Skyline Drive
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2 Miles from Ski Area
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Just Past Half Moon Turnoff
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Skyline Drive Report
Not open all the way yet
by Dawn Svalberg
April 24, 2004
Some folks have written wondering if the Skyline Drive road is open to the top yet, so we took a ride up Saturday (today) to see. We checked out the main road as well as the Half Moon lake area.
The Skyline Drive road, which goes from Pinedale up to almost the wilderness entrance at Elkhart Park (an elevation climb of 7,100 feet to 9,100 feet) is one of the ways we locals mark whether or not winter is really over. It's a beautiful, 17-mile drive on paved road that has breathtaking views of both Fremont and Half Moon Lakes. When you can get all the way up, you're rewarded with a truly spectacular vista of the Wind River Mountain Range and Fremont Peak.
People have been breaking through the drifts and trying to push the road opening up, but right now the snow sets in about 2 miles past the White Pine Ski Area turnoff just before the big climb and sharp S curves. Looks like some other folks, braver than we were, still tried to push ahead, but we decided not to push our luck further than that. We did see one sedan parked along side the road about that point, but we know they had to have scraped the underside of their car on the snow ruts to make it that far. Right now a high clearance vehicle is recommended, along with some more weeks of warm weather, to venture too much further along this road.
The entire Half Moon Lake road is dry all the way to the end, but a bit washboarded. The lake is thawed and boat ramp accessible, but Half Moon Lake Resort and marina won't open until the beginning of May. We saw lots of deer and antelope along the way. Still no leaves on the trees, but some bushes around Half Moon are starting to green up. No sign of Arrowleaf Balsamroot yet, but there were some pretty, small yellow flowers blooming. The weather is opening things up fast and these areas make nice afternoon drives to shake off the winter cabin fever! It will all be in full spring in just another couple of weeks. We'll report back on Skyline Drive and let you know when it opens up to the top for access to the trailhead and campground. Photos by Dawn Svalberg, Pinedale Online
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