I think one description I read about the Morrison said it best: "this trail has humbled many egos." My buddy Mike, a consistent face over at 406 Cruisers, was recently reminiscing with me about when he and the gang last tackled the Morrison Jeep Trail in northeastern Wyoming. It's really got me jonesing to get outside, especially these days! And I thought you guys might enjoy Mike's account as well. Here's what he had to say about Wyoming's Morrison Jeep Trail:
"It's a 2-3 day trip and we had 12-13 vehicles, split up into two groups so they wouldn't block the trail with only their rigs. At the time, this was the most technical trail I'd attempted. We drove in Friday night and camped at the creek at the bottom of the valley. It was relaxing, but I was anxious about climbing the trail Saturday morning.
We woke up and began the ascent after breakfast. Being in a 62 series LandCruiser with the original drum brakes, I was a bit nervous as I didn't have the stopping power as some of the newer rigs. Starting up the climb, the first switchbacks weren't too much trouble, but they got tighter the higher we traveled. There were 4 to 5 switchbacks where I had to make 5-point turns, where the back end of the cruiser was hanging off the side of the cliff or the bull bar (front bumper) was buried in the trail side wall. There was one switchback that was so tight I pulled in forward into the turn and reversed up the next section. I heard that this rock is gone now, but there used to be a really tight left hand turn with a giant boulder sitting in the apex. You'd have to pull close to the boulder, rest your slider on the rock and essentially spin your tires to slide around.
It took us around 5 hours to get to the top and the "pucker" factor finally started to reside. I've been on many trips since and haven't driven anything with the same amount of exposure. There were some technical spots on the way out after the climb -- this is a trail where I recommend you have good sliders and a skid plate!
Also, be sure to check with the forest service to be sure the trail is open. We tried to drive this again in 2019 but there were a lot of boulders that had fallen on the trail and it was closed most of the summer. Happy Trails!"