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Woundering if anyone out there that might have driven or hike to the Island Mountain area that can give me advise on how to get there safely from Hwy101. Looking sometime this spring on coming to the area and would love to see that part of the north side of the NWP, and if their anyone interested coming along please let me know!
Thanks.
Rory
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I don't imagine the water truck was there to water the daisies, and it is therefore not surprising that people engaged in illegal actives would fib a little.
I tried doing that once. When I did I took Bell springs Rd(which I do not recommend). I passed pot farm after pot farm. Eventually we talked to this guy who had stalled his water truck on a steep slope and we asked him how far island mountain is. He said that there was nothing there and that all of it had been removed which is a lie.
I don't think he is much into the internet (Not making any sort of old joke) but he is a very private person it seems. He said he would still run the speeder, he used to run it when Eureka Southern and NCRA used the tracks. He told me a story that he was once on his way to alderpoint thinking that the train was already past... turns out they were running late and heard the horn, threw it in reverse and booked it back to his ranch and lifted it onto the side. After that he always asked for permission, which he said he got all the time. He said the only thing that saved him was the fact that the trains couldn't really go past 25 MPH... This guy has lived in the canyon area for most of his life, and said he remembers the BUD Car and catching it anywhere in the canyon to go fishing many years ago.
Michael: hope you told him about this site! I'm sure there are members on here who would would PAY for a speeder ride up there!
He must be conflicted about getting the track restored: he wouldn't be able to use his speeder anymore, .... at least not without taking a terrible risk.
Very interesting!
FYI RAIL ACTIVITY IN THE CANYON... LOL... Had to do survey work south of Alderpoint. I took a detour to find the tracks in the canyon and ran into a older guy that owns a ranch down there. He happens to be a huge rail fan and he took me down to see the rails by his house. He owns a fremont speeder which he has sitting on the track that he uses to take his grand kids to a fishing hole. By the looks of the shine on the rails and the brush cleared, he uses the speeder at least a few times a week. Most of the ties in that area are dry rotted... There is one area that is bad between his house and alderpoint that he wants to get good enough to pass with a speeder so he can take the speeder into town. It was fascinating, this guy just wanted to 1. Talk about trains, and 2. Wanted the trains to run by his house again.
You have to hike through a ranch which is private property. Years ago I got permission to drive through the property but the rode is probably gone by now.
Well, I would have to go along as the NWPRRN's attorney...
A good friend of mine is an amazing photographer. He wanted to take pictures of the south fork bridge so he called the NCRA. They were thrilled and said they wouldn't even mind having someone come out with him to document the bridges and infrastructure- Good for future prospects.
Maybe we can get an NCRA sanctioned trip up there. That way we would have permission to be on their property.
Island Mountain is a ghost town,...and so is the tunnel. It reminded me of the landscape when our first astronauts landed on the Moon. Old telephone wires hanging in the air, stripped junction boxes from the old microwave towers, rusting railway track, stacks of old ties, and bare foundations stripped of mobile housing used for the maintenance gangs. Black crows on the old poles, and scavenging Chicken Hawks circling overhead. The perfect setting for a nightmare movie. Guests beware........
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