Evans Creek ORV park is located south of Carbanado, on highway 165 to Mowich Lake and provides a little bit of something for everyone. With trails from easy to very difficult and arranged for motorcycles, ATVs and off road vehicles. A campground is available for those who want to camp and is accessible for even larger motorhomes (I would guess a maximum of around 31’ here).
At the main entrance is a staging area. Northwest Forest passes are required. Trails are numbered and marked for difficulty as well as type of vehicle.Evans Creek offers plenty of challenge and lots of beautiful scenery, with viewpoints of Mount Rainier that are hard to beat. As you can see from the pictures we have taken larger vehicles into the park but I would not recommend the most difficult trails for them as the difficulty rating is usually because of very tight turns that will leave a bigger wheelbase vehicle battered to say the least. If you are a YJ-Jeep owner you will probably want a minimum of 33" tires. Lockers are nice and of course, don't come to the park alone if you don't have a winch and High Lift jack. We have taken stock TJ-Jeeps equipped with only 30" tires and the stock limited slip rear diff. and have done quite well with only minimal damage done by not being a little more careful!
Conditions at Evans Creek can vary widely with the weather and season. In winter the park is usually closed due to snow, however this year the park has remained open with little or no snow to speak of except for the higher elevations. Each season presents it's own set of challenges and we find it a great place to take your rig after a modification to test how things are working. Those who have been to the Rubicon Trail say that if your 4x4 will pass the Evans Creek challenge then you won't have a problem with the Rubicon!
Getting There: Take Hwy 410 to Buckley and follow signs for Hwy. 165 south to South Prairie and Wilkerson. At the 'Y' follow Hwy. 165 to the left (south) to Wilkeson. Once in Wilkeson stay on the main road and continue to follow signs for Hwy. 165. As the road starts out of Wilkeson it will climb a hill to the right and then will take you through a lot of twist and turns, past Carbanado and finally to a one lane bridge. After crossing the bridge there will be sign to Evans Creek and Mowich lake. Keep to the right at the fork, the entrance to Evans Creek will be approximately 7 miles from the fork in the road and on the left. |
