Mead Basin, Georgetown Canyon, Trails #561, 519, 513, Crow Creek
Level of Difficulty: 5- Lower Intermediate to 8-Lower Advanced
Elevations: 6716' to 9790'
Starting Point Coordinates: N42°34.851' W111°14.109'
Length of Trail: 24 miles
Approximate time: 4 1/2 hours
Dates of Rides: 10/22/10
Description: We rode this on a fairly cool day, but nice for this late in October. It was about 46 degrees. (That will be more important later. The first part of the ride was on a well established Four-wheeler trail. It followed the ridge giving an excellent view into both valleys to the East and West. There were barriers to stop four-wheelers, but by the tracks it didn't slow too many down. I'm not sure why they banned it to four-wheelers where they did. We rode into Mead Basin, just below Mead Peak. From there it seemed as if the trail ended, but the Forest Service map showed a trail down the canyon. At first it seemed like just random cow paths along a dry creek bed. But from time to time you could see a definite marked trail and even some tracks. It was a bit of a challenge navigating along the side hills above the creek bed and at one point the only option was to go down into the bed.
From there it went from clearly marked trails to places where you weren't sure there was a trail at all. However, someone had fairly recently come through and cut several logs. We came to a very precarious part of the trail where we had to go on a rock ledge up about 18" and then about a 6" wide ledge to get through. Looking back now at the Forest Service map and matching our gps trail I can see that was the point where we needed to cross Crow Creek and proceed on the other side. Unfortunately we missed that and continued on another 2 miles trying to pick our way along the creek. At points there seemed to be a definite trail and yet we were sure if it was just a cow path. Finally we came to a point where it seemed the only way out was to cross the creek We pulled out our map and to the best of our ability tried to figure out where we were. It seemed that a jeep trail was just across the creek. Even though there were a lot of beaver dams backing up the creek at that point I thought I had found a place to cross. It hit the 4' wide creek fairy fast only to have my front wheel sink deeply into the water and mud. I had enough momentum to get my front wheel up on the other bank, but the depth of the rear wheel caused me to bring the bike over backwards. I was trying my best to try to keep the bike out of the water, but only succeeded in getting myself chest deep in water(30 something degree water!) My bike got totally swamped so we had to tow it out with my friends bike. It was about 12 miles, soaking wet, in about 45 degree temperatures!
Comparing the map with the gps route, it seems that the light green track is where we should have gone.
Google Map
(By clicking on the "View in Larger Map" you can export the map into Google Earth and get the full effect of a 3-D view in which you can turn and spin. After clicking on trail link, just click on "View in Google Earth" then "Open". You must have Google Earth installed on your computer, which is a free download.)
Elevation Profile: 
Slide show of the Ride: