By:
Submission
We drove in a Yamaha Viking up to the Reservoir and easily navigated the roads to the Reservoir. We did not take our Jeep Sahara but it could have done the roads just as well. We parked our truck and tow trailer rig at the trail/road head. There was plenty of room to park, unload the Viking and turn around when we left. The road up to the Reservoir made for a great and fun ride. The landscape is very scenic with grazing cattle and we spotted a few deer. The lake is serene and we were the only ones at the Reservoir. We walked along the lake and there are several campsites. We could only imagine watching the stars at night and waking to birdsongs in the morning. We attempted to hike to the waterway that feeds the Reservoir but were unsuccessful as there were too many fallen aspen trees. In Torrey the temperatures were near 95F, however at the Reservoir it was a cool 75F. We were day visitors, but the primitive campsites are what adventurous campers and hikers dream of.
At 10,200 feet above sea level, this reservoir is pretty cold at night and in the morningm maybe even below freezing. Hard to fathom when Boulder and Escalante just a few more miles down the road are close to 100F in the day. Here, it barely got above 60F. Our visit was during the first week of June so the coolness was welcome.
The 4x4 road leading up to the reservoir is rugged and in several spots requires above-average skill. Think: loose, baseball-to-football-sized rocks scattered between humpties, big chunks sticking out of the trail. These humpties have plenty of deep scars and scrapes from the differentials and transfer cases of previous drivers getting smacked. Add a 30-40% grade and you have backslide if you're not skilled enough or your rig doesn't have enough clearance. We parked about 3/4 mile up the trail, just after the first serious 4x4 climb, in a beautiful meadow surrounded by aspens and fir trees. We made sure not to drive on any areas that didn't already show impact and when we left we scattered woody debris and downed branches across the area.
We rarely make cooking campfires, preferring to use our nice Coleman stove. The chance of causing a forest fire by burning wood is enough incentive for me to only have a campfire in absolutely perfect conditions. This place is special so please leave it that way. You'll also notice visitor's initials carved into some of the aspen tree's white bark with dates going back to the 1960's. Again, leave the trees alone and enjoy their majestry.
We hiked from our camp site to the Oak Creek Reservoir and saw some recent bear scat and some nice-sized bear prints in the soft dirt on some higher road sections. At the reservoir their were two fishermen who came in via ATV and two 4x4 pickup trucks camped along the water's edge. It's a peaceful place and because of the serious four-wheel drive sections, mostly likely will stay that way.
