Horse Trailer Parking At Push Mountain Fire Tower

Point 32 Details
2.1 mi. between 31 & 32
Horse trails, hiking

Access to horse trailer parking at Johnson Road. Fire tower is across the road.

Directions - Look for a drive apron and an old wood sign on the right with white letters saying "Wilderness Information and Horse Trailer Parking", and the standard brown road marker with FSR 91024B on it.

Road Names - Johnson road,   FSR 91024B. This is a dead-end logging road in active use as of fall 2011.

Where Does It Go? - The road dead-ends about 2.1 miles down. You can walk the road. A short distance down is a food plot.

Horse Trailer Parking - On one side of Hwy 341 is the horse trailer parking spot. Across the road at the base of the old fire tower is more trailer parking. The trails are to the left of the fire tower.

The Sylamore Horse Trail does not enter the Leatherwood Wilderness Area. You can access the Sylamore Horse Trail from Johnson road, but you have to ride beside the highway. To access the Sylamore Horse Trail: From Johnson road it's 2.1 miles by highway roadside to Barkshed Road for the southern leg, and 4.3 miles beside the highway to McGowan Road where the northern leg starts.  You can ride in the grass in almost all spots beside the highway, but there are a couple of short spots you'll need to put your animal on pavement.

Leatherwood Wilderness Horse Trails - These trails run through areas where no motor vehicles of any kind are allowed. In fact no mechanized vehicle of any kind, such as mountain bikes, are allowed. Only foot and horse traffic is allowed. This is a rugged and remote wilderness. The trails are suited only for horses and mules. There are no maps for these trails. We have not hiked them, have not seen them, and therefore have no knowledge of them other than that they exist. The trails are not marked, not maintained, not easy to see, and usually are ridden only by locals who know where they run. However, the trailhead for Leatherwood horse trails is at Point 32 on the 2Cooleys map at the Johnson Road horse trailer parking area at the old fire tower site. Please note that if you venture into the Leatherwood, and if you have any type of emergency, you are at high risk of not being found. There are no roads. Hiking out will not be easy. Cell phones do not work in the Leatherwood. DO NOT RIDE ALONE IN THE LEATHERWOOD WILDERNESS AREA!

Back before satellites and GPS technology was in place, rangers spent the day in fire towers looking for any smoke signaling a forest fire. This tower is not climbable, and the bottom has been cut out, so you can't get up in it. Around the base is the old station house site. In May and early June this is a good place to look for wildflowers.

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