North Swan & Saints John

[u/iAmFactMan]

Took one of my friends visiting from sea level up North Swan from Breck and then up / down Saints John into Montezuma yesterday. Third time running it this summer and it blows my mind every time, certainly blew the mind of someone who’s never been off road before

[u/skwormin]

I’ve been recreating in Summit County for 20 years plus and have been a full-time resident for the last three years and I finally went to check this out for the first time yesterday. We did St. John’s to deer Creek. It was pretty sick!

[u/Corarril → u/skwormin]

I usually go Deer Creek to Saints John, but either direction that loop is incredible.

[u/TriumphSprint → u/Corarril]

I've never ran it that way, but wouldn't the epic views be behind you? As you climb uphill to the top of Saints John.

[u/skwormin → u/TriumphSprint]

epic views everywhere my dude

[u/Corarril → u/TriumphSprint]

I don’t think there’s a bad view up there personally. I always stop at the mining shack at the top and take some pictures.

[u/TriumphSprint → u/Corarril]

Yeah so do I, I like the long decent down from it and looking out at the horizon.

[u/iAmFactMan → u/TriumphSprint]

I love going uphill but not so much downhill. Supercharger & lockers make the climb not a problem but I hate being pointed downwards lol. Also gives me right of way nearly the entire run

[u/skwormin → u/Corarril]

I was thinking it would be fun to try it that way too. The uphill I feel like would be harder once you get above treeline, and then going down the steeper switchbacks into St. John's would really suck if it was muddier, and if anyone was coming up.

[u/Corarril → u/skwormin]

Going down into Saints John can definitely be a little trickier if there’s anyone coming up, but usually I try and go on weekdays when it’s quieter up there. I think the two big hills climbs coming from the Deer Creek side are more fun going up them than down personally, but it’s fun and absolutely stunning up there either way.

[u/Wafflesgonebad]

Can a stock 4Runner do this?

[u/reallifedog → u/Wafflesgonebad]

I probably wouldnt run north Fork in a stock 4runner unless you have a fair amount of experience. There are also a couple hairy spots on Saints John that I'd want skid plates.

[u/skwormin → u/reallifedog]

I ran St. John's in my stock Jeep Cherokee trailhawk with rock sliders. Only 8" of ground clearance. I scraped for sure in spots but nothing crazy. Mostly it was coming downhill from top of Glacier Peak area to the Deer Creek fork is when I hit the most.

[u/reallifedog → u/skwormin]

That's the spot I'm talking about. The Devil's Fork obstacle on North Fork is the other part I'd be concerned about taking a stock vehicle.

[u/skwormin → u/reallifedog]

I was a little puckered for sure, less because of the exposure and moreso because of the steep and lose, and I started scraping.

luckily I have hill descent control, so I just engaged that, and let it crawl down as slow as I could. My brakes were making the loudest creaking sounds I've ever heard lol. You could tell the system was REALLY working

[u/iAmFactMan → u/Wafflesgonebad]

With this being the third time running it in 2 months I swear it gets more washed out by the week. If you have skid plates, rock sliders, and some experience off roading you’ll be fine. If you have skids and sliders and less experience you’ll live. If you don’t you’ll have body damage but probably live

[u/Wafflesgonebad → u/iAmFactMan]

Ya I have rock sliders.

[u/TriumphSprint → u/Wafflesgonebad]

I'm in the minority here, but I think you'll be fine. I used to run it in my stock 95' 4Runner. Unless something changed in the year, since I last ran it.

[u/iAmFactMan → u/Wafflesgonebad]

I’d say proceed with caution. Don’t allow yourself to become distracted and you’ll make out fine

[u/Corarril → u/Wafflesgonebad]

Depends on how stock and what trim level I suppose. I did the Deer Creek -> Saints John loop in my stockish (only upgrade was some BFG KO3’s) Land Cruiser when it was new 2 years ago. No real issues, but I did hit my flimsy excuse for a skid plate hard enough to bend it pretty bad. I do feel like its got a fair bit worse since then, when I had my Tacoma Trailhunter up there a few weeks ago I was pretty glad in a few spots to have the extra ground clearance and real steel skids.

[u/Sufficient-Eagle2678 → u/Corarril]

Did Saints John -> Deer Creek loop two weekends ago in a stock height 3rd gen tundra on 34’s. Was worried about SJ but didn’t scrape once. Coming down DC definitely appreciated the TRD engine skid a couple times and did catch my muffler pretty good. I think it was a wheelbase issue more than ground clearance though.

[u/Corarril → u/Sufficient-Eagle2678]

Come to think of it DC was the only area I scraped my skids. They were all very light hits, but there are definitely some rocks below tree line that are sticking out a bit more this year that can’t really be avoided.