4 Days in the Sierras
Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:29 am
Flyin Boy and I did 4 days of riding up here last week.
We started on Tuesday by heading up the Hunter's Lake trail out of Reno. Ended up riding 90-ish miles that day. Once up on top we followed two roads south to their ends on the border of Mt Rose Wilderness. Then we headed west and ate lunch under a railroad bridge on the Truckee River, just a few miles downstream from the Hirschdale/Boca Reservoir I-80 exit:
Unfortunately there is a locked gate there, so you can't ride all the way to pavement at the Hirschdale exit. We went back up then down to Boomtown. Great views from the radio tower hill on that end of the ridge:
On Wednesday, we rode from Plumas Pines, out behind the Beckwourth ranger station near Graeagle. 40-ish miles later we dropped off our camping gear at Poker Flat and setup the tents:
Hopped back on the Grizzlies, crossed the stream and headed south. Stopped at Saddleback LO, great views from there:
We rode on down to Downieville and tagged the canon on Hwy 49. We DID NOT ride 100-ish more yards into town as we'd heard that they are none too friendly to ATVObsession riders:
Back up into the mountains we went. We rode the ATV trail across Fir Cap on the way. Here is Fir Cap (the plateau) as seen from Saddleback LO:
Found a promising looking hang glider launch up there. Unfortunately, we couldn't fit our gliders on the Grizzly racks so no flying that day.
As we hit the end of the ATV trail where it turns back into a road, we almost had a head-on with a pickup. It was Michael, the Saddleback lookout dude that we had met earlier (in picture with Flyin Boy above). He had caught a rattler at the LO and was bringing it down to release it:
I asked if he'd mind me killing it so that we'd have something good to eat for dinner that night. He said he'd rather I didn't. Rats...
Michael has a web site and takes way better photos than me:
http://www.pygmyhippo.net
We headed on back toward Poker Flat. Rode a bunch more stuff on the way including a cool trail that heads out to Chimney Rock. Had to turn around on that one, there was a seriously narrow and off-camber section with a steep, l-o-n-g drop off. Flyin Boy and I are both afraid of heights, or at least heights with edges, so that was a no-go for us. Of course being at 18,000 feet in hang gliders doesn't bother us a bit (no edges). Go figure.
Rolled back into Poker Flat after dark. Ever notice how much ATV headlights suck when you really need them? We did.
Woke up the next morning and rode a bunch of the trails that take off from Poker Flat. Lots of mining camps although no one was there. Maybe they just come out on the weekends?:
Headed back up into Plumas and on up to Mt Etna where the vertical ventilation shaft is (here is an old picture from that spot):
Headed toward Gold Valley and had lunch at a spot with a suitable view (of 3 remote lakes):
Didn't ride all the way into the valley this time, figured we'd save that for next time as there are some great camp sites down there.
On Thursday we did a half-day out of Cisco Grove. Rode the switchback trail, the trail below Upper Lola lake, and one of my favorite play-on-granite trails east of Fordyce Lake (runs by Mossy Pond):
A fun 4 days and my back held up surprisingly well. The only disappointing thing is that we didn't get to eat that plump rattler!
We started on Tuesday by heading up the Hunter's Lake trail out of Reno. Ended up riding 90-ish miles that day. Once up on top we followed two roads south to their ends on the border of Mt Rose Wilderness. Then we headed west and ate lunch under a railroad bridge on the Truckee River, just a few miles downstream from the Hirschdale/Boca Reservoir I-80 exit:
Unfortunately there is a locked gate there, so you can't ride all the way to pavement at the Hirschdale exit. We went back up then down to Boomtown. Great views from the radio tower hill on that end of the ridge:
On Wednesday, we rode from Plumas Pines, out behind the Beckwourth ranger station near Graeagle. 40-ish miles later we dropped off our camping gear at Poker Flat and setup the tents:
Hopped back on the Grizzlies, crossed the stream and headed south. Stopped at Saddleback LO, great views from there:
We rode on down to Downieville and tagged the canon on Hwy 49. We DID NOT ride 100-ish more yards into town as we'd heard that they are none too friendly to ATVObsession riders:
Back up into the mountains we went. We rode the ATV trail across Fir Cap on the way. Here is Fir Cap (the plateau) as seen from Saddleback LO:
Found a promising looking hang glider launch up there. Unfortunately, we couldn't fit our gliders on the Grizzly racks so no flying that day.
As we hit the end of the ATV trail where it turns back into a road, we almost had a head-on with a pickup. It was Michael, the Saddleback lookout dude that we had met earlier (in picture with Flyin Boy above). He had caught a rattler at the LO and was bringing it down to release it:
I asked if he'd mind me killing it so that we'd have something good to eat for dinner that night. He said he'd rather I didn't. Rats...
Michael has a web site and takes way better photos than me:
http://www.pygmyhippo.net
We headed on back toward Poker Flat. Rode a bunch more stuff on the way including a cool trail that heads out to Chimney Rock. Had to turn around on that one, there was a seriously narrow and off-camber section with a steep, l-o-n-g drop off. Flyin Boy and I are both afraid of heights, or at least heights with edges, so that was a no-go for us. Of course being at 18,000 feet in hang gliders doesn't bother us a bit (no edges). Go figure.
Rolled back into Poker Flat after dark. Ever notice how much ATV headlights suck when you really need them? We did.
Woke up the next morning and rode a bunch of the trails that take off from Poker Flat. Lots of mining camps although no one was there. Maybe they just come out on the weekends?:
Headed back up into Plumas and on up to Mt Etna where the vertical ventilation shaft is (here is an old picture from that spot):
Headed toward Gold Valley and had lunch at a spot with a suitable view (of 3 remote lakes):
Didn't ride all the way into the valley this time, figured we'd save that for next time as there are some great camp sites down there.
On Thursday we did a half-day out of Cisco Grove. Rode the switchback trail, the trail below Upper Lola lake, and one of my favorite play-on-granite trails east of Fordyce Lake (runs by Mossy Pond):
A fun 4 days and my back held up surprisingly well. The only disappointing thing is that we didn't get to eat that plump rattler!
