This one was posing for me




Storm rolling in




Glacier Ridge from Deer Creek


Headed back down Deer Creek to Montezuma


To be continued...

 

thank you for sharing those, it really gets me motivated. It also looked like a ton of fun.

 

What material do you use to plan your trips? Since seem to do ALOT of trail riding I figured you had favorite sites, books, etc that you use to plan. Was just curious..

Thanks again for your trail reports.

 

I have the standard Wells books and the Backcountry Adventures books.....but I also have a ton of maps. When I'm looking to get off of the popular trails, I just look at my maps and go exploring what I think might be a cool area.

 

Day 6: Peru Creek & Middle Fork of the Swan


After making it back to Montezuma yet again, I still had plenty of daylight left and needed to figure out where I wanted to go, as I had completed all of the trails I had planned for the day (and more). Looking at my maps and books, I decided to make the quick trip up Peru Creek. While the sky was cloudy most of the day, it had yet to rain on me. That would soon change...

The road along Peru Creek






I took the short side trip to the Pennsylvania Mine and looped through the area.

 

Not much left of the roof


Shortly after leaving the mine and making my way up Peru Creek again, it started to rain pretty good. When I reached the Shoe Basin Mine, I was greeted with a locked gate and a closed sign.




Low clouds




Since I was stopped by the gate, I turned around and headed back. I was originally thinking about heading back to run Radical Hill on my way back, but decided against it because of the rain. Instead I figured I would head back up Deer Creek and take the Middle Fork of the Swan River back to Tiger Road. By the time I reached the Middle Fork trail, the rain had pretty much stopped.

Clouds in the background

 

Cabin along the way near the top






One cabin left at the townsite of Swandyke




That's it for day 6. Day 7 still to come!

 

Great pictures and a fun place to wheel, I've always enjoyed it. Radical Hill in the rain, it could have been fun.

 

Day 7: Saxon Mountain, Guanella Pass & Glacier Peak


This day ended up not going as I had originally planned....but in the end it turned out to be a pretty good day.

I started out heading over Loveland Pass on my way to Georgetown.


My original plan for the day was to start out on Guanella Pass, however, when I got to the start of the road, they were just closing it completely for construction. It would not be opening up again until 11am, which left me three hours to find something else to do.

So I ended up heading up...


Saxon Mountain....this has to have been one of the bumpiest trails I have ever been on!

Looking down on the switchbacks of Saxon Road and I-70.




At the top of Saxon Mountain


View down on Georgetown from the top.


After backtracking from the top, I followed the sign towards Cascade Creek, and then took Ute Creek back down to the highway.

 

By the time I made it back to Georgetown, it was almost 11:00, so I grabbed a bite to eat for lunch until Guanella Pass was open again. Unfortunately, I was not the only one waiting for the road to open up, and I got stuck in a line of vehicles heading over the pass. That, plus the construction going on made this road less than enjoyable for me. My next plans were to head up to Waldorf and Argentine Pass, but because of the construction and finding out the road would again be closing from 1pm-3pm, I decided to avoid this whole mess altogether for the rest of the day and continue on to US 285.

A few photos from the top of Guanella Pass (A very popular place it seemed.....)







After making it to US 285, I took a right and made my way back to Georgia Pass. Once at the pass I took another right and headed up the Glacier Peak trail.

Great views from an overlook on the Continental Divide near Glacier Peak. There was a cool rock formation I took a few photos of...

 

Along the Glacier Peak trail. There were a few pretty off-camber sections.








I stopped at another overlook




Headed down to the Middle Fork of the Swan River.

 

Cabin ruins along the way.




Shadowy ruins.


Before I could meet back up with the Middle Fork of the Swan River trail again, I would have to descend 'Number 10 Hill' which is also known as 'SOB Hill'. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out not to be that difficult. It was probably a little easier because I was heading downhill, but I don't think I would have had any issues climbing up it either. It was pretty steep and rocky, though.

A few photos of Number 10 Hill (SOB Hill).






Shortly after reaching to bottom, I met up with the Middle Fork of the Swan River trail yet again...

Day 7 to be continued....

 

I have started doing research to do a ghost town expedition (adventure??)... around North Central OK. I am going to stay on all country dirt roads. Unfortunately the "trails" and scenery will be nothing compared to yours, but dang-it the bug has bitten me to get out and get away. Won't be doing any camping though.. it will be a day trip. It will still be a bit disappointing since the area of Okla I live in has nothing in the way of scenery.. Hopefully I will stumble across some cool old stuff though.. maybe a few Jeeps. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

great pics...looks like a lot of fun

 

I'm not going to lie, you are the reason I just joined this site! These pictures are truely amazing and I will be out there one day!