Red Cone 3/31/12

After some conversations with the forest service, Patrol 14 decided to make our way up to Red Cone and close the seasonal gate until the trail can be officially opened. Many of you know that the gate stays open for snowmobiles in the winter, and with the lack of snow this year, it was time to make sure the gate was closed to keep traffic off the trail. Harold and myself decided to make a run up the trail and see how far we could make it. It turned out to be a great day for wheeling! The temps had to be in the upper 60's all day. 

We jumped off the highway and headed down a very dry county road to the trail head. When we arrived, we were greated by a natural winter gate keeper.

After some time with the chainsaw, and plenty of winching, we got the tree moved out of the way enough to get by. However, this is not the last tree we would be moving this day. In the first quarter mile, we cleared 6 trees off the trail.

Here is a good shot of 3 trees right in a row we cleared.

Although there were small patches of snow, the trail was pretty dry. 

We made it to the first creek crossing where we met another downed tree, and some fairly deep snow.

Once we were past the creek crossing, the snow got deeper and a lot thicker. We were able to keep pressing through, but at a snails pace. We finally called it quits 2.1 miles in.



With the way things looked, Patrol 14 hopes to have the trail open by the end of May.