River Road Turn Around

Trail Overview

River Road Turn Around is a sandy narrow trail that is sure to leave pinstriping. We were determined to make it to Fort Gates after turning around at one impassable water crossing at Old River Road and again at the overgrown trail of North Cross to Nowhere. We turned right off Old River Road onto Forest Road 74-12.9. Showing signs of being recently logged, the underbrush has overgrown the trail quite a bit. It was a fun narrow run with one small mud pit that opened up at the intersection of FR 74-13.2 and FR 74-13.2A. We turned left on FR 74-13.2 and quickly had to turn around at another impossible water crossing. We couldn't even see the other side as it makes a left-hand turn into the overgrown swamp. The water was extremely dark and muddy and showed no signs of recently being crossed. After turning back, we noticed that local traffic appeared to travel south at FR 74-13.2A to bypass the swamp. After further review on satellite images and the Forest Service Interactive Visitor Map, it appears there is a new bypass road to the southeast of FR 74-13.2A that is shown on the visitor map but not defined as an open route. Trying to work our way back to Highway 19, we turned onto FR 19-36.6, heading West. Along this route, we found a great picnic spot overlooking a shallow lake that we had to stop at for a late lunch. After our stop, we continued west in the deep sand and passed one mud pit before reaching Highway 19.

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Difficulty

Narrow pinstriping trails consisting of loose deep sand in areas with a couple mud holes, an impassible water crossing and great picnic spot to top off a trip. I could see several low areas having a significant amount of standing water after heavy rain.

Technical Rating