Bear's Hole

July 18, 2017

It is prime hiking season and now is the time to go hiking in the high country.  There are only a couple trails on the Tushars that I haven’t yet hiked, and now I can mark Bears Hole off my bucket list.  This is a good hike into rarely seen country and is a 3 mile spur off the Skyline Trail, definately high country; and there are still snow patches at the head of Bear Hole.  The closest access is from the Lake Stream trail head area and drops over the County line into Paiute and then loses 1600’ elevation, so be prepared to huff and puff on the return trip. The trail maintenance crew usually sends a team member with the truck to pick them up at the bottom because this is a steep return.  However, most of this hike is cool and shady and the lower half is an old logging road which branches south off the Cottonwood Canyon road, F.R. 126.  This road went up to the Meadow Floor in Bear Hole and I saw evidence of a power pole line-shack and a sawed off power pole stump.  I am intrigued about the history of this area and I know there was a lot of mining operations not far north of here.  The forest trail number for Bears Hole is 072, but that is the same trail number for S. Fk. Bullion which summits to Allunite Ridge and also 072 is the trail number for the Ten-mile trail which heads east off the Skyline out to “Little Park”.  It leads me to believe that before modern roads and ATV routes segmented this trail, perhaps at one time it was all one long trail which helped miners travel from Bullion Canyon and Webster City over to mines in Gold Gulch and Little Park.  But I digress, I’m a hiker, not a historian!

Now that this trail is clean, I bet an average hiker could do all 3 miles top down in 1.5 hours. Which is about the same amount of time for a car to be shuttled to the bottom, using highway 153’s dugway down to the town of Junction, turn north on 89, then left on Cottonwood Canyon Road(F.R. 126).  About 8 miles up Cottonwood, there’s a skinny little road F.R. 756 that leads down to the canyon floor and right across the stream is where Bears Hole Trail ends up! Easy Peasy?  What’s not so easy peasy is hiking the three miles back up to the Skyline trail, but it’s doable in 2.5 to 3 hours and is great cardio.  Also know there is a couple fantastic springs to refill your bottles from about 1\3 mile above the big wet meadow.  They are about 50 yards below the trail.  If you are ready to tackle Bear’s Hole, drive to the north east arm of Puffer Lake, then set your odometer as you start traveling up F.R. 642 and in one mile theres a small parking spot on the right where a shortcut trail will get you up to the Skyline Trail in just 1\4 mile.  Turn left once you intersect the Skyline (225) and take the SECOND right hand trail junction!  Even though the first right junction is labeled 072, it will take you to Little Park, not Bear Hole.  The correct 072 junction for this hike is only 1\4 mile further north.  I hope you enjoy venturing down the Bear Hole, and up Into the Tushars!