brandon left the 15 & 76 at 330 to head up via the 76. Both groups arrived at the guard shack at exactly the same time. So i guess we now know which way is faster.
The cost to camp is 25$ a night, and includes running clean (non-potable) water, unlimited firewood, and a campsite with a fire ring and a BBQ. Most "sites" have benches too. The campground is set in a oak and pine forest (some of the pines are widowmaker pines). The entire campground was beautiful and shady, almost no sunshine poked through.
About two hours after we arrived, we were greeted by officer Robert. He is without a doubt the friendliest most easy going law enforcement officer i have ever met - and i am related to a couple. I chatted with him about the reservation and mentioned that we had hoped to explore the roads and trails. His response was pretty much " Enjoy". We briefly discussed the different types of crowds that could be drawn to this sort of place, in short the good and the bad. I made it clear we were the former of the two. Robert was so pleased to see [responsible] people visiting the reservation he offered to pick up anything we had forgotten in town!
Saturday morning boby91yj showed up with two other jeeps. boby, and the jeepers were ready to roll before the "other " vehicles were so we agreed to split the run. I should note that my dad and bvandeberg were in jeeps to, but elected to go in the "other " group. maybe they wanted to be with us in case we needed rescuing? As it turns out the jeeps were much faster moving on the trail and the rest of us would have held them up all day. I'll let bobby describe his groups run and trails.
Bobby picked a cool string of trails for us that we followed from about 1-2 hours behind his group. dead cow road, and then dangerous road , then - for us - back to camp. dead cow road had one tight squeeze for annes FJ, because her sliders stick out a little, but other than that is was all view and a little pin stripping.
Choke Cherry road road took us to dangerous road, which is where the challenges are.
Everyone had a great time picking their way up the obstacles on this trail. I think Jared (from MUD) got some minor carnage on his left rear quarter panel, but that was all the damage done.
We passed the jeep squad at the top of dangerous road - they went back down it- and headed for camp early. Some of us had small kids ( 2 babies) that were trail weary.
Saturday night camp included some good food and and music provided by my brother and Elripster, who both have great guitar and vocal skills.
Sunday morning we half-packed after breakfast and headed up to the look out. we passed some friendly hikers on the way up and we made sure to slow down to mitigate the dust for them . then we passed not so friendly hikers, but i guess you get all kinds out there.
My pics from the look out tower. epic views.
Awesome stress free trip. I think the take-away on the reservations status is that if you go up there and are a respectful, responsible camper the officer on site might allow you to explore the res. if you go up there and are chucking beer cans out your window -expect to lose your rig. the reservation was very clean, I only had to pick up one beer can!
I hope the other participants were better about the photo documentation. Thanks again to all who came out, it was a pleasure.
