Part II: Lead King Basin Loop

To see the beginning of our trip, start here. To start at Part I of our off-roading experience, start here.

Lead King Basin Loopis an 8 mile Loop situated in the White River National Forest. Top elevation is 10,000 feet.This was my 3rd off-roading experience. The first one had me white-knuckled thinking that the trucks would be damaged from the rough road. Mind you, my husband has a 9″ lift and a heavy duty suspension, but my sons truck is 3500 stock. The 2nd one wasn’t so bad, I just thought that we weren’t going to be able to find our way back to the main road because we were on no road (although my husband is a professional truck driver and he could find his way out of anything). This time, I buckled myself in and prayed that we’d be able to see our sons again.

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We went left, but eventually ended up in the historic/ghost town of Crystal. Crystal is four miles into the loop, which is the half way point. The sign says: Narrow rough road. 4×4 recommended. When you see Part III of this trip, you’ll see a whole other sign at our 1/2 way point.

There is actually property for sale on this unmaintained road.

We got out here to stretch our legs. I was contemplating a hike up a trail on the left, but there’s no way that my husbands knee could have handled it. The sign at the trailhead warned of a bear presence.

So far, besides the switch-backs, the road wasn’t that bad.

My husband pulled of to take a snooze, and I walked around and to take pictures.

He woke up when we heard 4-wheelers coming up the road. Up until this point, we were hoping that we were on the right trail. I flagged the guys down to ask them how far we were from Crystal. In the next image, you can see where I was standing, and where my husband was. The guys were probably in their late 20’s, early 30’s, and asked if I wanted to come with them. How sweet! LOL I said to them, “Sorry, I’m with that guy.”

Some of the scenic pictures look almost like they’re part of a model railroad set-up.

The best time to have done this trip would have been a week or two before. Many of the leaves had already fallen off. Unfortunately, this was the only time that we could go.