On 12 April, I decided to stage at the traihead (North side) of Israel Canyon. From there, I rode straight to the top of Lake Mountain, scouting all the trails in/around the top to determine if I could find a route down toward Five Mile Pass.
I found a canyon trail/road that dropped me down toward Soldier Canyon and proceeded due South, just using basic orienteering to determine the correct route south toward Eureka (where I'd stop for fuel & lunch).
GPSr tracks for the route and the 5Mile Pass area are found here:
A view from the top of Lake Mountain:
From the valley floor, I found a route that kept me on a ridge line paralleling the main US73/Redwood Road South. Eventually, I made my way into Little Moab, dropping right into the area where all the offroaders were rock crawling.
From Little Moab, I proceeded East until I found my route South along the east side of the Tintic Mountains, finally dropping into Eureka from the East side.
Lunch at the 3 Prospectors was great, as usual - followed by fuel at the gas station adjacent to the cafe.
From there, I continued South, up and over the mountain and toward Silver City. Surprisingly, the trail was mostly dry - with small pockets of snow off to the side where there's plenty of shade.
My Spot tracks:
The return route also kept me to the East of the Tintic Mountains. I was determined to climb back up Lake Mountain from the South - that may have been a mistake. The south end of Lake Mountain is steep and strewn with rocks. At one point, I hit a rock so hard on the underside, I was positive I had damaged the machine.
YouTube video of the ride back up the South side of Lake Mountain.
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