Grizzly Lake
This might not be the easiest trail to find but it is worth looking for. It starts in a residential area, so we were considerate of private property when we made our way up to Grizzly Lake.
As we started down the trail we came to a fork in the road. We stayed on the trail by taking the left fork and heading across the creek. Matt, Terry and Chad made it up the chunky section of rock, the biggest obstacle on the trail, with no problems. Ladd and Bill both had a little problem getting up and over the boulders on the far side of the creek. Bill ended up breaking his four-wheel drive center body mount bolt going up the obstacle. Gary simply picked the wrong line to get up the obstacle and had to be winched up after he high-centered his Jeep.
After making it over this obstacle we climbed a short distance to a rock obstacle almost parallel to the trail. The bypass takes you around it a little further, but the obstacle itself was worth trying. We figured out that if you can get a little sideways on the trail you can climb up the rock head on instead of at an angle, making it easier.
After conquering these two obstacles we were faced with a long, steep hill of loose rock along the edge of the mountain. It seemed like it was a little more difficult than it was in years past. The shelf road provided nice views, but we made sure not to get too close to the edge as the rocks were pretty loose.
We spent the rest of the trail in and out of the trees. Some places were pretty tight and the brush touched our vehicles. There were more creek crossings and even a muddy water patch with a bypass.
When we got to the lake we all ate lunch and spent some time walking around. There were a lot of very nice views of the lake with the mountains in the background.
We went back out the same way we came in. When we got back to the biggest obstacle by the creek, Gary went down the obstacle and turned around in the creek bed to go back up the big obstacle. This time he went right up the boulders with no problems.
When we got back to the parking area, it started to rain a little but then it stopped right away. We all had a blast on this trail and we would run it again.
Reports from Other Days: 5
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Grizzly Lake. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
