Left Hand Collet Cyn Rd. Down To HITR ?

W

Wallowa

Double Ought
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NE Oregon
Optimistically still hoping roads into Whitmore and Tuweep [4-21] and then Smokey Mt to Left Hand Collet Cyn [5-2] will be open. Two days ago St. George was 200% of normal precip.

My 'question' is twofold: Who is a reliable source of road information for Collet Canyon down to HITR Rd?

Big Water BLM just told me not to drive Collet Cyn dry or wet.....Hmmmm. OK maybe not in Prius but has anyone driven that cyn road recently [assuming last year]? Guy on phone said he got stuck in Collet in the winter....Duh.

How tough is that road to drive, considering we drive an '05 Tundra with E-tires and a Hawk?

Collet is advertised as a tour path from Escalante down to HITR and back up HITR to Escalante.

Unfortunately, my WAG is that Smokey Mt Rd will be muddy on 5-2 and that is a no-go.

Any first hand knowledge and advice welcomed! :rolleyes:

Thanks,

Phil
 
Phil, are you coming at Smokey Mnt road from Big Water on the 89? I found a few videos on youtube showing both roads.... one was even in April. You can see from those videos if you are up for the challenge?
 
Hey Vic...thought I sent you a copy of our planned trip route....yes, on 5-2 we have planned on going through Big Water and out on Smokey Mt. Rd...spending a night up on the K. Plateau and then on 5-3 going down LCCR to HITR..

Would appreciate any videos or comments on recent or early travel on those roads..just called Escalante IA office and they said HITR is currently open but much of it muddy and rutted right now...

Looking bleak for Tuweep and Smokey unless rain/snow stops soon...

Thanks...Phil
 
Wallowa said:
Hey Vic...thought I sent you a copy of our planned trip route....yes, on 5-2 we have planned on going through Big Water and out on Smokey Mt. Rd...spending a night up on the K. Plateau and then on 5-3 going down LCCR to HITR..

Would appreciate any videos or comments on recent or early travel on those roads..just called Escalante IA office and they said HITR is currently open but much of it muddy and rutted right now...

Looking bleak for Tuweep and Smokey unless rain/snow stops soon...

Thanks...Phil
Click to expand...
Yes, you did send me that, I was confused on where some of the places you mentioned were, so just had to look up where Smokey Mt and Collet Cyn were, and how the heck you were getting there from HITR. That's a fair distance to cover (could take a whole day I think). Without hiking trails or other destinations, my sig other would object to that much jostling for "no reason." So I never imagined you would be coming in from Big Water.

I prefer going down to Utah in the fall, precisely because the roads are likely to be drier (and there is less wind).
 
Vic Harder said:
This might interest you Phil - Grand Staircase-Escalante – May 2017 | Gardiner Family Adventures (wordpress.com)
Click to expand...

Great stuff and thanks...as to Utah possibly drying now, that may not be the case for some time...currently NW AZ and S Utah are under either a lot of snow or dealing with flashfloods...for us hope to get into Whitmore on 4-21 and with reservations at Tuweep on 4-24 the roads may still be closed...currently all but HTIR are closed until further notice....no idea of erosion damage if they dry out...as you say a lot drier in Fall! Oh, from Kanab-Big Water to Smokey Rd and overnighting on Kaiparowits Plateau is not really a long day unless of course we encounter slides, mud or high water! :rolleyes: Hey what would an adventure be without uncertainty....

Sooner Slide Rd/Trail [I have only viewed it from HITR Rd] was nothing I would attempt in the Tundra...

Funny I thought how much easier it would be to travel all these roads on my dirt bike [motorcycle] as seen in videos...but going to give it a shot in Tundra...

Thanks again for article and videos...

Phil
 
Good luck, i too am watching the weather and checking on trail conditions. Shooting for numerous trails/roads in the Moab/canyonlands area for late april. With the current weather, who knows.
Am still planning on the maze, and HITR East, but who knows. I am going to be down there poking around for about 3 weeks, hoping to run some "jeep" trails and scout out some different trails/roads for the bigger truck.

Last Oct, came down smokey mtn, met a guy going up in a 2 door rubicon, told me a section of road 5 miles ahead was "damaged".
Turns out, a section of road was missng a section about 4 feet deep by 25 feet wide. Pretty sure of the dimensions, as it swallowed my truck. We did some pretty extensive digging, jacking, stacking but finally got out. Trail conditions can be incredibly daunting down there.
w
 
Wango,

Tougher than me! 4'x25' would have turned me around....too old to pile and dig unless absolutely necessary...

Hey look for a gray '05 Tundra AC / '16 Hawk with a Best Friends sticker on back door and GD sticker in RR window [could decide to mount our Warn winch on front]...may well be in the same area, same time....if we get weathered out, we will just adapt and wander...but have a 30 day trip window.

Thanks for insights...

Phil
 
This may not be much help but we drove through St. George on our way back to SoCal from Park City. It stormed on us almost the entire time there (great powder!) and Southern UT did receive some precip. While there isn’t as much snow in the surrounding area the Virgin River was really moving.
 
Mighty Dodge Ram said:
This may not be much help but we drove through St. George on our way back to SoCal from Park City. It stormed on us almost the entire time there (great powder!) and Southern UT did receive some precip. While there isn’t as much snow in the surrounding area the Virgin River was really moving.
Click to expand...

Yes, all information, especially current, is appreciated....Ranger at BLM St.George confirmed your observations that is has been a very wet Spring....only wild cards for us are when will it dry out enough to drive on AND how much damage have the roads suffered..right now most roads we are considering are closed.

Thanks again...
 
We were on Notom Wash Rd on 3/12. It was damp but solid until it suddenly wasn't, and this was the result:
i-mqgPh7j-M.jpg

I'd estimate that we were about 500 lbs heavier at the top of the switch-backs than we were when we drove off UT24. I still don't have it all off the truck

I think that we caught a window in the weather as these were the conditions on HITR:
i-ps8qQhK-M.jpg


Notably on our way out of HITR were many ranchers heading in to gather their cattle and several of the spur roads had seen heavy equipment repair work. We went up LH Collet from HITR, but only as far as the mouth of the canyon. Firm and dry, with an occasional puddle.

Hell's Backbone was closed and the pass between Torrey and Boulder on UT12 had 4'-6' snow walls on both sides of the road. The top was exactly two plow blades wide and they were having a tough time keeping up.
 
ntsqd said:
We were on Notom Wash Rd on 3/12. It was damp but solid until it suddenly wasn't, and this was the result:
i-mqgPh7j-M.jpg

I'd estimate that we were about 500 lbs heavier at the top of the switch-backs than we were when we drove off UT24. I still don't have it all off the truck

I think that we caught a window in the weather as these were the conditions on HITR:
i-ps8qQhK-M.jpg

Notably on our way out of HITR were many ranchers heading in to gather their cattle and several of the spur roads had seen heavy equipment repair work. We went up LH Collet from HITR, but only as far as the mouth of the canyon. Firm and dry, with an occasional puddle.

Hell's Backbone was closed and the pass between Torrey and Boulder on UT12 had 4'-6' snow walls on both sides of the road. The top was exactly two plow blades wide and they were having a tough time keeping up.
Click to expand...

Thanks....I am still trying to get BLM or NP to give me a current road condition update....last one 3-17..

Your information is golden and appreciated...hopefully in 2+ weeks when we try for Tuweep and then on 5-2 Smokey/Left Collet drier conditions will make the roads passable....but I have backup plans.....

What did you mean when you said: "We went up LH Collet from HITR, but only as far as the mouth of the canyon. Firm and dry, with an occasional puddle.". Did you have to turn around or did you go up the LHC to the top?

Backbone rd is most probably a no-go until late May or June.

Thanks, nothing like first hand observations and wet clay is a killer which I still have nightmares about ...

Phil
 
We only went up LH Collet road as far as the mouth of the canyon narrows from HITR as we were mostly there to get to the end of HITR and were just exploring.

Nowhere on HITR did we encounter the kind of mud that we found on Notom. We were in the area for three days and the ridgeline that LH Collet cuts thru most always had some at least partial cloud cover. When and where we could see it, the crest and down the East face always had snow on them. See that last pic as an example of how far down the snow came off the crest.

No familiarity with LH Collet Cyn Rd other than the short part that we drove on, so I can't even begin to guesstimate what the conditions were like over the rest of the road. This road recently came to my attention, which is why the thread caught my eye, and I'm starting to plan a trip over it. I'll be following along to see what your experience is.
 
Yes I noted the snow on the plateau crest in your photo.....there are guided tours from Escalante down Collet and out HITR back to Escalante...assume they are not in monsoon period but later summer and early fall....

I will post as I can what I find when we get there...all good...alternative is Butler, Bears Ears and 95...with the obligatory dinner at Hell's Backbone Grill...

Thanks for your input, all of it helps...

Phil
 
 
Some of the LHCR vids look a bit rough and tight for a pop-top. The general population will think it a bad idea.


When do we leave?

:)
 
We leave 4-18.

Right now, this depends on if we can get down to Tuweep and Whitmore Cyn, we plan on going through Big Water 5-2. We overnight at Pipe Springs on 4-20 and hope to go into Whitmore on 4-21; our CG res at Tuweep is from 4-24 to 5-1...if road opens during any on those days we will go to Tuweep...

If Smokey is out as well as Tuweep; we will head over to Butler and Bears Ears....or go down to TJ for custom tuck and roll seat covers.. :cool:

We have 30 days and ultimately plan on 4 days in Cathedral Valley CRNP [still hoping for another visit to Upper Muley Twist]....been there and it is very cool...
 
Re: Upper Muley, note that the mud on the truck was from below the Burr switch-backs on Notom. Above them was fine. I'd expect that you won't see any mud, but if we have a storm thru the area between now and then I'd advise accessing from Boulder rather than from UT24.
 
Good advice....we are hopefully eating at Hell's Backbone Grill [have reservations], night at Deer Creek CG and then next day up Muley Twist...as I remember it is basically a stream bed between beautiful walls so would hate to have a gully washer while we are in there...plan on one night or more there at the CC trialhead...then out N. on Burr..

Side Note; On White Rim in 2020 going up grade to Murphy [spent 5 nights on trail] I could not imagine meeting a vehicle coming down...both screwed; I wrote a letter [unanswered} asking parks to make the WRT a one-way road...same, same with LHCR....no turning around or pulling over in most of it..
.
 
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