has anyone been up latly? a few weeks back it was still a lil to high for my ride. hit me up! or pm me!:)

A few guys and I are heading out Friday after work to go check it out. Feel free to join us.

I was up there this weekend but didnt go all the way in. About 3 miles from the lake I turned around because I didnt want to get stuck on mothers day with my wife and baby. No winch,straps etc so I turned around. I would do it with out a 7 month old baby in the back. I pulled out a Durango and a yukon cuz they blocked the road. 1 foot snow drifts and they got stuck!

So give gome land marks...Did you get to the big rock with all the graphiti (sp) on it? We are going to try and make it to faushrie (sp) lake up past saw mill for Memorial day.

I never saw the graphiti! I am not familier with the road either. I was going off the mile signs and doing some math! I feel you can make it. I just didnt want to try to make it and be the only one there and stuck with a baby! If I wasnt alone and had a working winch I would have kept going. I also came from bowman rd. off 20 if that matters to you guys. My rig is a Jeep wrangler locked front and rear with 35s and 20 psi in the tires and not once got slowed down from the snow

I know I can make it, it's the rest of the guys that are gung-ho about going up there I'm worried about. I've got a 4runner sas'd on 36's locked with duel cases w/case gears and bead locks. They are stock on 31's with no lockers.

A stock durango made it to the third drift that was 1 to 1.5 feet deep and was done, I went a few miles or so past that. I turned around when I saw a drift 200 feet across and 2 feet deep.

thanks guys, let me know when its do able, so u think it wont be ready for memorial weekend? i'll be dragging my boat from hi-way 20!!!! i love it out there! :D

I think it's do able now...Just depends on what ya got to get ya there.

Been to Sawmill on Memorial for the last three years, snow or no snow I am going. We generally have at least 8 rigs with us. It's supposed to hit the upper 90's in the valley this week. I am certain the trail will be in decent shape by Memorial.

Well we'll be out there too, look for a white 90 runner sas'd on 36 Iroks. I'll come have an adult beverage with ya.

Well we'll be out there too, look for a white 90 runner sas'd on 36 Iroks. I'll come have an adult beverage with ya.

I'll be driving a White 98 Landrover Discovery and we'll be with some SAS'd Toys, an FJ 45 pickup, and a mog as well as others. It'll be hard to miss our misfit group.

Heading out to Bowman after work today(5:30 ish) Should have pics and a report for ya guys tonight when I get home. Or if anyones interested in going out with us let me know..

Heading out to Bowman after work today(5:30 ish) Should have pics and a report for ya guys tonight when I get home. Or if anyones interested in going out with us let me know..

We'll probably see you out there. leaving soon.

We'll probably see you out there. leaving soon.

Must have missed ya. We went all the way out to Faushrie(sp) and back. Ran into a few guys out at Sawmill but no one other than that. Kept an eye out for ya though.
Where did you guys fish any luck?

We camped at Faucherie down in the group camp. We thought we heard someone later friday evening but it came and went. No fish though, not even a bite.

What time did you get out there? Did you see our tracks in the snow? I think we got there at about 7 7:30. We came in on the back side went down by the inlet, then went across the spillway and up that nasty hill to the dam and across then out the normal way.

with the snow how clearence do i need to get there? i have a suv with 31s on it plus be pulling my boat. didnt catch fish bummer. i never get skunked at bowman, but probably cuz i know the hot lures there that never fail:D

No one said they fished Bowman:confused:

But I think you'll be fine on 31's, as long as you know how to drive, plus I think it'll mostly be gone by the end of the week.

where's the pics?

All packed and ready to head out....

me and my lil cuzin (10yrs) got a few nice fish:) had the whole lake to ourselves saturday morning on the boat til he had enough of the rain, slush and snow out there and my rain gear ripped, so we packed it up and headed home. :(

We stuck it out till sunday. It snowed all day saturday, and windy on top of that. But we did knock 'em dead.

nice fish!!! that brown kinda looked like the small one we caught. we released all of ours, the lake doesnt get stocked except with bows every few yrs i think its been like 4 yrs since the last time. the browns are pretty naturals so i dont keep them, if i want food ill go somewhere else and get planters which doesnt wreck a lake for others, becuz i like being able to natual fish. if you wanted to eat fish you should of just went to fuller lake it was planted last week, it has small browns too.

Thanks for the advice...And by the way we did release most of what we caught. When the fish is past the point of exhaustion and or damaged internally and wouldn't survive that's when we kept them.
I really appreciate the accusation that we wrecked the lake for others by taking 2 browns out of it.:shaking:

wasnt saying that, i was just saying about all those who do keep all thier fish in these kinda places.

nice fish!!! that brown kinda looked like the small one we caught. we released all of ours, the lake doesnt get stocked except with bows every few yrs i think its been like 4 yrs since the last time. the browns are pretty naturals so i dont keep them, if i want food ill go somewhere else and get planters which doesnt wreck a lake for others, becuz i like being able to natual fish. if you wanted to eat fish you should of just went to fuller lake it was planted last week, it has small browns too.

wasnt saying that, i was just saying about all those who do keep all thier fish in these kinda places.

Really, reread what you wrote... If I had said that to you how would you have taken it?

from sat. we went up through lil town of wash.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w98/norcalsvx/P5310055.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w98/norcalsvx/P5310050.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w98/norcalsvx/P5310032.jpg

woah.... that swing out tire carrier on that rig is wild!!

Is the back way in from Wash. on a map, are there any closed during winter signs on the Washington side? It would be nice to be able to wheel into Bowmen during the winter, unfortunately it is a ticket if you come in from Fuller Lake.

Is the back way in from Wash. on a map, are there any closed during winter signs on the Washington side? It would be nice to be able to wheel into Bowmen during the winter, unfortunately it is a ticket if you come in from Fuller Lake.

Take FS Road 21 to Graniteville Road, turn right and head to Bowman. There are no signs closing the road to wheeled vehicles

Take FS Road 21 to Graniteville Road, turn right and head to Bowman. There are no signs closing the road to wheeled vehicles

Ya I know about that route, it is a bit out of the way, and it could work for a 3-5 day excursion. I was hoping to find a shorter route from Washington. What is the section of road like from Graniteville to Bowman, a wide logging road or tight trail, wind exposed or sheltered? If it is a good way in, might have to plan a trip that way next winter. Unfortunately due to the snowmobiler's, most of TNF is closed except for Eagle lakes.

Ya I know about that route, it is a bit out of the way, and it could work for a 3-5 day excursion. I was hoping to find a shorter route from Washington. What is the section of road like from Graniteville to Bowman, a wide logging road or tight trail, wind exposed or sheltered? If it is a good way in, might have to plan a trip that way next winter. Unfortunately due to the snowmobiler's, most of TNF is closed except for Eagle lakes.

The road is nice, kinda like a regular road. It has it's sheltered parts not so sheltered parts. The snow is usually deep.... Not really sure what your looking for. If the other way is going to take you 3-5 days the others won't be much better for ya. There are quite a few ways to get out there. In the middle of winter they're all about the same. Without knowing your rigs capabilities, it's kinda hard to say what's the best way in for you.

My suggestion would be spend some time out there this summer, maybe go to the forest service and get a map of the area. Go check out some of the ways in, look at the road condition, what side of the slope it's on, elevation change ect. From there you can make your own choice of where and how to get to Bowman next winter.

Is this is the route in from Wash?

Most in my group have an easy 1500hrs of seat time just in the snow wheeling alone, so depth and type isn't an issue. I have found that exposure tends to be the more dominant factor in trail time than conditions/depth. Wind exposed routes tend to be the main cause of long travel times as theuy can be pretty treacherous with heavily loaded rigs for extended camping trips. We usually snow wheel/camp in the High Lakes area(Plumas NF), there are two main routes, one is longer and basically sheltered, the other is shorter but very exposed and can have sever wind generated drifts. We usually use the sheltered route for camping runs, and the exposed for day trips where we don't have a destination point. If the Graniteville route was similar to this, we would want to plan for a longer trip than a Fri.-Sun., so we would have plenty of time to get into and back out of Bowman. A nice trip would be to wheel in to Bowman, and set up camp on Friday. Than wheel over to Catfish or maybe up to Tolhouse and back on Staturday, than back out to Wash. on Sunday.

The 3-5 days would be if it would take us longer than 6-8 hrs a to get into Bowman from Granitville. I have wheeled out to Graniteville in the snow, so I have an idea of the time it takes to get there, but not from there to Bowman. What is the average time from either Graniteville or Wash. into Bowman during the winter?

If I can get some verified open winter routes I will take a day run this summer to map it out/GPS and check the exposed areas.

It all depends on the conditions. I've made it in 3 hrs, then I've had trips that have taken 8+. All the roads have been open in the past years. The hardest part is getting back out from the lake.