Bear Creek Diversion Dam Road question

[Wandering Daisy]

I just got a permit to the Meet-Up! How far up the road can I get with a 2wd passenger car? Is there parking allowed along the road if I can only get part way up? If I walk the road is there obvious parking at the bottom? Does the road become impassible when it rains? I really do not mind walking the road so should I even try to drive it? It is not even shown as a road on the USGS map.

viewtopic.php?t=22133

I read this older post and getting conflicting opinions. From the few photos, it looks like something I would not want to drive in my car, but it would be nice to get up the road a bit before it goes along that steep slope. But I do not have high clearance. There also seems to be a possibility that I could hitch a ride since it is supposed to be a fairly popular 4-wd road. My plan is to eat an early dinner and then walk up the road in the afternoon to camp near the trailhead. Is there a water source? I do not want to haul up water.

[freestone]

I have used the trailhead several times both walking and driving but not in recent years. This is what I remember... the road is single track all the way to the dam with few pullouts, it starts out rough, gets easier in spots but there are still lots of rough sections best done with high clearance vehicles. Parking in those pullouts is not an option and have never seen anyone even try it. The key takeaway is you are a longways from help should you get stuck so I think most folks without high clearance vehicles wisely choose to walk the easy couple of miles rather than risk ruining their trip with an expensive rescue.

[FrankPS]

I was there two summers ago for my first time. In a Honda Civic. We had planned to hike the road. There is parking at the base/beginning of the road. No way would I have tried to drive my low-clearance Civic (or any other low-clearance vehicle) up there.

Once you get to the end of the road, the creek is a few hundred feet below you. As far as I remember, there is no water along the road. Shortly after starting on the trail at the end of the road, you will descend to the water.

Although relatively low-elevation, the creek itself is one of the most beautiful I've seen in the Sierra. Little falls, cascades, pools all the way.

[Wandering Daisy]

Thanks for the input. I have taken my car on some bad dirt roads only able to go well under 5mph. But that was when it was 10 miles to the trailhead. It is too risky to drive. I only plan to walk to the first water and camp. The road from Huntington Lake to Edison is enough stress for me.

[SirBC]

There are some videos on youtube showing people driving the road. Here is one of the longer videos:

[Wandering Daisy]

Thanks. I have driven my car on similar roads, but none as narrow. With my lower clearance I need more shoulder room to maneuver around some rocks. Additionally, there appeared to be long stretches where meeting an oncoming car would require long backing up to a pull-over. I did observe a few pull outs early on big enough to park without negative impact on others. Parking a car in the few pull-outs farther up the road would make others back up longer distances if they met an oncoming car. I think I will stick to walking the road.

I wonder if staff at Edison would drive you to the trailhead, if you were to pay for a boat ride back on Edison. Coming out Edison is about the same distance, if you do the boat ride. Also, coming back on Bear Ridge is another possibility. Going downhill at the end of trip, the lack of shade and water may not be a problem.

[windknot]

I drove the Bear Diversion Dam Road in August 2022 in a stock 2005 Honda CR-V. It felt dicey in spots but was ultimately doable. I would not attempt it with any less clearance than what we had (8.1") nor with 2wd. Would definitely recommend walking the road.

[Wandering Daisy]

I crunched the numbers on going in the Bear Ridge Cross-Trail/coming out down Bear Ridge Trail, assuming I cannot drive the road. Based simply on the map, it is about 6 miles less but about 600 feet more elevation gain. That assumes there is overnight parking at the Bear Cross-Trail trailhead. As for aesthetics and water availability, Bear Diversion trail is better. Something to think about. The only sticking point I see is that my permit is for Bear Diversion, although I am not worried about that.

[Harlen]

5 posts back, SirBC wrote:

There are some videos on youtube showing people driving the road. Here is one of the longer videos:

and kindly provided the link to a video of the drive. It may be deceiving, but the drive looks pretty doable for a careful 2wdriver. At 8:20 in the video I think I am seeing a pretty big pullout on the right which could do for a place to park your vehicle without getting in the way of drivers pulling over for passing. After that point, it looks very narrow for quite a ways.
What about carrying a big pick and shovel, and working on the road as you go? I thought to do that on our next trip to Taboose Creek TH. Barring giant boulders, with a heavy pick, digging bar and shovel, one can do great things. John Henry!

BTW, We chose to cancel our former WP for the Horton Lakes TH, so 3 spots should open up then soon.

[jmherrell]

The tough part would be having to back up for another car. I once met a truck with a huge mule trailer on the worst part of the Florence Lake Road above a cliff.and had to back. The car behind me got the first spot. By the time I found the next wide spot I had gone about a quarter mile. This road is much worse than the Florence Lake Road.