I organized a DS trip a few years back and heard guys were still sledding up on Grey Creek Pass, I called the Grey Creek store and they said it was unpassable for at least another month. I found it hard to believe so tried the pass the weekend before our trip to make sure it was do-able. This was me end of June 09... Didn't make it through on the road, but the powerline trail was ok as it doesn't reach high elevations. A week later it was all gone and we had a great ride.
Understandable. I think we'll be attempting it either this weekend or next. Depends what plans come out of it. I'd like to do it this weekend but not sure if I could swing it. With a week or two some other passes we plan on taking will be open by then too. For the above pictures, how do those guys on the XRR's like the dirtbagz set-up? I have a GL Coyote, but thinking of buying that set-up for additional gear for longer trips.
Temps here are getting up towards 30 for the next few days. Huge rains raised the lake about three inches. Dams open up and lake is slooowly dropping (too slow, a month behind). Everything out here is a month behind this year.
Great to see such a good reply to this thread, now the question is who will be the first to make it over this year? Almost worth it to trailer my SE out and give it a go
My DRZ will be right there with you. A much better bike for that kind of thing than the Strom. Poor old bike.
Weather didn't look too bad so I set out to catch the 09:50 ferry. Made it with moments to spare. Got talking with another rider, turned out to be RiderJones. This pic shows the destination but was taken on the return.
Once I left the blacktop most of the ride was in rain. Sign says closed but someone probably just neglected to take it down, right?
Up at about 1230 meters (just above the west end of the old powerline road) someone put this stuff. Let's see what it means.
Onward and upward with lots of rain. The barricade is due to a few sections of the road starting to slough down in to the creek. Lots of room for a little bike. A car or pickup not so much. Then just below the Oliver Lake rec site, snow. Yup, road closed.
I think the first part of the east side heading down is even more snow covered since it's more closed in. I haven't been on that road enough to recognize how close nighman got to the summit heading west. Caught the 12:20 ferry back, just (again). Another deluge of rain quite shortly after I got home, glad I decided to just keep moving rather than stopping for a coffee along the way.
nice pics I thought I was going to be joking to say maybe I'll be the first one thru when I'm out that way at the end of August...
I was hoping to go through there in the middle of July. I'll have my camera along and record the findings.
I have a big motorcycle trip planned for the end of July. After the trip is done I will be heading back through Marysville and I plan on taking the Gray Creek to come home. Hopefully it is cleared up before then... :)
Forecast is for hot for the next while. So lets hope the snow melts without washing out the road in the process. Here's what happened up Giveout FSR.
Looks like I made the right call when turning around. It would have sucked spending time digging a path through the slide just to come to worse stuff. My next attempt will be on my DRZ I think.
We were out there this weekend too. We made it past all that, and about a KM further before it just got too deep and had feers the backside would only get worse. The snow isn't an issue going level, but only if going uphill. It was about 3-4' deep where we turned around. We then took the alternative powerline route only to come to a washed out bridge and too deep of stream to cross. We were told about the washed out bridge but unless you see it you don't believe it. I have pictures and will try to post tonight. We ended up turning around and headed down to Lost Creek. At 5,900 ft we also ran into snow on the two paths crossing over the range. We pushed on a few KM as far as we could but ended up pushing bikes back out. It'll need a few good weeks of warm weather before the stuff we seen will be melted enough to get through. As with you, I had hopes of being the first =) We cut some lines for other people to push further, but if you try pack a shovel! It's going to be a long, hard day. We did about 650km's of wicked back country dirt roads though. It was a great weekend for dual sporting and getting out there. If anybody saw two XRR's thumping through S.E B.C that was us.
... and I grew up in Marysville. But after 50+ years, maybe my memory is faulty... Either way, this is a very late opening. You won't be going over for the next few days at least (July 12 today). Or at least, not from the Redding Creek side: It is apparently open to the summit from the west, so perhaps if you're determined and like to sweat, you can plow down from the summit coming from that direction. Otherwise, we need a few more days of sunny weather, or some impatient quadders or guys in trucks to punch through the remaining snow. Lots of wildflowers and the mosquitos through the whole St Maries valley were incredibly obnoxious. I did a side trip up towards Baker Lake; getting a little too gnarly towards the end for an older guy riding by himself. The other route back there is fast becoming an alder jungle. When you lose your balance bushwhacking and bail off, and the bike doesn't even make it to the ground, the alders are trying to tell you something. That was one of the better bits... the denser stuff would have simply been a blurry green picture. The Hall Mountain ride that you pass between Marysville and Redding Creek looks like it's not quite ready for prime time either: But still, there's lots of enjoyable riding on the long approach from the east side, even if you don't make it over the summit:
