Helena Saturday (1 Viewer)

[YotaPaullie]

As of now I am planning to meet up with my friend's son in Helena. I think one other 406 member is potentially coming. There is a Jeep guy who will be with me as well so if that bothers anyone... then you can follow from a distance.

Plan leave Conoco in Manhattan 9:45-10, but hope to be closer to 9:45.
Meet Wyatt at
703 N Main St
Boulder, MT 59632

Air down potentially, do the tunnel, lava mountain loop, head back to Manhattan/Belgrade/Bozeman. I want to be home by 6 pm to have dinner with the fam.

This could be epic like, "Dude! I had no idea that Bigfoot was into selfies.... and the trail recommendations.... who knew he was such a great host of the forest." Ranging down to "Meh, it was okay, things were overgrown, but the tunnel was cool!" I am good with either reaction.

 

[ttFJC]

if lava mountain is the trail im thinking it is you wont make it.

im looking into it and a couple of years ago when me and my brother tried a route and got to a place where it was hella rutted and i smashed my A pilar on a hidden log.

unless someone has made the way through, youll definatly need a chainsaw

do you have a track for what your thinking?

 

[YotaPaullie]

if lava mountain is the trail im thinking it is you wont make it.

im looking into it and a couple of years ago when me and my brother tried a route and got to a place where it was hella rutted and i smashed my A pilar on a hidden log.

unless someone has made the way through, youll definatly need a chainsaw

do you have a track for what your thinking?

My friend's son has a track. I'm good with getting as far as we get, we plan to bring chainsaws to see what needs cutting, and see what we can do. I think he has done the trail with his shop. If we turn around then we turn around.... that's part of the adventure right?

 

[ttFJC]

you wont make it very far IRCC and youll be stacking logs to drive on in the ruts. if id hasnet changed, id ask the last time he mad it through. its definatly been three years since i was out there. maybe he knows the enterance on the backside.

and i heard to tunnel partial collapsed.. word to the wise. dont stop in comet

 

[YotaPaullie]

you wont make it very far IRCC and youll be stacking logs to drive on in the ruts. if id hasnet changed, id ask the last time he mad it through. its definatly been three years since i was out there. maybe he knows the enterance on the backside.

and i heard to tunnel partial collapsed.. word to the wise. dont stop in comet

I will ask. I think some guys from his shop might come as well. They drive around there a lot. I dare say several times a week. My goal is to check out the tunnel and then figure out the plan from there. Good questions and points! Thanks.

Mostly I just want to get out and explore so whatever that looks like is cool with me.

 

[YotaPaullie]

you wont make it very far IRCC and youll be stacking logs to drive on in the ruts. if id hasnet changed, id ask the last time he mad it through. its definatly been three years since i was out there. maybe he knows the enterance on the backside.

and i heard to tunnel partial collapsed.. word to the wise. dont stop in comet

Truth you speak. Part of the trail is closed for hunting and yes it is true that the trail is still pretty rough.... log stacking.... so truth you speak jedi..... mmmmMmm

The tunnel is driveable, and is true that part of it is collapsing. However, it is still driveable.... I guess this is one of those things.... watch the news and look for the maroon 4runner with its arse in the air and front pinned by large concrete slab with rebar through the hood. I guess you can say, "Told you so." On a serious note, guys in Helena drove through it recently, but it would not surprise me if it is closed at some point.

 

[ttFJC]

this is the location of the hill that will give you trouble.
about half a mile off the main gravel road. the club made the run in 2019 to the top of lava and it looks like theres a backways route to get there, couldnt find the picture of the hill

 

[ttFJC]

Found em. the ruts are deep, the hill is steep and its mud so good luck, for reference the FJC was on 35s still back then, very off camber

 

[YotaPaullie]

this is the location of the hill that will give you trouble.
about half a mile off the main gravel road. the club made the run in 2019 to the top of lava and it looks like theres a backways route to get there, couldnt find the picture of the hillView attachment 3477119

I believe that is the plan. Wyatt and his shop have wheeled all around there so I should learn some bypasses. If I get a good track I'll send it your way, and plan to do a ride report when I get back. I really do not know how far we will get with the mud and all. So, I guess check back early next week!

No kidding on the pics/video not showing the full picture.

 

[geo5]

Looking forward to your trip report Paul, sounds like a fun adventure regardless.

As always excellent beta @ttFJC

 

[AirheadNut]

Was passing through the area this afternoon and decided to check out the tunnel. It is easily passable currently, though the water gets quite deep toward the Amazon portal. It was up well past my rocker panels in some spots, and there was about 1.5" of ice on top near the portal.

 

[AirheadNut]

If you do the tunnel watch out for chunks of ice tangling with your undercarriage!

 

[YotaPaullie]

If you do the tunnel watch out for chunks of ice tangling with your undercarriage!
View attachment 3478025

yup.... I was hoping to get up there last weekend, but that didn't work out. We'll see.... like I said however it turns out is cool with me. Nice pics!

 

[YotaPaullie]

In theory you can drive the tunnel. Today we got about half way through and there was a broken down truck in the tunnel so we had to back all the way out, and then we went around the tunnel. We didn't make it to the top of Lava Mountain, but I saw the backway up there. We took lunch at the lave mountain trail head... not gonna do it... wouldn't be prudent (dana carvey throw back...).

The road itself is very icy in the shady sections. I did one downhill pinball style. So thankful for the sliders! They did their job today. The day did not go as planned, but was still an adventure. The tunnel is starting to ice up so your time to drive it is limited. Have fun tomorrow.

 

[AirheadNut]

Oof, I would not want to break down in the middle of that tunnel. There were a couple of places where I was worried about sucking water into the intake if it got any deeper. Would have been a cold and miserable slog out of there on foot through 2+ feet of icy water.

 

[YotaPaullie]

Oof, I would not want to break down in the middle of that tunnel. There were a couple of places where I was worried about sucking water into the intake if it got any deeper. Would have been a cold and miserable slog out of there on foot through 2+ feet of icy water.

That is why we kept driving up even though we saw something in the way. No one was in the truck and the sheriff already knew the truck was there. We were also a little scared to see what we were going to find. Thankfully it was a locked truck.