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Question regarding Ibex and weather

Original Post
Aerili · · Los Alamos, NM · Joined Mar 2007 · Points: 1,875

Howdy,

I went to Ibex once last spring during perfect weather. I am interested in going again soon but what kind of rain forecast would you consider acceptable? I would not want to get mired in that hardpan if 15 or 20% chance of rain meant doooooom!

Or....what about 10%? I know the percent chance is not necessarily indicative of the quantity of rain that might fall (believe me, I've been caught in Yosemite Valley in a three-day non-stop downpour with only 20% chance of rain forecast).

Thanks for any experience and advice!

Edit: not sure if this should be in the Southern Utah Deserts forum, but it seems to straddle both halves of the state, so....

Boissal . · · Small Lake, UT · Joined Aug 2006 · Points: 1,541

You can get anywhere in Ibex without getting on the hardpan. You might still get wet though...

Aerili · · Los Alamos, NM · Joined Mar 2007 · Points: 1,875

Can you elaborate? It seemed to me that we had no choice but to either drive or walk over the lake bed to get to the main area. We entered and exited two different ways, but they all seemed to require being on "the powdah". Maybe my memory is faulty, but doesn't the hardpan end essentially right under the crags?

M Mobley · · Bar Harbor, ME · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 911

dirt roads all around the dry lake beds

Greg Gavin · · SLC, UT · Joined Oct 2008 · Points: 888

First road on the left past the mining/ranching road described on this site. that road then branches right to what is labeled as 'King Top' and 'Fossil Mountain' (better camping) on google maps, but you'll bear left onto the east side of the range to access the Ibex crags. You can circumnavigate the massif via that road system actually, and it's a pretty neat drive.

Ty Gregory · · Salt Lake City · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 115

The hardpan isn't bad when when it rains, you'd have have to have some serious rain for it to turn into a mud bog and that hardly ever happens. It is pretty cool when there is a tad bit of water on the hardpan, at night it is like walking on the sky. TAKE DRUGS! DO THE DRUGS!

Boissal . · · Small Lake, UT · Joined Aug 2006 · Points: 1,541

The viability of the pan really depends on how long it's been raining. I saw it turn into Lake Ibex a couple years ago and it looked like you couldn't get a foot out of that mud if you stepped in it. I can't imagine what it would do to a car. The spooky thing is that one minute it was the hadrpan and the next time I turned around it was the lake. It didn't even go through a stage of looking wet. It stays spongy for a good while once it's been soaked through and looks perfectly dry... The Tule Valley weather station N of Ibex has picked up over 1/2" of rain from this storm and the next one closest to the SE 3/4" so things might be slightly humid down there.

Aerili, to avoid the pan skip the Ibex turnoff altogether, go another mile or so on 6/50 and make a left on a dirt road. Follow it due S for a couple of miles (it can be pretty gnarly after it rains with huge dips and holes, I rubbed the undercarriage of my subi a few times on it). As it hits the foothills and start branching SW you'll see a brushy doubletrack that heads E and hugs the foohills (less bumpy but lots of rocks and brush, thin abandoned dirt road). Follow it as it wraps around the N end of the Ibex cliffs and all the way past the Red Monster to the Corral area.
If you want to hit the bouldering past main Ibex the harpan isn't part of the equation, it's all solid dirt road.

That being said, the best advice you'll ever get is

Ty Gregory wrote:TAKE DRUGS! DO THE DRUGS!
Aerili · · Los Alamos, NM · Joined Mar 2007 · Points: 1,875

Thanks for the detailed responses!!! I actually think we drove in on that road that goes along the crags (past those big boulders), but I didn't realize it was dirt, not hardpan. Sometimes the Internetz rule as a back up for a bad memory.

Boissal, I will write down your directions next time I go and try it out, rain or no.

Ty, thanks for the advice. I look forward now for the chance to take drugs and walk on the sky.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Northern Utah & Idaho
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