The upper road (10 miles out and near the final switchback before it drops down into Willard Basin) is almost always blocked by spring snow into mid-July. It's not rare for the road to still be blocked by snow on July 24, because the road is never cleared by machines. The snow has to melt off. No signs are ever posted indicating snow blockage.

The road passes briefly into Weber County and offers glimpses of Pineview Reservoir (to the southeast), and east of Perry Reservoir are the headwaters of the Ogden River's north fork.

This jeep pathway rarely gets really steep, though, since it goes through switchbacks before dropping into Willard Basin. It's just the bumps and ruts that are unnerving. A sign at the top of the switchbacks (elevation 9,000 feet) explains the history of the basin.

Next, the road descends about 200 feet into Willard Basin, an isolated bowl of forest and meadows (located east of Willard and behind Willard Peak at an elevation of 8,800 feet).

The other alternatives are a nine-mile hike to Ben Lomond Peak from either the North Ogden Divide trailhead or the North Fork Park trailhead in Liberty. You can also take a mountain bike from North Ogden Divide, or even travel by motorcycle.

It would be extremely difficult to ride a to motorcycle all the way to Ben Lomond's summit, but it has been done. Otherwise, park your motorcycle at the cap just below Ben Lomond's summit and hike from there.

Horsemen also use the North Fork Trail to climb toward Ben Lomond and Willard peaks.

Willard Basin and Willard Peak, like the city of the same name, were named after Willard Richards, an early LDS Apostle and settler in Brigham Young's time. (The Willard area was originally named "Fort Willow Creek" in 1852-3.)

Uncontrolled cattle grazing, mining, fires and a sawmill had left little vegetation in Willard Basin by the 1920s. All these factors, as well as extra heavy rainfalls, contributed to two severe floods that originated in the basin in 1923 and 1936. The water flowed through Willard Canyon, the main drain in the basin, 4,000 feet downward to Willard City.

The August 1923 flood (actually a mud-rock flow) was caused by an estimated 6 inches of rainwater hitting the basin in less than an hour. Two women in Willard were killed, and the force of the water carried the bodies one-half mile away.

The rainfall was a lot of water even for the best of watersheds, but the lack of vegetation made it worse. The flow had enough force to move a 500-ton rock, as well as a barn containing 150 tons of hay.