Forest Lake and Cascade Springs 10/31/09

On Halloween I headed out with a few individuals from one of the off-road communties that I belong too out to Forest Lake in American Fork Canyon. Myself and one other individual had never been to this area before so it was a little bit of an adventure. The other individaul who came along lead the run since he had been to the area before. Accompnay, him was two of his boys and his father.


I had an itching to get back out since it had been a little over a month and half since I was last out exploring. This would also be the first little bit of rock crawling that I've done since leaving Arizona earlier this year. Despite an earlier wake-up call and an hour drive too meet up with the group it was well worth it. We couldn't have picked a better day to head out. The weather was clear and cool. Very cool up at the lake around 8500' above sea level.


The road up to the trailhead was more or less a dirt road that would be passable by most vehicles. The trail head started out by crossing a flowing stream then up though a little rock garden. After that there were area patches of rocks to drive thru every so often but nothing really major. Once we reached the lake we greeted by the bitter cold until the sun peered over the mountains around 1015 am. The screney in the area was great and felt nice (despite the above mentioned cold). The lake had been coverd by a couple inches of ice and provided us with some entainment as we though/slid rocks across it's surface listening to the strange echo's they would proceed.


Eventually, we got our fill and decided to head back out to the main road. The way back down was a little more entaining as we slide down an icey patch or two that we had previous had no problems going up. A few more bangs and grinding sounds from under teh vehicles were heard. The rock garden that we had all gotten though at the beginning with no problems ended up claiming some of the paint off my vehicle. Lucky, it was to one of the fender flares on my vehicle attached to the bumper which can be easliy removed.


Once back out we headed over to Cascade Springs. The drive over prodvided some excellent views of the surrounding mountains and valleys and of the small towns down below. Cascade Springs is a natural spring coming up from the ground that produced some mini waterfalls as in flows a short way down the mountain.


The final stretch of the trip took us back down American Fork Canyon along the Alpine Loop. As we passed the montains we were dwarfed by their seer-size but at the same time we were in amazement of their beauty. Well, I was at least. I don't know about the others.


Enough of my rambling on the photos - my camera was having a bad day so some of the photo's didn't come out that great.



The view from the beginning and the last bit of asphalt we'd see until Cascade Springs.







Headin up to the lake.








Up at the Lake

Skyline Drive Snow Run

I took the long way home from work night to go play in snow along Skyline Drive from Farmington to Bountiful. My normal 10 minute drive turned into 2 hrs of fun. The first few photo's were taken at the being of the trail and they progress as I head up the mountain.





The beaver pond.


Looking back.


Made it up. Well, sort of the photo of the cloudy peak is where I was headed next.




Time to head back down.





I think it's time for some warm Apple Cider.

Smiley Rock Trail Run 4/25/2009

After attending the Overland Expo I meet with a group from Expeditionportal in Chino Valley to run Smiley Rock trail (the trail is rated a 2.5 out of 5). I had run this trail once last year on a solo trip though Sedona, Arizona and had a blast and wanted to hit it up again. Eleven vehicles in total were to run the trail (3 Tacoma’s, 2 4runner’s, Jeep Grand Cherokee, 2 early Ford Broncos, Mitsubishi Montero, a Nissan Pathfinder and Frontier) only ten made it though, the Montero turned around before the rock garden portion of Martin Canyon to avoid undercarriage and rocker panel damage. Prior to that the Montero did a great job and surprise me a bit how well it did.

Enough talking on to the photo’s

Heading out to trailhead (I think I need to clean bugs off the windshield next time)

A snake being moved off the trail to avoid being run over.


Vehicle lineup at the trailhead

These two where hiding from the camera

But I think they were spotted by these guys

Off to the trail:
Again I really need to clean those dang bugs off

Catus in bloom


The dang rock I missed last year and I don’t know how after seeing it

Looking up out of the canyon



Shameless plug of my 4runner

This is where the Montero had to turn around


The reason being

The first rock ledge in Martin Canyon







Up next was the Frontier. The Frontier had a little problem with this area due to it’s wheelbase but it was eventfully to make it though.


Followed by one of the Bronco’s



Next up was the other little rock ledge that made for some good poser shots and some rock slider action. I’ll throw in a dented gas tank skid plate as well.





Next up was the Frontier. Again, the longer wheelbase was causing it to get hung up, which eventfully lead to tug by another vehicle to get up and over.


Giving a little tug

Lastly the Bronco’s which I didn’t get very many photo’s of.


The weather at the top where the other’s from the group were camping for time was in the 50’s, with a slight breeze. It felt great and a nice change from the heat of Yuma. Tired from the long day it was time to air up, grab some grub and gas and head for home (add another energy drink to the mix as well).
The time spent at the Overland Expo and the trail run was a nice break and proved some relief from the job search. It was a great group of people to hang with for a short time with the hope of another trip together. Hopefully, more adventures will follow but only time will tell


Thanks for reading.