When You See a Gigantic New Dirt Berm, You...

[EigerMike]

hey you got a new pup! great pics really like that snow along the lake!

[Mr. Green]

Great pix from up there! I assume the lake is a hike and not a ride?

ya you have to hike into it. I have gone there for years and years and i have never been able to drive so close to it. Its a true Sierra gem in my book at least.

[GrizzlyGuy]

i was camped right down the road from you guys when you where there, was cruzing around on a black quad and a Ranger side by side (cameo). I was 2 spots down on the creek.

Any ways i was out there for 8 days and at first one of those burms was down since they where just packing down and watering when i got there first. The road goes all the way to the top of the ridge thats in the forest on English (if that makes since). Its the nicest smothest roads out there.

p.s. did you guys happen to find a tire repair kit / tool kit on the road

Dang Mr. Green, you should have stopped by and said hi! I think I remember passing and waving at a black quad but that might have been on the trip before this one(?). Sorry, we didn't find a tire repair kit or any tools.

Nice pics, the view from up on the English Mountain ridge really is outstanding. Here is the video I shot of the ride up and the view when I was up there a year or two ago (pre-berms): Sierra Mission.

Pics from that day:







It sounds like they really improved the roads since I was up there. As you can see in the video it was just an unmarked trail going up through the forest when I was there.

so how close are these dam burms to each other? i'm heading up that way on the 28th and i'm was going to go up on english mtn. on those same roads and then up to the mine shafts via the road across from canyon creek c.g.
i'm looking at the nat. forest prefered map from their web site and all those roads in that area are open to all legal vehicles! is there a latest version that the tahoe put out?

a question to then riders who came across the "intel" about the burms, are those burms at the private property boundries? or are there burms on the roads off of the road to sawmill and faucherie?

Here is a shot from my ATV trail map showing where the berms are (the red/white circles):



Here is the same area in Google Earth:



You can get over or around any of the berms if you really wanted to.

Notice that I’m showing a trail directly across from Canyon Creek CG (ending at my DECYNCKTRL waypoint) that I haven’t ridden. That is probably the one you are talking about going up to the mine shafts. Have you actually ridden that one?

We looked for it and couldn’t find it on the ground. There is a place where it appears there used to be a skid road, but the forest service has it all blocked off (with boulders if I remember correctly). Since it was directly across from the campground and we'd seen forest service pickups in the area, we didn't want to try finding an 'alternate route'.

[ontherks]

The road across from the camp ground is all block off now. I think it was last year they tore up the entrance to it. If you know where it is, it is easy to tell.

[camokids]

yes i have been up to the mine shafts last month (check the date on the pics) its a fun ride up there but a short one. GG i see the road that you marked as DECYNCKTRL and thats the road (forest rd # 843-37-4)that takes you to the shafts. its not blocked, the one that is blocked (843-37-5) is at your "six" if you are heading up the road to the shafts

and you can see faucherie in the back ground from above the shafts


i called the forest sup. office in nevada city and got the "voicemail-run-around" when i started to ask questions about those berms
oh and here is a couple of pics from white rock lake,

[GrizzlyGuy]

yes i have been up to the mine shafts last month (check the date on the pics) its a fun ride up there but a short one. GG i see the road that you marked as DECYNCKTRL and thats the road (forest rd # 843-37-4)that takes you to the shafts. its not blocked, the one that is blocked (843-37-5) is at your "six" if you are heading up the road to the shafts

I'll be danged, I'll have to look closer at that intersection spot the next time I'm out there. Where did you find that cool/detailed topo map on TNF's web site? This one shows the area but doesn't have the minor roads on it:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/forestvisitormaps/tahoe/08.php

[camokids]

sportsmans wharehouse, REI, etc.. i actually picked these up at the forest serv. office in foresthill
there are 2 maps that cover the tahoe map# 804 and #805
there real nice, water proof & tear resistant
check out this link to see what the maps are about
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/ ... california

[GrizzlyGuy]

Ahhhhh... I have those maps, I just spaced out and didn't realize that they had those roads on there.

[Mr. Green]

they sell those maps now at the store now by Jackson meadows there 15$, i have been going to bowman area for years and years and never knew there was a store 5-6 mile's away (they dont sell food yet or beer ).

[camokids]

the store used to be a fire station , this is thier second season of the store being open. the same contractors that run the campgrounds at jackson meadows operates the store

[camokids]

well friday, after a week of leaving voice mails, i spoke with Clerance Drapper, "the" road engineer for the Tahoe NF. he has no idea that these berms, aka Earthen Barrier, are in place and that he will look in to why and who put those barriers there. he did say that if the land belongs to SPI and there is no agreement (i'm thinking right of way??) in place SPI can block off their private property. i'll keep all updated when i hear back.

[Mr. Green]

Why i didnt see any thing posted where i rode , i did see Sierra Pacific posted all over the place in other spots.

when i said this i was trying to convey something to you with out really saying flat out that i saw the markers and didnt obey them. But yes theres private Sierra Pacific posted on the English mt, roads i even found the new forestry bounder stake, its where the forest starts to peter out right before you start dropeing down to echo lake.

[GrizzlyGuy]

well friday, after a week of leaving voice mails, i spoke with Clerance Drapper, "the" road engineer for the Tahoe NF. he has no idea that these berms, aka Earthen Barrier, are in place and that he will look in to why and who put those barriers there. he did say that if the land belongs to SPI and there is no agreement (i'm thinking right of way??) in place SPI can block off their private property. i'll keep all updated when i hear back.

Good work! I didn't know that was private property and don't recall seeing any signs saying that on my ride up onto English Mountain a few years ago. In fact, that berm on the main road has a sign by the berm and gate saying it is a forest service road. You can see it in my last berm picture in the first post (and the gate is visible BEHIND the berm). Here is a close-up shot of the sign. It's the same sign that you see in the beginning of my video from a few years ago:



If the gate is the property line, then this berm is out on national forest land. Mr. Drapper might not take too kindly to people digging up the national forest so as to make berms that he doesn't even know about.

[hemingray]

That picture doesn't do it justice - that thing is huge. Any bigger and it would be an illegal mine.

I just rode by it yesterday, but it looks like there might be a "user created" bypass nearby.

[hemingray]

What a difference a year makes. Here's the original head-scratcher on what a big berm there is.



Visited today - the rock has migrated westward and the berm is greatly rained down. The unfortunate part is that the berm caused a bypass and now the nearby meadow is a mud pit.