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Show 'i Five easy places, part III Ski touring Little South Fork By Frank Erickson The snow finally has come, and alpine skiers are scrambling scram-bling to find any pockets of powder missed by the weekend crowds. In the backcountry, there now is enough powder to last until the long rays of the spring sun turn it to mush. Nordic skiers will be able to cut new tracks for weeks on end, but the wise will wait to ski on steep terrain until the snow stabilizes. In this series of articles, we are highlighting a different dif-ferent Uinta touring spot each week. These areas are within reasonable driving distance from Park City, open to the public, and most offer both touring and Nordic Nor-dic downhill terrain. This week: Little South Fork of the Provo and Bench Creek, near Woodland. The High Uintas seem to end on the west at the edge of Kamas Valley. But ranging south and west toward Strawberry Reservoir is an interesting piece of mountainous moun-tainous country. It is less spectacular than the High Uintas. The peaks are lower, indistinct, and often covered with grass and trees instead of rocks. There aren't many lakes here, but instead vast stretches stret-ches of forest broken up in places by grasslands. Although the individual peaks in this country have names Currant Creek Peak, Heber Mountain, Strawberry Peak I've never seen or heard a collective collec-tive name for the area. Since it is tied geologically and geographically to the High Uintas, but is lower in "There are roads into this country and it is not really the kind of pristine country we think of as wilderness. But the hand-of-man has been felt lightly here and it is a fine, scenic place to ski tour. ' ' elevation, perhaps we could call it the Low Uintas? There are no greaLexpan- . ses of ilderne.ss here Jo match C the" High Uinta Primitive Area. Roads dissect the country, running up most major drainages and along the ridges. But in the winter, snow closes these roads and they have been popular for years with snowmobilers. Skiers are just beginning to discover this country. A part of the Low Uintas particularly accessible to Park City Nordic skiers is the Little South Fork-Bench Fork-Bench Creek area near Woodland. Under the RARE II wilderness inventory in 1978, 19,390 acres in these two drainages were identified iden-tified as a roadless area and examined for possible addition ad-dition to the National Forest wilderness system. The Little Lit-tle South Fork Bench Creek area didn't make the cut however, and rightfully so. There are roads into this country and it is not really the kind of pristine country we think of as wilderness. But the hand-of-man has been felt lightly here and it is a fine, scenic place to ski tour. Most of Bench Creek and the Little South Fork are in the Uinta National Forest, although the mouths of both canyons are blocked by private land. This presents only a minor problem at the Little South Fork, since a Forest Service road and trail cuts through and around the private land, giving access to the national forest. But this winter, lan- This R tiJ I " 1 downers at the mouth of Bench Creek closed the half-mile half-mile section of road separating the national forest from the county road. While the legality of this closure remains questionable, question-able, skiers trying to get up Bench Creek recently have been met by hostile landowners, (see "A Bad at Bench Creek," below). Trailheads for both creeks are near Woodland, which is 28 miles southeast of Park City. To find Bench Creek, turn right at the Woodland Cash Store (closed all winter) win-ter) and proceed three miles on the county road. There are three houses at the mouth of Bench Creek, two south of the county road, one north. The road leading to the national forest is blocked by a green Powder River gate carrying a sign reading "Crossing Private Property -Please Close Gate." The road up Bench Creek heads south through this gate, passing through the private property and into the national forest. The first mile is gentle skiing terrain, but then the road crosses Bench Creek and forks. South, and road continues up Bench Creek, to the east a road cuts across the ridge and drops into the Little South Fork. These roads are steeper than the first mile. The terrain is open, changing to aspen patches and finally into conifer forest at higher elevations. To get to the Little South Fork trailhead, proceed east through Woodland on Highway High-way 35 to the end of the plowed road, which is just beyond the Diamond Bar X ranch. There is a snowmobile and skier parking area here which can Tbeaorae very crowded otu sunny weekends. Skiers should be careful on such occasions to avoid blocking any of the roadways road-ways into the ranch, because even though there are summer sum-mer homes around its perimeter, this is a working ranch, and it is difficult to maneuver a wagon-load of hay around a Volkswagen Rabbit wedged in a driveway. The Andersons who operate the ranch have helped many forest visitors over the years who have fallen victim to a variety of mishaps, and we should all return their generosity by respecting their private property and privacy. The state maintains a groomed snowmobile trail up the South Fork of the Provo River, but this is not to be confused with the Little South Fork. Skiers who like hard-packed surfaces will enjoy skiing the snowmobile trail, which is not as heavily used by snowmobilers as the Mirror Lake highway. In fact, in the South Fork- Little Lit-tle South Fork area, there does not seem to be the hostility between skiers and snowmobilers often seen in other places. One afternoon after skiing, two friends and I were invited by a snowmobiler into his Winnebago, Win-nebago, where we discussed the virtues of our respective sports over glasses of Seven-Up Seven-Up and bourbon for three hours. The trail leading to the Little Lit-tle South Fork and Willow if Hollow makes a sharp right turn at the end of the parking area and heads south across the creek, then climbs a I dugway and winds through an aspen forest. At the Chevron pipeline i recognizable because the snow often is melted off it) the road becomes a trail for a ways, then turns into a road again. Following the road takes skiers up Willow Hollow lor a mile, then leaves Willow Hollow and climbs a steep ; tributary another mile to a low pass. This last mile is lined with talus slopes that provide great powder shots wjj.-hen the snow is deep, enough to cover the sharp-edged sharp-edged rocks. The low pass is three miles from the parking area and is the best short tour, although the descent can be a bit speedy under hard snow conditions. Willow Creek proper is a bit narrow and gnarly, hut skiable. The Little South Fork is a little hard to get to. Standing at the intersection of the road and pipeline, look southeast: that open canyon you see is the Little South Fork. The most logical route would be to beeline to the mouth, but that takes you across posted, private ground. To stay legal, follow the fenceline: first south, then west. Once in the Little South Fork drainage, either the Forest Service trail or the open creek bottom are good travel routes. Snowmobiles can cross into in-to the Little South Fork drainage from Bench Creek, but they usually stick to the road. On numerous trips into the Little South Fork, I have encountered snowmobiles only once, and usually have found the area secluded and quiet. Under present conditions, con-ditions, trail breaking is slow and difficult, but perhaps that is the price payed to get away from the noise and smell of snow machines. I broke trail up Willow Creek last Sunday. Snow machines had tried to get up there but had gotten stuck on the dugway, less than a half Hi !ii "0. mile from the parking area. We sank in about two feet in the new snow, so breaking trail was very slow. The wind was gusting. knocking the snow out of the tops of the fir and spruce tress, then carrying it out In long air-born air-born plumes Cumulus clouds billowed overhead, occasionally parting to let the sun shine through, and when it did, the snow sparkled. Kven though the skiing was slow, it was a magmticent day to be out in the Low I'intas. AHOYK: Mouth ol tlnLittlf South Fork: Not 'an official wilderness wilder-ness area, but certainly certain-ly a place of scenerv and solitude. RIGHT: The Little South Fork ski trail begins at the end of the plowed road ( miles east of Woodland. WOODLAND I. ill le South Fork Trailhead Chevron pipeline Low Pass Bad day By Frank Ki ickson I have skied up Bench Creek near Woodland two or three times a winter every-year every-year since 197C. But when I went there last Sunday, I found a locked gate and a small, hand-lettered sign: "Road closed to winter travel." Most of the Bencn Creek drainage is on National Forest land, but a short section sec-tion of private land perhaps per-haps one-half mile long-separates long-separates the public land from the country road. By closing this short section of road, the landowners prevent the public from entering en-tering thousands of acres of National Forest. I looked around for and Bench Creek ' VvJ- -1 ft &ri " ', l Mill if Foiest Service Boundff "cfc PARKING Below are elevations and distances from the trailheads to selected spots in the Little South Fork Bench Creek area. Klcvutioi) 7,160 7,320 8,820 at Bench Creek someone to talk to about this matter, but no one was at home at any of the three houses located near the mouth of the creek. But perhaps I was lucky in not finding anyone to talk to, Last winter, Lee Terry of Park City traveled with a group of about 10 women to Bench Creek to tour up the canyon. There was no sign posted at that time indicating in-dicating the road was closed, but "A woman came out of the house west of the gate and started yelling at us," Lee recalled. "She told us the road was private property proper-ty and that we couldn't go up it. After a while, she was joined by a woman who came out of the house east of K l J! K I I I I m ( 1 1 x V To Uinta National Forest Head of Willow Hollow Little South Fork Creek Bench Creek road Keiicli Creek Trailhead Forks of road Little South Fork Creek Miles 1 3 the gate, and they both started star-ted yelling at us." Lee and her party packed up their gear and went elsewhere. Liz Heimos, also of Park City, had a similar experience experi-ence about two weeks ago. She and a friend parked near the green gate and started to unload their equipment to ski up Bench Creek, and were similarly accosted and told "we are not allowing skiers up the road this winter." win-ter." Liz returned to Woodland and tried to telephone the Forest Service to determine if the landowners land-owners could close the road, but it was a weekend and the offices were closed. I telephoned Roy Daniels, Heber District Ranger on the The Newspaper Thursday , JeDruary 5, 1981 Page 11 - ! i I iB2 NORTH Tabiona Uinta National Forest, Monday Mon-day and asked him about the Bench Creek situation. He informed me that the short section of road across the private land was not a purchased pur-chased right-of-way owned by the Forest Service, but was instead under the jurisdiction of Wasatch County. So, I telephoned Harold Call, Wasatch County Attorney. Attor-ney. Call's response was cautious. He said he wanted the sheriff to investigate. The sheriff dispatched two deputies to Bench Creek Monday evening. Tuesday morning, based on information infor-mation provided him by the sheriff, Call flatly stated that the road up Bench Creek is a i.y 4.. , 8.K20 7,180 7.000 7,000 7,200 7. liOO A 3 II public road, that the ". winter travel" and "No parking" signs posted are illegal, and that skiers can certainly use the road He added that he would not sitfn criminal complaints lor trespassing against skiers using the road Further, he said the county only allows a gate across the road to aid the landowners in ion-trolling ion-trolling their cattle, but that the gate is not supposed to be locked If skiers are harassed, they should advise the landowner lan-downer that use ol the road has been cleared with county attorney, and that it they have any questions to contact Harold Call. Bad days at Bench Creek, better days coming. "HP |