2016 / 2017 GOLD CREEK /SHEEP MOUNTAIN

[CATSLEDMAN1]

JAN 21

Post about parking lots, there are not any designated parking lots, wild wooly area. You can park alongside the road about a mile before plowing ends. Be courteous, folks live along this secluded road and do the plowing by themselves, please don't block the road. You can still drive to gravel pit area with trailers, and park alongside the road. Road snow is good enough no big deal riding a sled from hiway 200, again no parking lot there, but room for 1/2 dozen rigs at the Gold creek turn off the hiway.

Slight crusty fluff on base. You can ride around in the trees, go high. I see sledders tracking up the low foothill where its not safe, stumps and logs, but tracks everywhere low, no traffic up high ? Road to shoofly, no more trees down,, trail bumpy, but go up there with the 3" tracks and rail around.

took a wrong turn, spruce swamp..............not good. sometimes you end up in places you don' t want to be

West fork, snow setup so you can idle out through about anything, but snow coverage still suspect, we need more, was snowing when we left.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

1 25 WED

good base up high and 3" new since Sunday, maybe more in some places. poked around off road in West Fork, needs more snow coverage for the places we like to ride, upside was it snowed all afternoon so snow coverage improving all the time.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

Sat 28

couple of inches of new snow, maybe a little more up high. Temp inversion day, 10 degrees warmer up high maybe more, snow almost sticky.......easy to make a snow ball in some places.

Rode some boondocking in the West Fork, good riding in the old growth timber, in the burnt out lodgepole thats usually easy to ride a storm blew down lots of the old burnt trees maybe a month ago, found lots of down trees with only 6" of snow cover..........clank, not good.

main road easy to drive but yesterday enough snow cover on the road to easily drive a sled from hiway 200.

 

[crhalland]

Thanks for the help!

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

Feb 4 / 5

more snow everywhere, but wet sticky packing real solid snow, going to be even more base as it sets up. AVY conditions at the extreme, we found some slumping snow, not good.

Wet branches in your face everywhere, snowing on us up high both days, tracks snowed when we came out, lets go watch the game, will be better riding some other day. Nice dump though.

Plowed road getting narrow, use caution. Most riders coming up the road from hiway 200. STill room to park with care at the gravel pit. I see 4 place trailer tower though chained up to get there, good idea, be safe. Turn around room there still ok.

picture from Sunday sitting in our old tracks from the day before.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

sat 11

suprise...........snow was dri after all the rain in Missoula.


New snow low high everywhere.


Plowed road to gravel pit getting narrow, 2" fluff on glare ice, so carefull pulling trailers, room to turn around but getting tight.

 

[maxeater]

how far up the road is the gravel pit

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

gravel pit

gravel pit area is about 2.5 miles up the main gold creek road from hiway 200, no real pit obvious to the casual observer, but just before you get to this area you will have come up the only steeper grade while going through a gentle right hand sweeping turn.

You will find a plowed turn around and two plowed driveways just beyond the wider plowed road where you can park if you park tight to the snowbanks. So you can turn a 2 place trailer and pickup around in the road at the plowed driveways, bigger 4 place trailers.............maybe dicey. Road up to this point has been getting narrow due to higher snow banks and no room to cast new snow as the landowners use a pickup for their plowing, so wide trailer pullers give down hill traffic some room as you meet.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

Garnet range area

I was out working in the Garnet range area up the Blackfoot on Wed.

45 degrees and sunny @ 6000 ft. If you got off a packed snowmobile trail, down you go through wet sugar to mother earth. Only about 2' of snow at best through out the area.
Had to break a couple of trails with my M8 in that stuff, wow wow hard work. By 2:30 we called it a day, couldn't walk 10 yards in that stuff.


And thats why snowmobiling in the GARNET RANGE really sucks for anything but trail riding in old tracks. Same weather, same warm temps accross the Blackfoot river in the Gold Creek to Seely area, firm snow with great base, 4 to 5' of snow, 45 dgrees and sunny and go any where with some wet corn snow on top.

Garnet range sits in a " rain shadow ", dry sugar snow all the time. Junk to sledders. I have had a cabin in the area for 30 years, I sled in to sit around and read by the fire.............but sledding or biking in sugar, no way, I ride just to get back to the truck.

Gold Creek to Seely 20 miles away, sits in a "snow belt " catch's every storm, a mystery to some folks, localized weather, friend or enemy.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

sat feb 25

road to gravel pit is narrow but almost to the dirt after last weeks rain, 4 place trailer there today, so room to turn around and some dirt for traction.

as you leave the truck at the gravel pit about 1" of new snow, as you start up the MINERAL mtn road you just start picking snow the more you climb. At shoo fly meadow no sled tracks from last week or ever, maybe 16" of fresh fluff on old good base, powder riding but you could just about climb anything.

West fork at the creek was rained on last week with 3" of new last nite, concrete, tooooo much traction. But 200 ft elvation your begin to gather new fluff, WEst Fork cabin area elevation you back into new 15" plus of powder, all good.............go any where.


pictures are ROCK PILE MY RIDING PARTNER DAN AND HIS LOGGING CREW PILED THESE 20 YEARS A GO . WE RIDE BY like an old SHRINE once and awhile. Down this low in the West Fork creek bottom its concrete with 3 inches of fuzz, big time wheelies.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

Sunday...............the next day

6" down low over nite, and 16" or better up high, tracks from the day before barely visable, snowing and flat light all day, the snow we always need, welcome even if its late.

 

[maxeater]

will u be riding gold creek sat might be staying n Potomac riding seeley Friday would like to check it out

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

3 4 2017 sat in the wet

road melting out fast so muddy and water running down the road, some mud to ride when you leave the gravel pit but banks fairly good yet.

lots of new wet cement, tough on arms, we stayed high, never went into the westfork to avoid wetter rained on snow.

upside lots of new snow and sunny for awhile in the afternoon

downside was the heavy wet, so we trimmed some trails, sat in the sun..........beautiful afternoon

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

ooooops

will u be riding gold creek sat might be staying n Potomac riding seeley Friday would like to check it out

missed your post, we rode yesterday afternoon, fair number of rigs at the gravel pit as we passed, were you one of those groups ?

we did hear a couple of sled in the distance in the afternoon, no one road the ridge west of shoo fly in the pm, was better the more your climbed that way...........drier.


no traffic in the area we ride. must be quite a few sleds headed over towards the Boles meadow warming hut ?? or.

lots of trails connecting the riding areas, takes awhile to figure it all out and really no traffic on those trails most days if any. wow it was tough going on the bikes, had to drop our engine covers and stopped on several long climbs to cool the engines..........flat hard work.

 

[maxeater]

ya we rode seeley friday good snow but got warm got to be like riding in cement woke up Saturday to rain been there done that went towards Lincoln got ahead of the rain but the snow was the same so we bailed had a beer and went home to great falls want to go to gold creek when its dry light powder might have to wait till next yr but we'll keep watch for fresh with cold weather

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

wow wow wet cement

thursday 3/09 lots of new wet cement, when it all sets up it will be sum good riding, just bottomless wet in many lower areas.

road really getting narrow from wet snow that can't be cast up over the bank, might have melted out some , today Friday.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

3 19 sunday

dirt to end of plowing, you could ride from the gravel pit on the plowed banks..........many have, couple of places you have to ride 10 yards of dirt. Not much room to park where the snow starts.

rained the latter part of the week everywhere in the area. Snow hard and tough on arms in the morning going up any trail, rock hard climbing most any slope. By mid afternoon some south facing slopes were soft and big trench's.

West fork creeks roaring, only found one snow bridge to cross on the main creek and dicey, not sure I would do it again. So end of year for some cross country riding. North facing slope you could climb vertical.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

April 1

sunny saturday, drove through soft mush snow from end of dirt on main road to the Mineral Mtn turn, end of driving, but ok for single pickup.

great spring snow, hard base , soft surface, go anywhere.

watch for springs in roads and meadows, some deep holes as you ride by. Lots of cornices and steep road banks have tumbled and slid. Quite a few big boulders in some areas exposed, easy to see, but signs the snow mass is shrinking.