Lead King Basin in a Renegade

[yaktoleft13]

Can anyone speak to the feasibility and extra distance involved in hiking in to lead king from wherever the road starts getting nasty? If I wanted to avoid both rough sections of the road could I leave a vehicle somewhere and not add a ton of extra mileage for hiking?

Depends what you mean by "nasty". The road becomes 4wd only about 1.7 miles from the trailhead, just past crystal. That road is an easy, quick hike. If you mean from when it gets bumpy, which is just past marble, then it's 5-6 miles to reach the upper trailhead on a road packed with off-road vehicles, which is much less manageable

[hellmanm]

Can anyone speak to the feasibility and extra distance involved in hiking in to lead king from wherever the road starts getting nasty? If I wanted to avoid both rough sections of the road could I leave a vehicle somewhere and not add a ton of extra mileage for hiking?

The upper road is very narrow in several places (and I don't imagine that the avy debris will help matters). I can't speak to the lower road, but I wouldn't count on a lot of places to pull off on the upper road (at least once things get rough).

[daway8]

Can anyone speak to the feasibility and extra distance involved in hiking in to lead king from wherever the road starts getting nasty? If I wanted to avoid both rough sections of the road could I leave a vehicle somewhere and not add a ton of extra mileage for hiking?

Along the upper road (FR315/Lost Trail Road) it's very narrow much of the way with lots of private property and signs telling you not to park in the wide areas on the road because those are some of the only places to pass and/or turn around. So there are few if any legal parking areas between Marble and Lead King Basin on the upper road (8.3mi one way). I don't recommend trying this road if you don't have a vehicle that can go the whole way.

I've heard if you take the lower road to Crystal it's a fairly easy drive to Crystal but really bad (much worse than the upper road) between Crystal and the trailhead (only 2.2mi one way). But I'm told there's not really any legal parking areas around Crystal.

So with either route it's go all the way or take your chances with questionable pull-offs in spots where you may or may not be given grief for parking there... The other option is try to bum a ride off of someone with a more capable vehicle.

[yaktoleft13]

Can anyone speak to the feasibility and extra distance involved in hiking in to lead king from wherever the road starts getting nasty? If I wanted to avoid both rough sections of the road could I leave a vehicle somewhere and not add a ton of extra mileage for hiking?

Along the upper road (FR315/Lost Trail Road) it's very narrow much of the way with lots of private property and signs telling you not to park in the wide areas on the road because those are some of the only places to pass and/or turn around. So there are few if any legal parking areas between Marble and Lead King Basin on the upper road (8.3mi one way). I don't recommend trying this road if you don't have a vehicle that can go the whole way.

I've heard if you take the lower road to Crystal it's a fairly easy drive to Crystal but really bad (much worse than the upper road) between Crystal and the trailhead (only 2.2mi one way). But I'm told there's not really any legal parking areas around Crystal.

So with either route it's go all the way or take your chances with questionable pull-offs in spots where you may or may not be given grief for parking there... The other option is try to bum a ride off of someone with a more capable vehicle.

There's one legal parking area about a quarter of a mile past crystal. The road switchbacks to the left, then to the right, and shortly after the right switchback there's a parking area on forest service land big enough for 8-10 cars. Perfectly legal to park there, and encouraged by the crystalonians

[daway8]

There's one legal parking area about a quarter of a mile past crystal. The road switchbacks to the left, then to the right, and shortly after the right switchback there's a parking area on forest service land big enough for 8-10 cars. Perfectly legal to park there, and encouraged by the crystalonians

Is that before or after the road turns ugly?

[yaktoleft13]

There's one legal parking area about a quarter of a mile past crystal. The road switchbacks to the left, then to the right, and shortly after the right switchback there's a parking area on forest service land big enough for 8-10 cars. Perfectly legal to park there, and encouraged by the crystalonians

Is that before or after the road turns ugly?

The quarter mile past crystal to the parking area is slightly harder than the road to crystal, but I've made it twice with no problems in a Crosstrek. It gets 4wd with clearance required immediately after the parking area

[greenonion]

Very helpful so far. Thanks folks

[UTmike]

I did the upper road about three weeks ago and the avy debris must have been much worse in the past because it was not bad. I drove it around 3am so had no traffic but passing other vehicles would certainly be the crux. If wet I imagine it'd up the difficulty as well. Only put it in 4wd a couple times.