Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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02/21/2021
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North-facing portions of the trail are packed with unhealthy levels of ice. While I made it through without a scratch, I nearly soiled my underwear a few times. Opportunities to slide off cliffs were way too abundant. I hadn't planned on this being a white-knuckle ride. I figured by Feb 20th, the snow would all be gone, but shaded sections are still way too icy. Next time, I'm waiting until a snow-free time of year.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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01/24/2021
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Rating:
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Ran up for a snow run. Went west to east starting at 3N14 but as we neared Holcomb Valley the road iced over making it impossible to continue on. Saw several people slide into each other which our plan was to get off the trail as fast as we can.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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01/16/2021
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Rating:
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As a newbie to this hobby, I was looking for an easy trail that I could get my feet (and tires) wet. I chose this trail because it was close by and seemed to be an easy trek. Got to the trail around 10am today. There was a bit of snow pack in various spots along the route, but nothing major. I ended up taking my new, stock, Ram Rebel the full 26 miles and never had an area where it had any trouble fitting. The trail is fairly level with some good big puddles to splash in and a few areas of ruts, but overall it's mostly a casual drive. Beautiful scenery and was not crowded at all. Saw maybe half a dozen people at various points with plenty of room to move off to the side and let people through.
Highly recommend this trail for anyone who's nervous about taking their vehicle off road.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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01/01/2021
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Rating:
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Did the trail Friday and was beautiful not a ton of people up there which was nice. Even in the snow trail was easy to moderate at most. Just be careful on blind corners...encountered a group that thought it was tokyo drift season. Highly recommend this route.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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10/19/2020
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Rating:
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Ran a majority of the trail the other day. Still a nice drive and the conditions seem to be getting better.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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09/01/2020
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Rating:
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A section of Holcomb under repair was planned to be opened 8/28 so holding our breath sure enough it was at least opened by the day of our trip. Being the easy trail it is makes for a nice sightseeing drive especially in the great weather we had today. We saw deer and a inquisitive fawn who inched closer but was quickly lead away by the mother but with some space between us the deer seemed only mildly concerned. The Crab Flat Campground was open and only 1 tent in the entire prepared sites. Some sites were posted as open but many were posted as reserved. Camping was $24/night. One of my favorite spots on the road was around way point 13 and coming upon a very large meadow with dozens of horses grazing. It was right up there with the crushed car:).
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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08/17/2020
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Rating:
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Quick run out there and it started raining so we bailed.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Partially Open
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Offroaded on:
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08/17/2020
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Rating:
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The section between crab flats and Holcomb creek is close for trail repairs till the end of the month.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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08/09/2020
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Rating:
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Such beautiful scenery on this trail! With the different landscapes throughout, it made us feel like we weren't in SoCal. We traveled East from Running Springs. Pretty smooth ride until the end where it got a bit rocky. We will be back to camp and try out the other trails nearby.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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06/25/2020
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This was a great trail, very easy and scenic with plenty of places to camp. You could easily take this trail in 2WD. It is a great way to take to connect to a bunch of other great trails or if you are looking to off-road to the main group of camp grounds out there. We ended up starting here and working our way all the way though Rattlesnake Canyon which was a 2 day trip and it was awesome!
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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06/22/2020
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Rating:
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Took the route again up to Big Bear from Running Springs. Little rocky at the end but over all a great drive.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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06/21/2020
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Rating:
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We did this one today! It’s pretty open for the most part until the end. It was super rocky. Maybe it has to do with it being closed prior and the wash? But overall good. We stopped at the miners cabin for lunch.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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06/15/2020
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Rating:
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Easy trail. 2wd most of it. Any stocker 4x4 can do it. Some deep ruts in small sections. Holcomb Valley is fun for the fam bam. It’s beautiful up there right now.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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06/06/2020
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Had a great time on this trail after running Burns Canyon from Pioneer Town.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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05/26/2020
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Rating:
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We actually did this trail in two parts since we were camped in the Holcomb Creek area. Coming in, we started the trail on the south end from Green Valley. Beautiful trail with a couple of water crossings. It’s a bit rutted, with some deep holes from the rains and runoff - it’s quite a bit rougher than I remembered it to be, but there are actually some paved sections in the randomest places.
On our second day we made a run down to Fawnskin for ice and decided to hit the trail from the Baldwin Lake side. This end of the trail has seen better days and is much rougher. It’s still an amazing drive though! There is so much history and lore along this section of what was once a mining trail. It’s definitely worth taking a couple hours to explore the area, see the Gold Fever trail and have a nice lunch in the beautiful National Forest.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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05/25/2020
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Rating:
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Did this trail with my small hatchback AWD on a stock rims and suspension with All terrain tires. It's a great off road trail to test my skills and vehicle for a beginner like me. I only made it up to Way Point #9 and had to turn back because it was getting dark and had a reservation at Crab Flats Campground. I will definitely come back to finish this trail soon with a lifted suspension and with some friends.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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05/23/2020
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Rating:
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The trail is very scenic and really easy in the warm months. I have done it twice within a months time. Once during the day and once at night. Both times have been fun. Its a trail that a lot of people take, but its not overly crowded at all. I've seen everything from minivans, a Kia Optima to well built rigs. Its a nice and easy trail during the dry months. I'm looking forward to trying it when there is snow.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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05/23/2020
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Rating:
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Nice and easy trail. I've done it in both directions. I've done it during the day and during the night. The trail is nice and scenic. A 2 wheel drive can easily do it when dry. I've seen a minivan and even a Kia Optima out there. Many people travel this trail and camp alongside in various spots. Great for a beginner or anyone who wants to take a nice long scenic offroad drive.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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05/22/2020
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Rating:
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What a great trail! Lots of people out and about this past weekend.
Little beat up in parts but over all a great time.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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05/17/2020
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Rating:
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Great trail to add to any Big Bear ride in the mountains! We entered 3N16 from 3N14 Coxey Road and continued East towards Baldwin Lake! Beautiful day out in the mountains with great weather and lots of fellow trail riders all over! The trail is easy with nothing to really worry about. Any 4x4 truck or AWD can take on this trail with not much problem in dry conditions. When wet it may be little trickier in some spots but not bad.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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04/27/2020
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Rating:
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The west half of the trail is in great condition, now the east half is a little rough but not bad.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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04/05/2020
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Rating:
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Trail has was a little rough. Winter is being sort of hard on it, you have to watch out for holes everywhere.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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02/16/2020
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Traveled this road for the first time. Had a great time and ran into some snow in the higher elevations. We are new to 4-wheeling so this was a great chance for us to get out and explore. Trail conditions were great had snow, mud and dry areas all in 1 day.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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12/21/2019
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Rating:
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Trail was in decent shape with no obstacles of note other than a little bit of snow, ice, and icy puddles throughout.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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09/06/2019
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Rating:
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Ran down the trail heading to 3N93, the trail was super nice and you can easily drive too fast. Be careful.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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08/04/2019
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Rating:
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I love this trail, not for its difficulty, but because it is the off-road highway though the trails of Big Bear. My wife and I were doing some of the trails on the northeast side of the lake Sunday and decided to take 3N16 back towards Arrowhead instead of hopping on the nearest paved road. We only came across maybe 3 or 4 other vehicles total over the 20 miles we drove it which was a nice surprise for a weekend. The trail itself was in good shape with zero obstacles of note.
Author:
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Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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08/03/2019
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Rating:
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Very fun trail! Ran this on a weekend and it was very busy. Good fun.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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06/18/2019
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Rating:
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Used the trail as a quick means of getting from point a to b... Always enjoyable.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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05/27/2019
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Rating:
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The whole trail is much rougher than usual. Lots of new rutted out sections. There is a pretty big washout, with a bypass to the side, at 34.27089, -117.06641 .
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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05/20/2019
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Rating:
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Winter was hard on the trail, but not any harder.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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03/23/2019
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Rating:
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We ran this trail starting from the Baldwin Lake end, and it was open all the way to Green Valley Lake. The first 2/3 of the trail was was fun, easy, mud, snow, and beautiful scenery. We ran across a pickup stuck in the mud being pulled out by a buddy. There are lots of trails that split off of 3N16, but several were closed. We got out an walked the closed 3N05 trail where it loops around the campground in holcomb valley, and it was basically a long mud bog. Back onto 3N16, once you start approaching Holcomb Creek from the east, and all the way up to about the last 2 miles of the trail ending near Green Valley Lake, there are several challenging washed out, and/or steep and rutted out sections.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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03/04/2019
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Rating:
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We called the Discovery Center yesterday and learned the trail was open from Green Valley. We ran the trail today from the GV side to Holcomb Valley in our JL Rubicon. The first 5 miles of the trail had some treacherous washouts requiring 4 Wheel drive and sway bar disconnect. There are heavy rains forecasted in the next 36 hours, and I would bet on another closure. There were spots of deep standing water/mud in the valley itself. In fact, we ran across some stuck travelers in a 2 WD truck and winched them out. Be safe everyone!
Author:
| |
Status:
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Temporary Closure
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Offroaded on:
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02/07/2019
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recent storm has caused plow trucks to build a snow barrier ( 5-6 feet )preventing access to trailhead.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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01/20/2019
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Rating:
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I was hoping to find a trail with snow. So, I thought of Holcolm Valley. They were skiing at Snow Summit due to snowfalls of the prior week, so, I thought there was a chance of snow in Holcolm valley. So I turned up Polique Canyon road from Highway 18 and went up to 3N16 Holcolm Valley Road. The trails were very wet and sloshy, with the little bit of snow there was being wet and almost entirely melted away. The temperature that afternoon was in the mid-fifties so, no surprise. I took 3N16 east all the way to the end at Baldwin Lake. There were several large bodies of standing water across the trail that made me hesitate before crossing, but, they were not too deep, and the underlying trail not too muddy. Maybe in another month, there will be packed snow on the trail. By the time I got to Highway 18 at Baldwin Lake, my truck was covered in mud.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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08/25/2018
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Rating:
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This was a nice, mellow trail in my stock 4runner. We saw plenty of Subaru's out there, having no issues, but I would recommend a higher clearance vehicle--depending on experience. The trail was fairly rutted in many areas. I took my 2 year old daughter out for her first off-road trip and she had a blast. We had to keep it VERY slow, for her sake, but there is so much to see you really don't need to rush. We printed directions from this site and downloaded a Google Earth map of the area (for offline use), and had no troubles finding our way. The trails are cleanly marked at intersections and the scenery was gorgeous. We did not cross any water but there were a couple of mud puddles that were easily avoidable, if need be. We put it in 4wd a few times but it was definitely not necessary. We were crawling the steeper uphill sections to keep it smooth for my daughter. We made a day out of this trip, spending about 4 hours on the trail and ending at the Lake to go play with the ducks. We made a great lunch (propane-only grills were are allowed on 8/25/18) and stopped many of times along the way to explore on foot. All in all, this is a fun place to take the family (if they are comfortable off-road) and it looks like a great place to go wheeling. Much appreciation to this site for answering my questions and giving me the information (confidence) I needed to take my little girl on her first off-road trip--safely.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
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Offroaded on:
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06/10/2018
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Rating:
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I have done this trail twice now in my stock Subaru Crosstrek. Perfect trail for a nice drive through the mountains without the crowd. I did this trail and 2N02 in the same evening. Plenty of wildlife! Enjoy!
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
|
Offroaded on:
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04/09/2018
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Rating:
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Ran a majority of the trail over the weekend. Bounced in and out of the trail as we did Holcomb Creek and John Bull. I couldn't believe how perfect the weather was.
The trail as seen better days. Clearly, a lot of rain must have gone through the mnts recently as there are lots of signs of it. Still passable in a 2wd but low ground clearance might be an issue.
Still sucks seeing that bridge.
But my New Falken Tires were amazing on the trail. Best decision I have done with the jeep was putting these bad boys on.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
|
Offroaded on:
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03/17/2018
|
The road was freshly covered by snow from the recent snow storm and my 2 car group was lucky enough to be the first group on the road that morning. We made out way from Big Pine Campground to Holcomb Valley and then backtracked on March 18th.
There was some icy area's where 4x4 did help to get up some of the small hills.
Camping was great at the Holcomb Valley campground where a few other brave souls spent that night.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Open
|
Offroaded on:
|
01/20/2018
|
All in all, a wonderful run. Last week it wasn't nearly as nice as this week due to the fresh snowfall.
Drone footage taken where we went sledding and a few other people were airing down:
https://youtu.be/Nu_fWEu0Mbw
Driving Trail (3 parts):
https://youtu.be/QCUDhmFsS_Q
https://youtu.be/nHkir_8PLio
https://youtu.be/IJByxI5n18g
Author:
| |
Status:
|
Open
|
Offroaded on:
|
01/12/2018
|
Author:
| |
Status:
|
Open
|
Offroaded on:
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12/15/2017
|
The entire trail was open. Beautiful day and only 3 other travelers seen.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
|
Open
|
Offroaded on:
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09/15/2017
|
Drove the entire route, first from 3N14 through Holcomb Valley to Baldwin Lake, and then back to 3N14. then later went down all the way past Green Valley Lake to Highway18. No problems alone the entire route.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
|
Open
|
Offroaded on:
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07/30/2017
|
I am happy to report that 3N16 was completely open this weekend. The bridge is up as of a month ago and the east end of the trail is open too. The fire damage doesn't look very good but at least they have reopened the trail.
Road Conditions Report: I personally didn't drive the entire trail but I did navigate roughly 80% of it. In that 80% of the trail, it seemed if they have completely re-graded the entire road. It was very smooth.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
|
Offroaded on:
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07/30/2017
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Rating:
| |
I am happy to report that 3N16 was completely open this weekend. The bridge is up as of a month ago and the east end of the trail is open too. The fire damage doesn't look very good but at least they have reopened the trail.
Road Conditions Report: I personally didn't drive the entire trail but I did navigate roughly 80% of it. In that 80% of the trail, it seemed if they have completely re-graded the entire road. It was very smooth.
Author:
| |
Status:
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Closed
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Offroaded on:
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05/20/2017
|
Went up today planning on going west to east as shown in the description here. Saw this sign at the trail head as soon as you turn off Green Valley Lake Rd.
So the road is closed, but me and a few others made it through east to west (opposite of what it shows here)
Only a couple miles heading east from crab flats is closed
Definitely recommend not ignoring the signs.
The road is pretty tore up from recent rains.
High clearance vehicle 4wd recommended
Also there is a new bridge going over the big water crossing
Author:
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Status:
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Closed
|
Offroaded on:
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05/13/2017
|
Unfortunately 3N16 is where it splits from Crab Flats. Assuming it's from the last heavy rains. Not sure about the extent of the damage, but I hope it opens up soon.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
|
Open
|
Offroaded on:
|
01/22/2017
|
Rating:
| |
What a great day. The snow ended up getting so deep that no vehicle could continue. Over the day, everyone got stuck which made for a ton of fun.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
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Open
|
Offroaded on:
|
05/01/2016
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Rating:
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Took a nice cruise down 3N16 and the trial was very nice. The rain seemed to smooth out the trial making for a very nice drive. Plus on top of that, the rain also eliminated all the dust. It was a great trip.
Author:
| Official Crew |
Status:
|
Open
|
Offroaded on:
|
02/03/2016
|
Rating:
| |
Went up to go skiing but the conditions were horrible. Decided to take the truck into Holcomb Valley but that almost turned into a bad decision. The conditions were ICE (Not Icy, implying there is something else then ice). The Ice was about 6-9 inches thick and was fun but sort of stressful to drive on.
But the area is open and a lighter vehicle should be fine.