Phantom Creek
Phantom Creek had much deeper snow on it compared to Rule Ridge. But the sun was still out and it warmed up to around 50 degrees. Right at the start of the trail, Matt got stuck in a snow drift that was deeper than the tops of his tires. So Gary pulled in front of Matt and pulled him out of the snow drift. He was the first one of many to get stuck on this trail.
Matt and most of the members went down the trail a few hundred feet where we would all stop for lunch. Then, Bob got stuck in the same spot that Matt got stuck in. Bob learned right away that bigger axles was not going to get him through the snow. Jeffrey had to pull him out.
After lunch we were soon on our way further down the trail. We went down Phantom Creek to Signal Butte thinking that would be the easiest part of the trail. At first, most of the members were getting stuck but did not need any help getting out. They just had to back up and give it a bit more momentum to get through the snow.
Everyone had some trouble getting up a small hill on the trail a few miles before the creek. Gary had the most trouble getting up the hill, and it took him a few tries. Everyone that was behind him went up quickly to get up the small, snow-covered hill.
Soon after the fun on the hill we arrived at the creek. The creek had some water in it but no one had any trouble getting across it.
Now we were starting the second half of the trail. This half did not have the deep snow on it like the first half did, though it was also covered in snow. Everyone watched for Signal Butte on this side.
Most the run in wooded part was easy. Walt got stuck one time when he drove into a deeper section of snow along the edges of the trail.
Closer to the end of the trail there were a few hills that we had to go up and most off us had some trouble getting up at least one of them. Mike got stuck on one of the hills when he got too close to the side and got stuck in the deeper snow. Frank tried to pull him up the hill, but had no luck getting him out of the snow. So we had to use Mike's winch to get him unstuck. We saw another vehicle at this point, and it was challenging trying to get past each other.
One of the hills was especially fun to climb up. You just had to have momentum to make it up the hill. Everyone made it up the hill on their first try.
Yet another hill had snow drifts on the sides that were pretty deep. Walt went too close to the edge and got pulled into the deeper snow and got stuck. Just as we got him out, Bob went through the deeper snow but made it out without needing any help.
The last hill before getting to the parking lot area was fun. We all made it up without any issues except for Bob who found the deep snow on the edges of the trail where he got stuck. The snow was up to and over his fender. Jeffrey pulled him out all the way up to the top of the hill.
After a few minutes and some snowball throwing we were on our way to Cedar Mountain Road for some more fun in the snow.
Reports from Other Days: 2
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Phantom Creek. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
