Reaching Beef Basin

[anton_solovyev]

Hi,

I am looking for information on reaching Beef Basin (northern part). Some sources indicate that Forest Road #093 AKA County Road 104 is the problematic part. Any information on roads in area in general would be helpful as well.

I have a newer Subaru Forester (which can take some abuse, but I would rather not kill it). Need to make a water cache for a backpack. Thanks in advance!

[Byron]

I presume you've been looking at some maps...the road you'll take, Cottonwood Creek Canyon, is really good up to and past the trailhead for Salt Creek. There have been some washouts about halfway up where the road skirts the side of a muddy mountain, but hopefully they're keeping up on that. I've never had a problem with it, but that part of the road has been a problem in the past.

Past the Salt Creek trailhead, keep going up, up, up...the road should be fine until you get to an intersection...you make a right there and eventually come to a sign that says "Beef Basin" or something like that, and you make another right.

Now, the road up high can be pretty rough...mostly big holes filled with water. It's risky to go up there before they run the graders over them, especially with a car. I have a big pickup and it has been (early spring) like mud boggin'.

It depends on when you go up there...if it's after May first then you'll probably be fine. If before, you may want to call the BLM office in Monticello and inquire. Otherwise, go up there and cross your fingers.

So I'm curious...what's the backpack plan? Beef Basin east back to the park or west to Fable, Gypsum and/or Bowdie?

[anton_solovyev]

We will be there starting on April 6, sounds like there's still potential for roads being out of shape. We are hiking the Hayduke trail ( http://www.hayduketrail.org/ ). We will be going from Big Spring trailhead to Hite and then to Poison Spring (up Flint Trail). The route goes cross country in places, on trails, canyon bottoms and dirt roads. I was studying maps last night and a few places we'll be crossing are Fable, Young, Dark Canyon and so on.

I am not convinced the route is optimal with respect to visiting the most scenic areas (I'd visit Comb Ridge, Grand Gulch, Natural Bridges and White Canyon), but it is what it is.

We may have have some water issues near Beef Basin, and then it seems pretty good. Hence the idea to cache some water there.

[phatch]

Last time I was in there about 2 years ago, there were some sand drifts across the road in 2 or 3 places. Those can come and go of course. There's a steepish hill descent/climb that is usually the roughest on the way down to/out of the basin. The drifts were a bit North of that. I found the sand drifts more trouble than the hill.

The ruts from trucks driving the road after storms can be rough too but manageable in a Forester I think. You might have some rocks to move to bridge gaps or dodge but I think you can probably do it.

[middlefork]

Acording to the Camp Jackson Snotel site there is still 30" inches of snow at 8900 Ft. your are somewhere around 8200 ft. before you start decending into Beef Basin. And as the road begins to climb past the Salt Creek trailhead it gets on a lot of N and NW exposure. My guess is the road is closed becuase of snowpack.

There is an old road that takes off before you start to climb that drops into the canyon and will get you into Beef Basin at a lot lower elevation. However you would need a bike or something to cover the distance as it is currently more a hiking trail than road especially where it crosses the bottom of the canyon.. I hear the locals go in this way in early spring.

[Byron]

Acording to the Camp Jackson Snotel site there is still 30" inches of snow at 8900 Ft. your are somewhere around 8200 ft. before you start decending into Beef Basin. And as the road begins to climb past the Salt Creek trailhead it gets on a lot of N and NW exposure. My guess is the road is closed becuase of snowpack.

There is an old road that takes off before you start to climb that drops into the canyon and will get you into Beef Basin at a lot lower elevation. However you would need a bike or something to cover the distance as it is currently more a hiking trail than road especially where it crosses the bottom of the canyon.. I hear the locals go in this way in early spring.

Great post...when he came back and said they'll be heading out there within a couple weeks, I figured snow might stop 'em...call the BLM in Monticello. I've heard of that trail as well, but never bothered with it...that might be an option. I suppose it would be an all day mt. bike ride to get some water in there? Now I'm interested in this...

[middlefork]

According to Google Earth it is about 5 miles to the intersection with the Beef Basin road with 700' elevation loss and 500' gain on the west side. There is a mandatory walk (for me ) of about 500 yards when you cross the bottom of the canyon. The locals say they winch (four wheelers) up the west side of the ravine. Other than that it would be a pleasant ride! A MTN bike would be pretty easy easy to pack up the west side.

[Scott P]

We will be there starting on April 6, sounds like there's still potential for roads being out of shape.

As said, early April is usually way too early to drive to Beef Basin, especially in a Subaru.

I am not convinced the route is optimal with respect to visiting the most scenic areas (I'd visit Comb Ridge, Grand Gulch, Natural Bridges and White Canyon), but it is what it is.

The part crossing Gypsum Canyon would be interesting (though it would be a shame to cross Gypsum Canyon without exploring it). You would also see the best part of Dark Canyon. Between there and Hite won't be so interesting.

[anton_solovyev]

Ok, thanks to everybody. Sounds like we might want to skip the water cache. Or, check out the road and see if it goes.

[dburt]

How was it? Anyone else been up there yet this year? We are planning on going up that way this weekend. We are headed toward hammond canyon, and thought it would be fun to drive back to moab thru beef basin>Hwy 211. If its impassable we can go back around thru Blanding, I guess. Anyone been to the hammond canyon area this year?

[anton_solovyev]

We did not drive to Beef Basin. The forecast for our first two days was rain and snow and water would not be an issue (it wasn't). So, no data from us. We did successfully hike from Big Spring in Needles to Poison Spring near Hanksville in 5 days. It was great.

[Byron]

Nice!!!!! By all means, please post up a trip report with pictures...also, describe your route! Lucky for you with all the water, eh?

[dburt]

Glad it it was great! I guess we are gonna try to go over from the south (hwy 95) and see how far we can get this weekend, if we can't make it we'll turn around.

[Byron]

You'll be turning around!!! I was just out there and those mountains got BLASTED!

[dburt]

Well, we never made it to the north side, i broke one of my air suspension bags near hammond canyon, so we just camped there for a fwe days and decided we would take the way we new was easy so we didnt break anything else. It was real nice though, quiet, good weather and the roads up to the hammond canyon trailhead were dry....next year! haha