Houserock Valley Road effectively closed

[PaleoRob]

If you are planning a trip up HRVR (BLM Road 1065) this weekend to the AZT, Coyote Buttes, Wire Pass, White Pockets, Buckskin Gulch, or any destination branching from HRVR, i highly recommend postponing the trip if possible. Recent snowfall from last week and the beginning of this week has begun to melt rapidly with the warming temperatures of the end of this week. Houserock Valley Road is impassible as of 2/7 as a through-route. The lower section between US89A and BLM Road 1110 is passable to a high-clearance 4x4 with low range. No Subaru Impreza or Chevy LUVs. Rapid snowmelt has turned the bentonitic clay into thick, deep, sticky mud. Several places have standing water, and control, even with a 4x4, can be difficult. The situation will likely deteriorate before it improves as melting snow will continue to make the road extremely wet for the next few days, especially in the higher elevations. Travel between US89A and the condor viewing ramada can be accomplished in a passenger vehicle with care, but should not be attempted beyond this point. Many of the auxiliary roads leading away from HRVR are completely impassible with thick mud and wash outs.
I will provide updates when i get back down there for work next week.

Also, if you are planning a trip up Cottonwood Canyon Road, it is closed for road repairs as well.

[PaleoRob]

Update:
HRVR up to Four Springs turn-off is rutted but dry. According to my coworkers who have driven further up the road, beyond Four Springs the road is rutted and muddy and very slick. I would recommend not driving any further than Four Springs without high clearance 4x4. I'll update again after this next storm we're supposed to get up here.

[caddymob]

Thanks for this info! I am planning a trip up House Rock rd to the Paria area and then up Cottonwood Canyon to Escalante in March 8-10. Hope the roads clear up a little by then... Please keep us updated!

[PaleoRob]

As an update, road conditions are unchanged with the latest storm. There was some snow on the roads, but it melted off and didn't change the ruttedness of the roads one way or another.

[PaleoRob]

Yet another update. Drove the road yesterday to its junction with 1110. Rutted but dry. Saw a Subaru go up the road and it came back down later in the day, apparently unharmed. I don't know how far up it went. The road appears to be open all the way through, for as I was turning off of HRVR a caravan of Jeeps, one FJ Cruiser, one Range Rover, and a late model Toyota pickup passed me coming down the road from the north. They didn't start from the bottom, so I'm assuming that they must have been coming from US89.

[Hoffmaster]

I'm sure House Rock Valley Road heading south is in good shape, but I'm wondering about the roads heading SE towards Rider Canyon. If you are in the area could you take a peek? I'm headed there on 3/15.

[PaleoRob]

Sure thing.