Tampico 2014-2015 #2

[KrazyKen]

On Friday morning the berm was still up on Middle Fork at the park. Half dozen rigs in the lot and it looked bare as can be. So we drove up North Fork to Grey Rock. Was good snow there in the morning but probably should have gone up to Snow Cabin since we hit a good patch of gravel shortly after leaving. Was surprisingly good on the road after Snow Cabin until we hit the lower portion of the large exposed meadow (sorry I can't remember the name of this area) but once we could cross over to the south side tree line we hugged the shadows in good snow. Great from there up. We found good riding with surprisingly good snow in the trees. We were still able to make some fresh tracks but boy was it getting warm. On our way back it was melting fast down low. I wouldn't do that route today.
I was told the berm was supposed to go down last night. I never got he chance to talk to anyone about middle fork conditions. We hid in the trees 90% of the day and only heard other sleds a couple times. If we could drive to at least Whites ridge I bet it would be good.
Going to be real warm this weekend so I'm golfing today!

 

[Gabethesvg420]

well it wasnt the best , but i did ride Thursday Friday Saturday. Praying for some more snow ! The road wasnt that bad going up early, but when i came down yesterday it was pretty bad. hit tons of untouched snow, few fields that were thigh deep way back in there.

 

[summ8rmk]

Nice to see that there is finally enough snow to drop in to blueslides.
What's the deal with the XM? I know they are tippy but that looks like it was tipsy.

 

[Gabethesvg420]

HAHA, yea one of my pals just got it. It was his 3rd time up yesterday. that was a good spill lol , he actually broke the shock and bent the lower a arm on that one . wierd thing is there wasnt anything around to hit since the snow was deep so who knows. we were able to zip ty the shock back in place to make it out lol . overall we rode about 150 miles in 3 days it was fun, paying for it today though .

 

[summ8rmk]

Nice fix, zip ties and hose clamps, never ride without'em!

 

[stripe]

went up today you can drive all the way up to eagles nest good snow from there up, raining like crazy when we left not worth the drive

 

[summ8rmk]

Today, monday looks like there is 3-4in of new. Thats not a lot but enough to cool the sled.

 

[OpieBennett]

I've never been to this area before, but am thinking of making the drive over there to check it out Friday. My sister is flying into town, and I'd like to get her on a sled for her first time - so provided its not 40deg and raining at the Green Lake snotel, we'd be sticking to the groomers anyhow.

Looking at the Anthanum snow parks / A2000 road based on some of the comments in this thread regarding driving to eagles nest.

I've read, in the past, there are some locations where turning a trailer around is difficult, and if you miss the last one, you're screwed - anyone have any advice for that? I've got a 16' open top 2 axle car hauler currently.

Thanks.

-OpieBennett

 

[summ8rmk]

I wouldn't tow that past treephones!
After treephones its hard to turn a crew cab long bed around without a trailer, plus the road climbs at 10° for a while.
Treephones is ~4,500ft and eaglesnest is ~6,000 ft.

 

[OpieBennett]

I wouldn't tow that past treephones!
After treephones its hard to turn a crew cab long bed around without a trailer, plus the road climbs at 10° for a while.
Treephones is ~4,500ft and eaglesnest is ~6,000 ft.

Thanks for the advice. How far up from there is it until there is snow?
I'd hate to overheat a sled just to get a trip in.

 

[summ8rmk]

Its a few miles from tree phones to eagles nest

 

[summ8rmk]

The road From tree phones to eagles nest is mostly an open hillside, that is why it's difficult to turn around. As soon as u get to the trees at eagles nest u could have 2+ feet of snow on the road and only one spot to turn a trailer around, the road the t's off to the restroom.

 

[94fordguy]

It's always risky once you start up the sidehill whether or not you will have enough room to turn around... you can go from dry gravel to 3ft+ of snow in 10 ft once you hit the treeline and turning around a truck by itself is a 10 point turn.

Here's a pic from 3 years ago... this shows you the area you have to work with coming up the sidehill when you can't get to the restroom turn out another 100ft up the road...

 

[summ8rmk]

I recognize that sled deck on mikes truck. Wish i could have made it on that trip. That is when u went swimming isn't it?

 

[cascadesnowjunky]

The only thing I have to say is anyone who tries to take any trailer past treephones this time of year deserves everything they have coming. Good luck to anybody who wants to try though, I personally would rather not.

 

[OpieBennett]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'll plan on dumping the trailer at tree phones campground and shuttling the 2 sleds in the back of the truck (one at a time) from there. If the snow is close enough after I drop the first one, I'll just ride the 2nd one.

 

[summ8rmk]

I remember in 04/05 snow year there was a dodge ram and a 4 place open trailer in the bottom of the ravine a few hundred feet before eagles nest. They stopped on ice, sorry they tried to stop on the ice and slid backward till the trailer went over pulling the truck down with it.
It happened just before i got there.
No one was hurt and they rode the sleds up the ravine and were able to use two of the sleds to ride and save part of the day.

 

[94fordguy]

I recognize that sled deck on mikes truck. Wish i could have made it on that trip. That is when u went swimming isn't it?

Could have been...

 

[94fordguy]

Went up yesterday, only 2 other sledders on the hill besides us. We hit the snow line and had to stop about mid-way up the sidehill below Eagles Nest and do a 15 point turn after backing 1/4 mile back down the road to the nearest place even resembling a wide (lol) spot. There's about a foot of snow on the road still from that spot.... exactly 1 mile below Eagles Nest. We actually found some decent snow in some of the higher spots, about 3-4 ft total snowpack with about 3 inches fresh overnight... typical May riding and driving conditions. I would estimate the snow line will be melted to Eagles nest in probably about 2 weeks, possibly 3 if it stays cold.

Took up a new guy for his first ride ever and he had a good time... even did a climb out of the little bowl and was super excited afterwards, lol. We managed to make it to Blue Slide cabin but we had to ride a lot of rocks and gravel to get there, I don't see it being accessible by sled for more than a few more days.

 

[summ8rmk]

I think it snowed all the way down to the ranger station.