Report: We just got back from a wonderful few days at Saline. We had the entire Palm Springs to ourselves and our friends which came along. Lower Springs had maybe three camps plus Lizard Lee.
We took the South Pass. I've done the south well over 100 times in the last 30 years. Grapevine Canyon is much better than it was one year ago (at which time it bordered at treacherous until some work was done), at this time it is quite washed out with plenty of medium boulders and a few very deep washouts which will hang up any vehicle with too little departure angle. Rocks are very sharp in places and for long distances and strongly imbedded in the soil which is perfect for tire punctures. I had to do some front suspension repair work to a fellow traveler's F150 that was sporting oversize tires that were likely too heavy and too much leverage for his 1/2 ton control arms. Could have sent the suspension and wheels tucking under the truck at speed. Could kill a person! Keep it near stock folks! Style is one thing but back country travel requires reliability and a margin of safety.
What is worse this year than any I have seen in 30 years is the valley bottom. You will be lucky to see 20 mph for more than a few seconds. Everytime you think "ok, I can speed up now", there comes another deep washout.
Bat Rock Road is slow going with deep wash crossings.
Normally I do the South Pass in 2 hours. This time 4 hours. So 50 miles divided by 4 hours is 12 mph average.
My advice. You need good LT tires, full size spare etc. I would not suggest AWD's ie; Suburaru's etc.
There was a fellow who burned up his Xterra on fire by getting brush around the catalytic converter. Along with melting his truck into a pool of molten metal, he took out 500 or so acres of the brush between the cold pool and the salt tram. The fire kept us entertained throughout the night.
Yes, there was a fellow there, Sandy is his name who came in the north pass in a 2wd GMC Canyon (s-10). BTW, he had brand new set of BFG AT's of which one of them was chunking off big pieces of tread over the entire tire while the other three tires were fine. Hmm..quality issues? There was a Ford Expedition with 2 , 20 something couples, party sorts, that came in via north pass in the dark. They had never been to Saline before. How they found Bat Rock Road in the dark? I have no idea. They left via South Pass, again, in the dark!
A few vehicles came in through Steel Pass, no issues. Lippincott Road has no issues and is likely the easiest route in. Some people seem challenged by Lippincott. I never understand their apprehension. It's slow going and a bit narrow but not dificult at all.
ETAV8R's recommendation above is an excellent way to go!
All in all, with the road being worse than usual, the extra two hours of bone jarring is easily worth the complete lack of population at the Springs! I'm going back soon with my son.
