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Palisades > Split Mountain > Additions and Corrections
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| ScottyS | Untitled Comment | |
Hasn't voted | Sounds like an adventure, Matthew! Sorry my directions were insufficient. If the "pipe" is indeed covered now, then the Meadows road is likely the way to go in a low-clearance vehicle. However, in the interest of distance, if I was driving a high-clearance machine, I would still go for the "fencline" road. Of course, the biggest question would still be "is the Red Lake trail worth all of this?" Of course not ;-) | |
| Posted Jul 21, 2004 1:28 pm | ||
| Matthew Holliman | Untitled Comment | |
Hasn't voted | Well, I took your directions, the ones from 395.com, and the ones from climber.org, and although all were accurate, I still failed. I was quite impressed that you found the road at night. I made it to the end of the mine road, headed down a couple of wrong options, walked around with my headlamp for a bit looking for the fence, before the absurdity of the situation hit me and I gave up. Although the road is rockier, I think the boulders may be slightly smaller on the fenceline road than the section of McMurray Meadows Road after the pipe, so the shortcut may be preferred for lower clearance vehicles. But I don't think I'd have wanted to take a car with less clearance than my Subaru on either option. And I'd have to agree that it'll be a while (perhaps never) before I slog up that trail again! | |
| Posted Jul 21, 2004 2:07 pm | ||
| kalet | Untitled Comment | |
Hasn't voted | I got to the Red Mountain Lake Trailhead in a 2005 Ford Focus ZX4 SE (ground clearance = 6.2 inches) by taking the Tinemaha route. I don't recommend subjecting low clearance vehicles to this, but high clearance is not required. From trailhead to north end of Fish Springs Road and 395 took 38 minutes. | |
| Posted Jun 20, 2005 10:26 pm | ||
| Matthew Holliman | Untitled Comment | |
Hasn't voted | Some additions/clarifications to the drive to the Red Lake TH: I tried the shortcut at night, using Scotty's directions and the 15', but had no luck finding the road. In my opinion, a 7.5' and/or GPS may be necessary to negotiate this at that time of day--although they're accurate, I found the written directions alone to be insufficient. I eventually gave up, and headed back to Big Pine to take the McMurry Meadows Road (this little diversion cost me an hour). The McMurry Meadows Road is easy to follow, especially with the Forest Service directions (the Bishop ranger station office has a good information sheet on the Red Lake/Birch Lake trailheads). The road may have been improved compared to past trip reports; the infamous pipe is now mostly buried under gravel, and there were no fords required at the stream crossings. The road is nonetheless quite rough for about a mile or so after the pipe, with some large rounded rocks buried in the road, but it was passable by a Subaru Forester (7.5" ground clearance). This is the worst section of the road. I was able to find the infamous shortcut on my way back in daylight, using the reverse directions from climber.org. This shortcut was also negotiable by my Subaru. Below are GPS waypoints I took on the return for the shortcut: TOPO! GPS Data Format Deg NAD83 ElevFeet UTC-Time MINE,37.05293,-118.29803,4981,07/20/2004,04:09:19,MINE (END OF PAVED ROAD) SHRTCT,37.05788,-118.31368,5407,07/20/2004,04:08:09,SANDY TRACK TO SHORTCUT MCMURR,37.05698,-118.32660,5604,07/20/2004,04:05:51,MCMURRAY MEADOWS ROAD RDJNCT,37.04848,-118.32642,5573,07/20/2004,04:05:06,ROAD JUNCTION TH,37.03530,-118.35888,6613,07/20/2004,04:03:21,RED LAKE TRAILHEAD To reach the mine, follow the paved road (Fuller Road) out of Tinemaha campground. At the mine, the pavement ends and the road turns to a good graded dirt road, which winds its way west around the base of a hill. The road peters out amidst piles of gravel, but a sandy track (see map below) leads shortly to a very rocky "road"--this rocky track might also be followed directly from the mine road. The rocky "road" runs alongside a fence, but the fence isn't too useful as a landmark for finding the track (especially at night), as it doesn't start until a little way along the track. By the way, the drive to the trailhead from Big Pine took 60 minutes at night (stuck behind a slow car for the last few miles), while the drive back to Big Pine in daylight via the shortcut took 45 minutes. Both drives were more exciting than the climbs. I would probably just take McMurry Meadows Road again if I were heading to the trailhead at night. | |
| Posted Jul 21, 2004 9:59 am | ||
| ScottyS | Untitled Comment | |
Hasn't voted | Sounds like an adventure, Matthew! Sorry my directions were insufficient. If the "pipe" is indeed covered now, then the Meadows road is likely the way to go in a low-clearance vehicle. However, in the interest of distance, if I was driving a high-clearance machine, I would still go for the "fencline" road. Of course, the biggest question would still be "is the Red Lake trail worth all of this?" Of course not ;-) | |
| Posted Jul 21, 2004 1:28 pm | ||
| Matthew Holliman | Untitled Comment | |
Hasn't voted | Well, I took your directions, the ones from 395.com, and the ones from climber.org, and although all were accurate, I still failed. I was quite impressed that you found the road at night. I made it to the end of the mine road, headed down a couple of wrong options, walked around with my headlamp for a bit looking for the fence, before the absurdity of the situation hit me and I gave up. Although the road is rockier, I think the boulders may be slightly smaller on the fenceline road than the section of McMurray Meadows Road after the pipe, so the shortcut may be preferred for lower clearance vehicles. But I don't think I'd have wanted to take a car with less clearance than my Subaru on either option. And I'd have to agree that it'll be a while (perhaps never) before I slog up that trail again! | |
| Posted Jul 21, 2004 2:07 pm | ||
| kalet | Untitled Comment | |
Hasn't voted | I got to the Red Mountain Lake Trailhead in a 2005 Ford Focus ZX4 SE (ground clearance = 6.2 inches) by taking the Tinemaha route. I don't recommend subjecting low clearance vehicles to this, but high clearance is not required. From trailhead to north end of Fish Springs Road and 395 took 38 minutes. | |
| Posted Jun 20, 2005 10:26 pm | ||
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