Hyalite Road Conditions

Submitted by hellenga_gary on Thu, 11/30/2006 - 09:14
I thought there used to be a forum specifically for this, but it seems to have disappeared.? With the Ice Fest coming up, and more snow coming in soon, this is a place to post your observations on the driving conditions getting to the Hyalite routes.

As of 4:30 pm on Thursday, Nov 30th, the road to Hyalite Grotto Falls Parking Lot is in great shape. AWD of 4WD is recommended but you could probably do without if you take care. The road up the east fork is also fine although a little less beat out than the main fork. Enjoy.

The road is in great shape, and the east fork road is also pretty beat in now. Some good traffic up there to Palisade, Flanders, and the E. Fork TH. We easily made it up in Dodge durango, probably passable in a subie but there are some ruts in a couple of turns that clearance will help.

Recent warm temps have allowed the snow to compact significantly, and the well-treaded stuff above Practice Rock is pretty slippery, especially coming down. In most places, you can use the untracked sections at the sides to help get some grip.

the recent snow left about 18 inches on the road starting right from the fishing access, biled up to Langor late in the afternoon. high clearance 4x4s should have no trouble at least to there, subys should enter with caution the ruts were deep in places and not well packed out. a bit more traffic and it will probably be passable at least to the dam. probably a big drift there.

We got a good day in to start the New Year, and the road was in good shape, all the way to the Grotto Falls trailhead! We chained up at the fishing access lot, but probably would have been fine without the chains except when having to pull around other vehicles coming up the road when we were headed out.

Ice is in and the road is in good shape! We saw subie's up in the parking lot today. They spoke of it being a little sketchy but still very doable. Observation- If you are driving slower than the traffic following you and you are piling up people behind you please pull off. And if you are stuck behind the slow driver don't be an ass and blow past them endangering yourself and others.

We drove up to the Flanders trailhead on Sunday (Jan. 7). On the East fork the ruts are not terribly deep but the surface is quite soft. I wouldn't venture up there without at least a shovel and a few buddies. We climbed Narcolepsy and it's still in good shape. Snowshoes were useful but you may be able to get away witout them. Alex

Made it up Flanders Mon 1/9 in my Tacoma. The road is rather rowdy and soft in spots. Turning around at the trailhead was a little difficult. As for the climbing both the bottoms of Lurking Smear and Narcolepsy have gotten smaller since i was there about a month ago. The smear is not really touching down anymore. Narcolepsy is almost half the size it was with a spot or two a foot or less in width. Crux of Big Sleep has gotten smaller/narrower. Bobo looks about the same (fat). Killer Piller has gotten bigger and more friendly. Fact or Flander looked awesome from across the canyon. Code Red looked in, although i'm still not sure where exactly it might be, up high across from Narc? Butterflies on Tears looks about the same it did on the FA.

hey ty, didn't you get stuck getting out today. i believe i was pushing your truck. just messing around lots of snow as of 430, it was a little slick but the road was passable. but if it keeps snowing, it could get pretty tricky in a toyota truck. i'm praying for snow but the road is going to be tough. good luck.

Leaving the parking lot I did get stuck momentarily yes. If you were the one of the many who helped push me out thanks again! What happens when you let your guard down for a second on that road and try to take a bite of a cliff bar. :oops: :lol: :lol:

Just an FYI, the road is in excellent shape for this time of year, careful drivers should have no problems (except for passing of course) saw a couple of subies at the grotto parking lot.

We drove to the main trailhead this morning (in a Toyota pickup). Even with the fresh snow the ruts are not too deep, thanks to snowmobiles riding up the middle. However, the road is quite bumpy past the reservoir (snowmobile whoopdydoos). And finally, because of the new snow, the road past the dam is really single lane with very soft shoulders; encountering vehicles could be tricky.

On Monday , the road was doable for Suby clearance and higher 4WD, but meeting an oncoming vehicle would be a big problem past the Dam. There may be 1 or 2 spots to go around somebody. It was also very slow because it rides like a snowmobile trail, with regular woopties. 5-10 mph. Dribbles was in fine condition (WI3+ ?). Erik

Parked at Blackmore Saturday, and hiked across the reservoir. When I go to the road again, S of the lake, I encountered a couple of stuck trucks. Then, just past the Window Rock cabin turn-off, came on another one. With a bit of digging, they got that one out. When I came back down to the Grotto Falls parking lot, there were 2 trucks that had made it (the LandCruiser apparently without chains). With the current meltdown, it seems like it will be easy to auger in to soft snow. If you drive up, definitely get the chains on.

Lots of cars have gotten stuck in the last 4 days up Hyalite. Icy conditions, tricky driving and an snowmobile-truck collision has given the Forest Service serious concern. It was bad enough that they were entertaining a temporary closure to wheeled vehicles, but decided to wait and see what the weather did. Colder temperatures and snow in the forecast will only improve the road. The take home message is this: If you go up Hyalite be prepared for icy, squirrely, 5.10+ R, driving. Stuck vehicles, fender benders and injuries give the Forest Service heartburn.

Drove to the Grotta Falls trailhead yesterday, Wednesday the 7th, with my relatively low clearance Subaru Outback. The ruts weren't too bad, and the only true crux came at the dam, where deeper snow turned the drive into a bit of a rodeo...saw lots of evidence of cars getting sucked off the road past the dam, so be warned- stay in the tracks and you should be fine. Kind of bumpy here and there from snowmobile traffic, but what would a trip to Hyalite be without any sort of excitement like that? Oh, and I would call the driving more like 5.9 with shitty protection- 10+ R seems like a bit of a sandbag... :wink:

The differnce between Dougs rating of 5.10+ R and your more recent rating of 5.9 underscores that road conditions are variable, and can go from very bad (in warm temps) to much better in cold temps. And that change can happen quickly, like between early morning and late afternoon. Thanks for the update, Ryan, its good to see that the road had improved (as of last Wednesday). Has anybody been there recently? I suspect it is another grade harder after last night's snow.

I am not so sure that we should be grading the road on the YDS, it seems far more appropriate to use the UK system...moderatre----Extremely Severe 10 Thats my two cents for free. Bryan

Went into Hyalite on Tuesday to climb "Come and Get It". My friend's Toyota pickup with chains was getting occasional face-shots while making fresh tracks up the road to the trailhead. We got stuck once on the way out, forcing us to do a few minutes of shoveling and pushing. I think that most good 4WD's with reasonably high clearance could make it to the reservoir. After that, a snowmobile, chains, or skis are probably necessary for reaching the trailhead. Regardless, the current weather system of cold temps and snow following the previous thaw is great for the ice conditions. And since the cold smoke that we hiked through to our route has since inspired my partners to strap on their skis, PM me if you have a burly vehicle and want to take me climbing... Nick

Road was pretty sketchy today, from what we saw, but it looked like one vehicle made it up to Grotto Falls. We took a sled from fishing access to Window Rock, then walked (I'll never do THAT again!). Lots of work getting up to G2 (we were headed for Hangover, but decided it was too much effort).

Why was it too much work? Too much snow or too icey? And you only saw one car in the lot? We snowmobled up this past weekend. I think the road is passable since the snowmobliers have really packed it down. but it has to stay cold in order to be passable. The main pain will be crossing the dam which was full of wind blown snow. But i saw car ruts crossed over on my way out on sunday and they were not deep like last years ruts. How was the ice conditions on G2?
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