The DeTour Trip Report - As Told by Blackdawg

[Blackdawg]

After descending the mountain, we jumped on to highway 120 north to Bridger MT. A fairly uneventful drive through some of the wyoming desert and montana farm land. The sun was back out in full force and you would have no idea we had spent the morning in fresh snow.


In Bridger we stopped and got fuel. Few of us topped off the washer fluid as well. We were all itching for lunch pretty bad by now and a quick glance at the GPS map suggested a city park should be just down the road. So we headed there and found a nice shaded table and made our sandwiches and various other edibles.


DeTour-84.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


I also took this time to call on the phone two other memebers that would be joining us in the next few days. Glenn @Glenn_R and Mark @IDtrucks were both planning on meeting us here. In Bridger...in two days.


Obviously, that wasn’t happening


So called them both and told them we would likely meet them in Lovell or at our camp just outside Lovell. Glenn was a HAM operator and wasn’t worried at all. Mark was coming from jackson and the snow storm was hitting there as well so wasn’t sure how it would work out but was game to make it happen anyways!

With our plans once again seemingly properly adjusted to the changing weather, we wrapped up lunch and headed out to our 3rd mountain range already. The Pryor Mountains.


Soon as we hit dirt we stopped to air down, basking in the glory of the sun.


DeTour-85.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-88.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-89.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


The Pryors didn’t look super inviting, looked like they were getting a little weather in fact. But no snow was visible..


DeTour-86.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Was much more inviting then where we had just come from!


DeTour-87.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Determined that one of the routes I’d planned would go smoothly we set off down the dusty county roads to the forest line.


DeTour-90.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-91.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Soon we bailed off the main road on onto some service road and then bailed off onto the first forest service roads and immediately started climbing.


DeTour-92.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-93.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The Pryors are interesting low key mountains. Nothing is super cool looking from afar, but there are numerous large canyons around the provide some great views.


DeTour-94.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Plus they go up and up! Which is always fun.


DeTour-95.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-96.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-97.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-98.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


From up high things just look cool. Power of irrigation showing here.


DeTour-99.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_3442 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3443 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3444 by mike digirat, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Still had higher to go and then actually head back down to our campsite at the base of the mountain. I was hoping no one would be there it being hunting season and all and close to rifle season. Would have to wait and see though and continued up the mountain!

2017-09-20 - 00041 - The De-Tour - Day 04 by Dan, on Flickr

DeTour-100.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-101.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-102.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-103.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


We topped out on this trail and continued along for a while before turning south down hill.


DeTour-104.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Not before stopping at a spot I knew from scouting the summer before to check out. One of the canyons we were driving along and it was a nice scenic simple stop.


2017-09-20 - 00043 - The De-Tour - Day 04 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_3445 by mike digirat, on Flickr

DeTour-105.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


We had to get our photos in.


2017-09-20 - 00045 - The De-Tour - Day 04 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_3447 by mike digirat, on Flickr

2017-09-20 - 00046 - The De-Tour - Day 04 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_0086 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

2017-09-20 - 00047 - The De-Tour - Day 04 by Dan, on Flickr



I pointed out a lot of the area Devin and I had been exploring all year as she was still new to the area and you can see just about everything from where we were


2017-09-20 - 00049 - The De-Tour - Day 04 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-20 - 00048 - The De-Tour - Day 04 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_0088 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0090 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0092 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Dogs always enjoy a pitstop.


IMG_0094 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0096 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr


But camp was calling and amazingly we were on schedule to get there before dark. A huge plus for Mike especially. So down we went.


DeTour-106.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-107.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


The dirt turned red near the bottom giving a lot of us Moab vibes.

DeTour-108.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-109.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-110.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Soon we were at the base of the mountain again running along the bottom to get to the campsite I knew of. Enjoying the bumpy hilly section to stretch out the trucks legs.


DeTour-111.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-112.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Unless your in the “old guy” group. Then you put put a long :luvya:


DeTour-113.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


We hit another flat wide open section and really opened up the taps. Then turned back into the mountain for a short while. Besides almost launching Frankenstein off a hidden oversized whoop which brought hilarious reactions over the radio from onlookers.. The last part of the day had been uneventful in the best way. And to top it off, our campsite was totally open. Which was shaded and hopefully be mostly wind free.


DeTour-114.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


We all picked a spot and opened the tents and took in the cool spot


IMG_3449 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3451 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3453 by mike digirat, on Flickr

2017-09-20 - 00052 - The De-Tour - Day 04 by Dan, on Flickr

DeTour-115.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-116.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-117.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-118.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr



Soon we were all in our chairs enjoying the snow free site, though still quite chilly.


2017-09-20 - 00054 - The De-Tour - Day 04 by Dan, on Flickr


“Well, looks like everything is gonna be fine!” I said with an excited grin.


We laughed into night around the fire excited for the next day with hopes of sun and clear skies tomorrow. The Ice cave was on the agenda for tomorrow as well as wild horses and two mountain top peaks.


The weather just had to hold out…

To Be Continued….


Chapter 4: Rain, Mud, Snow. Where the hell’s the road?

Enjoying the De-Tour story?
There's more - @turbodb also wrote up a version. Check out his version of this chapter here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-turbodb-september-2017.562116/#post-18416698

or, check out the full story with these links:

As told by @turbodb: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3]
As told by @Blackdawg: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3]​

 

[nwoods]

Yes! Subscribed, and eager for more

 

[Blackdawg]

Chapter 4: Rain, Mud, Snow. Where the Hell’s the Road?​

There was no hiding though. The rain found us in the night. Several of us jumped out of our warm tents to throw gear under the the truck and close up boxes. Much to our dismay.


When morning came, it was still raining. A nice constant drizzle. For the second time we packed up the tents wet and prepared for the long day ahead of lots of dirt miles.


2017-09-21 - 00001 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr


Not without breakfast, the classic toyota burrito for Mike!


2017-09-21 - 00002 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr


Having been raining for at least 6 hours by now or so, the ground was saturated and the mud was very very bad. Our plan today was to top out on the Big Pryor mountain, cut down and over to an Ice cave and then over that mountain to the Wild horse refuge and then to camp. A tall order in good conditions..


Hopefully would make and we set off prepared for a muddy day.


DeTour.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Didn’t take long to gain a lot of elevation and we stopped right as it started to get sloppy to capture some cool clouds.


DeTour-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00006 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

DeTour-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_0100 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr


The mud was getting pretty thick though. I started to think ahead of where we were going and thinking of places that could be problematic on the steep climb up..


IMG_0100 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0105 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0107 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

DeTour-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00008 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr


We continued on up the mountain and started dropping into an area I was slightly worried about but wanted to find out anyways. The hill down to the trees alone was very sloppy. Too much brakes and you’d be a goner down the hill.


DeTour-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


We all made it down the steep hill though and into the trees.


DeTour-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

In the trees the ground was very soft is spots and the road was narrow with a steep drop off to our left. All seemed fine though until I got to a cattle guard.


DeTour-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


It was extraordinarily sloppy plus off camber jussssstttt enough.


“I’m not doing that” said Devin, and jumped out of Frankenstein. Regretfully I didn’t have her grab the camera for this.


I very very slowly creeped along the road watching the ground under my driver side tires squish down and looking like it wanted to give out. The whole truck didn’t want to turn up hill and to the right, which is where the road went. It felt like it was going to just slide off the road any second. It was a very tense probably 20 seconds for me. Be I made it around.


“Well, that was one of the most intense things I’ve ever done” I said over the CB. “Whos next!”


Zane was and it didn’t go well.


Zane started into the cattle guard and either due to the fact Id already gone through or his tires or line placement or any combination of the above, he immediately started to slide towards the edge.


2017-09-21 - 00009 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr


It was painfully obvious that no one was going to get through this spot again. And for that matter. Dan and Mike both voice they did not want to even try and Ben was having serious reservations himself.


With that decision made we decided it best to turn around and go back the way we came. I knew if we did that we could run along the mountain base to get to the road that would take us to the ice cave anyways. We’d only lose out on running over the mountain.


But we still had problems.

1. I wasn’t going to turn around and drive back through that ********
   
   
2. Zane was still in peril chilling in his truck waiting for us to actually do something
   
   
3. How the hell are we supposed to turn around on a 1 lane muddy road.

Obviously this wasn’t the end of the world and the first one we decided to figure out was turning around.


Mike was tail gunning and started backing up with a few of us following on foot to make sure he didn’t slip off on accident.


DeTour-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Sure enough about 100 yards down the road there was a spot with plenty of room for him to turn around in.


DeTour-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00014 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr



Oh did I mention it had started snowing? Hard?


Yeah.


With an exit possible we now returned to Zane who still was just sitting in his truck foot hard on the brake waiting for us to help.


We decided to winch him, but obviously couldn’t just pull him backwards with the hill being off camber. Ben was setup next in line behind him and started spooling out cable. Dan got a snatch block setup off a tree and I explained to Zane what we were doing.


DeTour-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


With everything setup, I attached the line to the front of Zane’s sliders and we pulled the front of the truck back up the hill.


DeTour-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Zane would then slowly try and back up until the ass end or front end would start back down the hill. Then Id move the winch line to the rear of the slider or front to keep the truck from going off the edge.


DeTour-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Using this system, Ben and I were able to keep Zane from slipping down the hill. Dan moved the snatch block a few time to better our pull angle and soon, Zane was back on more solid ground safely.


2017-09-21 - 00011 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

DeTour-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Happy to have the done with we were all grateful we wouldn’t be doing that 3 more times to get everyone through that spot.


Always enjoy the moments though. Like Ben pulling me down the mountain haha


DeTour-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00013 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr


Now it was time for the back up party to get everyone turned back around.


DeTour-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Dan went first with us all keeping an eye on his line to keep him away from the soft edge.


DeTour-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


“Come wheel with us they said! It’ll be fun they said!” I joked at Dan the newbie to our group and relatively new to longer trips.


Doing great so far though and rolling with the punches on his little tires.


Ben was next and quickly executed the turn around.


DeTour-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


And last was Zane who also after a redirect was turned around with no issues.


DeTour-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


With everyone turned around. It was now time to split up. I was going to try and cross over the whole mountain solo and meet them on the road into the Ice Cave.


Dan and Mike both did not love this option. But there wasn’t really any choice. I wasn’t about to backup through that mud hole and there was nowhere to turn around. We parted ways and wished each other luck and safe travels.


I slogged my way back to the Frankenstein while the others took off.


It wasn’t all easy for them either, they had to make it back up the steep hill they had come down. The CB chatter was up as I climbed out of the trees I could just see them climbing up the hill.


DeTour-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


They all made it though and went on down the mountain with no issues.


2017-09-21 - 00016 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr


My road though was just as sloppy as it was and not getting better. Parts of the road had huge washouts as well.


I found the whole event rather excited and care free. Devin...did not. She did not want me stopping at all for photos and was very worried we would get stuff with no one to help us. Frankenstein came through though and with really only one scare I made it to the top at the cabin where Devin and I had camped the summer before


DeTour-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


The moisture was coming down hard and I couldn’t even see the top of the mountain.


DeTour-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


A bit worried about my route choice, I realized that I could cut across the mountain and go down the way we had gone down the day before. I knew this spot was lower and the snow wouldn’t be falling. Plus I could move a very good pace.


Devin liked this idea, I liked this idea, I radioed Dan, Mike, and Ben via HAM and they all liked it. I would meet them at the base of the mountain at the turn off where we had camped.


This was likely a very smart choice. It had been exceptionally muddy. So much so I had wondered if Ben and zane would have made it up the climb I just had with their all terrains..


DeTour-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Likely won’t ever no but wasn’t worth the risk right now either. With little time to travel about twice as far, I put the pedal down enjoying the cushiony tires and long travel.

 

[Blackdawg]

A while late and we were all reunited back at the base of the mountain making lunch.


2017-09-21 - 00018 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_3456 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3457 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3458 by mike digirat, on Flickr


The evidence from my muddy excursion quite prominent.


IMG_3459 by mike digirat, on Flickr


The wind was bad and rain was cold. Truck covered in mud Devin was not having it and I made us lunch.


IMG_3462 by mike digirat, on Flickr


“God damn man we could hear you way before we could see you” laughed Ben.


We had a good laugh at the whole situation glad it had still worked out and trying to remain positive even though Mother Nature was grinding us down.


None of us stayed out of the trucks for too long though and soon we were on the road to get to the Ice Cave. A few miles down we broke up over the hill to get to see down into the valley to the south.


DeTour-37.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


“Thats the Big Horns, where we are headed tomorrow” I told everyone. It was a beautiful dramatic scene.


IMG_3464 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_0111 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

DeTour-38.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00019 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_0113 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr


The road was still very muddy though. But hey! At least it was a different color!


DeTour-39.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_0116 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00020 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Even the guys with the narrow wheels with fenders were starting to get covered in it.


IMG_0118 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0120 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_3467 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3471 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3472 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3473 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3474 by mike digirat, on Flickr



The dogs I don’t think cared as much as we did..


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IMG_3470 by mike digirat, on Flickr

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The rain had stopped though so all was getting better! The clouds were making for some wonderful scenes.


IMG_3468 by mike digirat, on Flickr

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Plus the road was mostly smooth which made for some fast traveling, which is among our favorite things to do. Who doesn’t like going fast!


DeTour-40.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-41.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-42.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00024 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr


Things were looking up. Even though we were headed back into..well this


DeTour-43.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


At least the Big horns looked sunny! Which was promising.


DeTour-44.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Still we continued on towards the canyon, the wonderful colors of the badlands sparkling from the rain.


IMG_0121 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_3476 by mike digirat, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00025 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr


Wasn’t long though before we were back in the forest and regrouped after stretching out on the BLM road. Plus I wanted to check the sign to see if anything had been closed yet.


DeTour-46.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_0122 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0127 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0134 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0135 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_3479 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3481 by mike digirat, on Flickr


I couldn’t help but notice snow on top of the mountain..where we were planning on going..


DeTour-45.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


We all kind of did a once over here and clean mud off of certain places...where we dared to touch.


IMG_3483 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_0136 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0125 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0139 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0141 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0142 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

With everything in order we looked to the canyon, a wonderful photogenic stop on the way to our destination.


IMG_0145 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_3484 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3487 by mike digirat, on Flickr

DeTour-47.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr



Soon we were stopping to take in the great pillars of castle like rock.


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DeTour-49.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-50.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

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IMG_0149 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0150 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0152 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

​

 

[Blackdawg]

Its moments like this that keep us coming back to doing this over and over again.


2017-09-21 - 00027 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00030 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr


That and all the truck porn


IMG_0162 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00028 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

DeTour-48.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-51.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-52.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_3496 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_0155 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

DeTour-56.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Snow was very evident that it would be in our future. But we all kind of suppressed this thought and prepared to move forward.


IMG_0159 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

DeTour-53.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_3498 by mike digirat, on Flickr

DeTour-54.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_3501 by mike digirat, on Flickr

DeTour-55.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Before long though after a very annoyingly rough patch of road. The pull out for the Ice Cave surfaced and we all piled out of the trucks happy to be stretching our legs. Even though it was a very short walk.


IMG_3506 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3508 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_3510 by mike digirat, on Flickr

DeTour-57.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-58.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


This is a cave that due to how it is placed in the mountain and weather patterns has ice in it year round. Which today was no surprise but coming her when its 80º out and suddenly its 30 is pretty “cool” after just walking down some stairs.

IMG_0167 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

DeTour-62.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00031 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

DeTour-59.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-60.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Its quite dark in there, it is a cave after all, but not a big one. With a flash light and photography you can see the build up of ice.


DeTour-61.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_0171 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr


There also happens to be a log book you can sign. Chris Pratt’s name was in there just a week before with Kirsten found extremely exciting! Most of us were pretty skeptical it was actually him though..


Still it was cold out and we made our way back to the trucks. Some deciding to use the restroom there.


While we were there it was time to decide what to do next.


IMG_0176 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr


We could either turn around and get off the mountain now the way we had come. Or we could head up to the top and down the side into the wild horse refuge. The weather appeared to be holding out and just about everyone wanted to see the wild horses. Decision made we headed up the mountain.


Didn’t make it very far till we were in snow. And a lot of it. At one point I go bogged down breaking trail not really aware of how deep the snow was not really able to see out the side mud covered windows.


“Well, looks like this is it guys” I said sadly over the CB.


Ben volunteered immediately to break trail instead if I was having issues in a tone that was quite funny, jeering the “big truck” of the group for getting stuck.


This made me open my door to actually look at the snow level and I laughed. It was maybe a foot. I then realized...I was in 2wd.


:facepalm:


So that resolved we continued on. Right up to where...well..


DeTour-64.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_0185 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

There...was a road there. At one time.


It was amazing. The flat light with the thick clouds and snow made it seem like we were floating in nothing.


IMG_0180 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

DeTour-63.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00033 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

IMG_3513b by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_0188 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0191 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr


While this seemed like a good point to turn around. I didn’t want too. Thankfully I had run the trail before this summer and knew that there were no steep drop offs for us to suddenly slip off of. The mountain was bald too till the tree line further down which I figured if we could make it there we would be good.


So, I set off with my GPS zoomed in all the way following my premade track and feeling out the suspension for when it hit the ditch of the road. Everyone else followed accordingly and after about 10-15 minutes we were out of the worst of it and made it to the trees.


2017-09-21 - 00034 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00035 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

DeTour-65.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


Soon after that we were making our way back down the mountain to the large area that the horses usually are. However, it being covered in snow and cold, none were seen. We stopped at Pen’s Cabin to check it out and look out down far below.


DeTour-69.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_3516 by mike digirat, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00036 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by

Dan, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00037 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

DeTour-67.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_0196 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_3521 by mike digirat, on Flickr

2017-09-21 - 00039 - The De-Tour - Day 05 by Dan, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

With the lower elevation we were back in the mud, but also snow. Not a super fun combination.


DeTour-66.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-68.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-70.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_3519 by mike digirat, on Flickr

IMG_0198 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0208 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

IMG_0209 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr



Unless you’re a dog


IMG_0202 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

DeTour-71.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_0206 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr


We wandered around a bit more but didn’t linger long in the cold wet conditions.


IMG_3520 by mike digirat, on Flickr

DeTour-72.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

DeTour-73.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

IMG_0204 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr


I knew the road ahead was a very long one. Last time it had surprised Devin and I how long this trail was. I’m sure today would be no different. We were a bit bummed we hadn’t seen any horses though, a favorite of Devin’s and something everyone else had been looking forward too.


Not long down the road though just as we got out of the snow.