Crane Pond Road condition

[Horicon]

Anyone been into Crane lately. I was wondering how deep the water was over the road.

[Gray Ghost]

I was in a couple of weeks ago and I as dry as the weather had been, the water still looked damn deep. Something with superior clearance would probably do it, but I held off (Nissan Frontier) and the dogs, wife and I walked around.

[Horicon]

Thanks. I drove thru it 2 years ago with my new Subaru Outback...the water was over the hood !!!!! Almost a $25,000 mistake. I'll try in August maybe the water will be down then.

[Justin]

I was there 2 weeks ago, and it's pretty deep. There is a big dip towards the end of the flooded section that drops another 8-10 inches for a second. Definetly alittle scary, but made it no problem in our ford explorer. Also, my brother in law made it no problem in his nissan frontier(4x4). After arriving in the parking lot there was a subaru outback that made it through also. I remember thinking that the water had to be up to the windows in that car. But they made it.
When I go through it, I put it in 4WD, say a quick prayer, and try to keep a quick pace going through.

Gray Ghost, was that your red frontier I saw?

[ripple]

the dip at the exit on the right is due to people spinning their tire as they come out of the water
stay to the left abit and don't gun the gas as you come out

when leaving stay to the right going in or you may rip your spoiler off.
the bottom is all hard pan stone so no worries about getting stuck

[Horicon]

Thanks for the info.

[StBonaAlum]

How far down the road can you make it in a normal car before having to ditch and walk the rest of the way in to the wilderness?

Would it be better to head into the area via the northern trailhead (forget the name, but it leads to the Lily Pond lean-to) for the sake of parking, fewer people, etc. ?

Also, if anyone has been up there recently, how are the conditions around the loop?

[Justin]

With care, you can drive right to the flooded section. There is some room for parking, and there is a trail around the water at the top of the curved hill. from there it's a 10 minute walk to the parking lot.

I can't be sure about the full conditions on the Long Swing Trail, or the Short Swing Trail, but many of the trails in that area are very well maintained, as far as blowdown is concerned. In May, we hiked from Crane Pd to Oxshoe Pd to Crab Pd to Pharaoh Lk with no problems at all.

[TheBugHouse]

Crane Pond Rd.

Crane Pond has become a shadow of its former self Camped on Crane, Pharaoh, Oxshoe, Grizzle Ocean and the rest of 'em as a youngin' There are still a couple of sweet spots, but it seems to be so popular among the college age, wannabe hippie, cooler toting, boom box blastin' glass bottle drinkin' yoyo's these days. So much rope hanging from the trees, absolutley NO firewood, fishing still kicks butt though. I never had a problem driving all the way in with my small 4X4 pickup, even in the wettest of conditions. I remember about 4 -5 years ago almost being run down by a school bus of all things while walking the road in! The same year I drove all the way in with my pickup, only to find a honda civic parked! To this day I have no clue how he got that thing in there!!