Nelson Range/Salt Tram Explore

[DAW89446]

If you go north from Cerro Gordo to the tramway summit station, you will encounter the climb out of what is locally known as Boiler Canyon. It's loose shale and difficult to get traction at the bottom from all the shale pulled down from sliding vehicles going southbound. The coordinates at the start are:  36°33'24.13" -117°49'10.25".

From my old website (pre-2012):

About 2.7 miles [south] from the tramway, you can look down onto one of several pumping plants that helped to pump water from Mexican and Cerro Gordo springs up to the ridgetop and thence to Cerro Gordo.

At about 3.2 miles from the tramway, the route plunges down into an unnamed canyon. Some local wags call this canyon “Boiler Canyon,” due to an old boiler located a ways below the road. Descent into this canyon is very steep, dropping from 9000' to 7460' in a mile and a half.

Much of that roadway is off camber and in loose shale and other rocks, resulting in what I call a “controlled slide” for about the upper two-thirds of its descent to the bottom of the canyon. To explain a controlled slide: During the descent, I keep my truck in 4-Lo, 1st gear. The engine and wheels turn at a pace that would allow my truck to descend at about 2-4 miles per hour against engine compression and off the brakes, but my truck is sliding downwards at about double that speed and sometimes a bit more. It's not dangerous, as the sides of the roadway has plenty of brush and somewhat of a berm to keep you from going off the road; but the descent might be unnerving for one not used to this type of driving.

For those who are driving this route from Cerro Gordo to Swansea, this section may pose some traction problems. I've not attempted this section in reverse but know two friends who have. Though the route's traction tends to vary over time, one veteran of this route has had one unsuccessful attempt at climbing out in his '85 Toyota Land Cruiser with lockers at both ends; one friend has never been able to climb it in his stock '93 Jeep Wrangler with BFG All Terrain tires. But there are plenty of reports of those who have climbed south to north with no problems.