Railroad Grade - Summit Prairie to Logan Valley 11/30/15

click on picture for larger version

Location: County rd62 Prairie City to Summit Prairie.  turn right at FS 16rd for 100'. go straight west 100' when 16 jogs left into small plowed parking area. there is no visible road # sign at the east end of 097, possibly because the first several hundred feet are private property.

fs 133 goes north & uphill; 097 is the tracks going left

Road & Trail Conditions: 62 road plowed & gravel; patchy snow/ice until Trout Farm campground, then solid.  FS 16rd is plowed Summit Prairie to Seneca, packed snow/ice, no gravel, 20-25mph. FS 15rd - Parish Cabin to Canyon Meadows (Wickiup Campground) not plowed - 4x4 trucks kept open, not for long; County Rd65 to 395 plowed, patchy snow/ice.

Snow Conditions: 2-3" new powder over 2-3' base, no groomed trails, a few snowmobile tracks leaving Huddleston snopark; some roads have 4x4 pickup tracks - packed powder, easy to ski on

Skis on & temperature: 11:30am  24° (prairie city 18°)

Skis off & temperature: 3pm 35° (john day 27°)

Distance: 9 miles

Rating (1-10; 10 awesome): 9

Comments: beautiful day, great snow got a little soft & sticky as temp. rose.  hardly any elevation gain = FLAT. another few inches of dry snow this week could produce lovely conditions.

 

truck tire tracks stopped and broke trail for the last ?mile. breaking trail is good conditioning and generates appreciation for the snocat trail groomer that does over 40 miles in a day.

Forest Service 16 Road Plowed Through Logan Valley

On 11/30/15 the FS 16 road was plowed down to packed ice/snow from Summit Prairie to Seneca. As long as this continues it allows for starting ski trips from Logan Valley, rather than skiing in 10 miles from Summit Prairie or Canyon Meadows.  The maps below show some of the possible trails north & south of the 16 road. There are more than a dozen possibilities depending on grooming, snowmobiles and/or truck tire tracks.

The FS 15 road was not plowed from the 16 road (Parish Cabin) to Canyon Meadows and seemingly won't be. Access to the Logan Valley trails via the 16 road will be from Prairie Summit or Seneca.  It's a bit of a drive; the more level trails, loop trails and scenery may be worth it.

Logan Valley West - click on map for larger version

 

Logan Valley East - click on map for larger version