Travel day
Chino Valley to Lake Tahoe California
Travel Time - Forever and a day - no really read it!
Thursday morning, June 17th, 10am, the Forrester was packed and ready to go. We are going to meet up with our our trusty biking companions Steve and Micki, aka "Sticki." They left at 7am from Phoenix and we're going to catch up to them later on down the road since we are 2 hours north of them. Shortly after we get on the road, we get a text from Sticki. The right trailer tire had blown and tore up the underside of the pop-up. After limping their way to a tire shop and a home improvement store, they were back on their way. The damage: 1 tire, 1 fender liner gone, propane gas line and fixture torn apart, electrical wiring frayed and misc. camping supplies located in the area of said fender are missing/damaged/unaccounted for, but everyone was OK.
We happened to meet up in the "town" of Four Corners, California within 5 minutes of pulling in......is that timing or what? After getting a quick bite to eat and fueling up we headed towards Bishop on the eastern side of Mt. Whitney. On the way we get a text from Micki asking if we see anything weird with the back end of the trailer since they felt some vibrations in the Highlander. At first we said no, but after pulling up on them, we saw that the other tire was "out of round" and was bouncing around inside the other fender well. We pulled over to inspect and something caught my eye. A rather large STOP sign, upside down, laying there in the dirt, blown off by the wind-SCORE!!!!! This will be hung in the garage for sure. We began calling tire dealers in the area of Bishop/Lone Pine to see if they had any tires in stock. Come to find out, the tires on the Sticki Hilton are on the endangered species list. With no other option, we pulled over again to change the bunk tire out with the spare.
Now safely rolling on nice round tires, we proceed to Lake Tahoe. We decide we are hungry an need to get a bite to eat at a restaurant further down the road, but to our dismay, these sleepy little towns close up shop early. With each town came a glimmer of hope and then that hope was dashed by CLOSED signs. From Bridgeport to Topaz, it was the same story, over and over again. We had such a long day, we just want a bite to eat, is that so hard? Yes, yes it is. As we got closer to the Nevada border we see a casino. YESSSSSS! Casino's = buffet's and food and drinks galore. We can eat till were stuffed.
We pull into the parking lot with eyes wide open, mouths watering at the sheer prospect of picking over such a bounty of food that this fine place has to offer........wait a minute............what the........looking at the clock on the dashboard. 9:07pm. Now looking at the hours of operation and the flashing marque sign that reads:
STEAK DINNER from 5pm till 9pm
......and looking back at the clock, back at the sign, back at the clock and back to the sign. What is going on here, an episode of The Twilight Zone. The song "Ironic" by Alanis Morrisette playing in the back of my mind. We wanted to go on a rampage, but instead we pulled into the parking lot of the Roadhouse Cantina just down the street, broke out the picnic table, coolers and began to make some grub. The service was horrible! No ambiance! The food was cold, but really good........ and it was free. We tipped big though.....as in......stay open til 10pm, because you missed out on some business.
We arrive in South Tahoe to find and settle into our first campsite. On directions given to Sticki via a friend, he told them to camp in a certain area for dispersed camping. The only problem was, we could not find this "area" of which was spoken of. EVER!!! We drove around, up and down, scouring the roads for this "holy grail" of camp spots for over an hour. Now 12:30am, we stopped and asked a CHP officer if he knew of any sites. He explained that there are NO dispersed camping sites anymore due to fire dangers. Only camping at designated hosted campgrounds is allowed. In weeks prior, we had discussed this with Sticki, the rates for these sites were anywhere from $45-78 a night, and requires a 4-5 day advanced reservation!! At that price, you might as well get a hotel room. So, we went rogue and camped off the grid near a "day use only" area. Who's going to know right?
PSA: Maps in/of California are vague, be prepared to yell and scream and pump your fist to the sky in pure frustration!
Lake Tahoe is massive. We really had know idea how big it was. Facts: With 73 miles of shoreline, it is the second biggest lake on Earth at this altitude. Lake Titicaca is the biggest, but the water is not suitable for consumption. There is enough water in Lake Tahoe to cover the whole state of California in 1 foot of water. The road around Lake Tahoe is 77 miles long and takes 2-3 hours to complete.
Day 3
Ride: Cedar to Sidewinder to Armstrong to Corral
Distance: 13 miles
Time: 3 hours
After the previous days mishaps, we would like to get on the trails and get some single track time in and blow off some steam and do what we came here to do. A couple of phone calls later, we now know that most of the higher up trails still have snow on them and require some hike-a-bike. With another change of plans and with our secret decoder rings on, we decipher some California area maps of trail networks.
The ride of the day was to be Mr. Toads Wild Ride. Until snow happened. When we here in Arizona were getting pounded by rain and snow, it looks like Tahoe had their fair share as well. This was taken lake side looking west.
Since snow happened, we decided to link a couple different trails together and make our own ride. Ironically, the same place that we had camped just days before was the same place we were headed today. Out of the car and gearing up, we noticed few people actually starting to ride from the parking lot. Instead they were doing shuttles with multiple cars. More on this later. We head up a fire road towards Cedar Trail which was no joke, it was steep and loose. We saw several people coming down that way, but not up. Once to the trail head Brooke wasn't feeling so good. That fire road was like a shot to the gut. We waited for the weakness to leave the body and continued on. This section was likened to Prescott and Colorado. Nice and "flowy," winding around the granite boulders and making its way up the mountain. Soon we made it to the junction of Sidewinder and Corral. We opted to take Sidewinder after getting some info from some local riders on the trail. This was the "preferred" route to go up since everyone liked to come down Corral. Meaning, a possible collision or stopping and starting because of traffic and messing with "the flow of the ride." So up sidewinder we go, a little ways up, a nice 30-40' log ride, sweet! This one was fairly easy, with the top side flattened out by a chainsaw or ax, it had a nice broad surface to roll on. However, this was a big log, a drop to either side could mean disaster.....
On up came the reason why it was called sidewinder. The trail just wound up the mountain, just like the snake. There must have been about 60-75 switchbacks not more than 20 feet long. Although it traverse a long ways, it was made simple by the way it was built. Every time you made a turn, it was angled back down the hill just enough to get a little speed up to do the next set and so on. It was like doing multiple hill rolls, you have your speed and momentum and just as you think you're about to stop, gravity pulls you back down around for the next one. I wish we would've gotten some video of this but it was an "in the moment" kinds of happenings.
After Sidewinder came the Armstrong Trail. This had climbing, technical and great views to boot. This is near the top of Armstrong. We were the only ones making our way up these trails as mentioned earlier. Just shortly after this picture was taken, we encountered 5 riders coming down and the first one was awestruck. He said reluctantly "you guys are going up this?" I replied " you gotta go up before you can come down!" Duh!! Not the "sissy" way out where you get dropped off (shuttled) at the top and just ride down hill. No way. You gotta put in the hard work before the pay off.
Near the end the trail flattens out a bit and winds through hillside. What do you know, more log rides to conquer. These were a little less refined than the first one. These were still round and had the stubs of branches still attached. We all took shots at these. Brooke chose a smaller log to practice on, since she wasn't comfortable with the height of these.
At the top of Armstrong came a junction of trail and fire road. One rider was coming back down from the upper part of Armstrong and said there was snow no too far from where we were. Not knowing how much snow was still there we turned our thoughts to Sidewinder. We headed back down the mountain fiercely. On the way up was a nice slab of granite begging to be ridden down, so...we did. The angle of the video doesn't do it justice, it is way steeper than it shows.
Shortly after this, it was time to make a decision. Take Sidewinder back down or try Corral? Corral was a technical descent with and the one people were shuttling. It was a tough call, but we decided Sidewinder was to be the chosen one. Since it was so much fun going up, it had to be a blast going back down. It was! Besides a close call with a shoulder check hockey style into a tree about 10' around, it was kick ass. It flowed even better, but you definitely had to be top notch with all those corners coming at you even faster and more repetitive. We all looked at each other in amazement. That was a damn fun ride. We need to duplicate that here in Prescott for sure.
Now time to try Corral. The trail split again. We hit the last half of Corral. It was fun and had some nice jumps and some granite tech areas. Super fast on the last half with a choice of jumps that would launch you 5-20' if you wanted. Down at the the bottom we headed back to the car, loaded up and stopped by a local "wholesome" eatery and had some lunch.
Ride: Flume Trail
Distance: 14 miles
Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
We looked at the clock and decided to make the 5pm shuttle to the start of The Flume Trail. This is one of those "gotta do it" local rides with great views and a bit of history tied together. One way to do this ride is from Spooner Lake to Turner Circle, a one way 14 mile trip. Since we had already ridden earlier, this was the preferred route. With a 1000' climb in the first 4 miles, it was not an easy way to start. Mostly fire road, winding it's way up to the saddle. Earlier the Park Ranger said it was easy til the last half mile then it gets steep, she wasn't kidding. At the top, we make the descent down to Marlette Lake and continue to take the fire road around it until we hit this....
.......with all the rain and snow, the lake is probably higher than normal. Just behind Steve you can see the fire road. A little portage never hurts. Shortly after this it turns to single track. The right there on the edge single track. Nothing technical about it, just awesome, on the edge views.
At the end there a super long downhill fire road to the bottom. There are several signs telling you to control your speed and stay under 20 mph, but we pretender not to notice them. Since it was late in the day and nobody else was on the trail we decided to let'er rip. All of us were haulin' some butt. I top speed was clocked at 32.8 mph while Brooke registered 28.6 mph....still pretty quick. After doing 2 rides for the day we didn't feel like going back to camp and start cooking. A pizza Brooke and calzone for me was to fill this order. We found a local pizza shop and got a to go order and chowed down....and then bedtime.
Day 4
Ride: Northstar @ Lake Tahoe
Distance: All downhill
Time: All day
Today was to be the " downhill day" at Tahoe. Since Sticki already have stout downhill sleds, Brooke and I were needing to rent some big travel bikes for the day. Once rented and lift tickets were purchased, we were now $300 lighter. WTF!!!!. We both opted for the GIANT Faith 7" travel bikes. Downhill rigs usually weigh a lot more because they are built to take a beating, these topped out at about 40lbs.
Next up was to be properly padded to minimized body damage. Here is STORM TROOPER Brooke in full get up....strike a pose!!!!
Darth Vader would be proud. We did a myriad of runs on various trail. Everything from blue to double black diamonds as seen here. With lots of drops and mostly jumps, it was fun day. It would've been better if more runs were open. The problem...snow happened. There was major snow further up the mountain closing all but one lift....the Zephyr Express. This left us with few choices, but we were able to make due. there was also a downhill race going on at the same time. This blocked off one of the best courses for half the day as well. Here are some shots...
We had fun, but really not "our gig" if you will......this was my second time doing chairs, but this time I had a more capable bike, kind of. At the tent where you pick up your bike, they find your size, give you some gloves and a helmet and that's it. You would think that if you spent $300 for a day of riding, they would at the very least, help you set it up for your height and weight etc. Nothing! Steve had to go back in tent and ask them to let air out of Brooke fork as it was way over the required psi. They were confused, "uh what?" was the reply. The bikes were not properly set up, just pumped up with air and it's all you got. Enough of this, back to "real mountain biking" please.
Steve agrees.......Once at camp, he decides he didn't get enough riding in today. He opts for a night ride....on the Flume Trail. He must have really like that ride more than he let on. I though he was kidding, but, off he went, GPS and all. Although this time he went reverse. Looking at his GPS and his tale of the Flume the next day, we were smart to ride it the way we did. Enough said.
Day 5
Travel Day
From Lake Tahoe to Downieville California
Nothing to exciting here, just a day of travel. Until it's S'mores time. We sit around the campfire and Micki breaks out the makings for S'mores. Yum!! You don't have to ask me twice. We all load our mallows on to the skewers and start browning them. The coals aren't exactly right, but it will do. Everyone is taking their time to get that " just right" golden brown color. I take some time, letting the flame caress my mallow. Oh yeah. The fire licking it ever so gently and then it happens.......the fire tries to burn my mallow. Oh hell no!!! I jerk it back quickly in defiance. Maybe to quickly, it gets propelled backwards. Now a flaming hot goo of mallow is headed right for my head. I have no time to react, it hits me in my left eye and beanie then lands on my shoulder. Totally shocked and trying to figure out what had just happened, the mallow is still smoldering and on fire, burning while it sits on my shoulder. I look at it in disbelief. Everyone else just sits there in with that look. You know, the " did that just happen" look. Maybe Stay Puf't's little brother?. We all got a good laugh out of that one.
PSA #2 In California there are poorly marked trails and trail heads
Day 6
Ride: Bullard's Bar Reservoir
Distance: 23 miles
Time: 3 hours
This was the surprise ride of the trip in our opinion. It was suggested to us by SARAD. Since they're from California and come up to the area to ride when they get the chance and said this would be a good "mellow ride" with great views. Well, this ride did not disappoint. We parked at the Sunset Vista Point trail head and rode the route counter clockwise. 8 Ball Trail starts out in a wooded area on not too far from the lake and travels along side Marysville Road for part of the way and then crosses over and back again. Once you hit Old Camptonville road, you start a subtle climb on a fire road for 2-3 miles. Going on directions given by SARAD, we were looking for a trail head on the left side of the road, once again, only in California, poorly marked trails reared it's ugly head. After searching for about 20 minutes and an extra mile or so of searching, we all headed out into the forest to try and locate this mysterious trail head. A couple of minutes later, Steve shouts," it's over here!" Finally! We all hop onto the trail and make our way down lakeside with a "fierce" two mile downhill section. It was fast with high speed sweeping curves, large jumps all under a canopied forest.......and then you get a glimpse of the lake......was that the.....? What? That's not right, is that it?
Totally surreal. It's even more stunning in person. Vibrant blue's and greens, it felt like we were biking on a Caribbean island. It was insane. The water's that color because of "glacier flour." With all the local mining in the area going on since 1849, the Yuba River feeds into Bullards and deposits tailing and minerals on the bottom and that gives it that unique glow.
The trail hovered right next to the shoreline, but this was no ordinary shoreline. It was "edgy" granite cliffs for much of the it as it wound it's way around. Both sides of the trail were covered in thick foliage, giant ferns, pines and yes, Poison Oak. But luckily, nobody got hit with that.
Unfortunately, this was Brooke's "bad" side. You can tell by the look on her face that she's trying hard not to go off the edge. Depending on where you were, it could either be a 10' drop into the water or and nice 50-60' tumble into the water. With a near vertical drop into the water, it's more like bounce once.....or twice, then into the water. The trail flowed nicely. It just maneuvered its way along the side, up hills that would give you a burner , but then, reward you with a nice section of flowy lazy downhill. For most of the trail, pedaling was effortless, it must of been the lure of the water. A comforting distraction. I stopped on the side of the trail, to take a moment to enjoy nature......just beautiful, and then...I saw it! The much seen, but rarely photographed....... Sasquatch Steve. Here he is seen below on the green machine. This picture must be worth a thousand.............. words.
Near the end of the ride there was a very "Zen" like area. Very "Hawaii-esqe" if you will. It was a moss covered bench tucked away in a little canopy of Modrone trees, ferns,and grass. I was going to take a picture, but didn't want to disturb the trail gods. Next time. And before you knew it, the trail opened up to an old broken up asphalt road that led back up to the parking area, and just like that, the Bullards Bar ride was over......we thought about going back and doing it again the next day, but with little time and lots of great trails in the area still left to do, we passed, but with regret. Maybe a reason to go back? A truly awesome ride. Everyone decided that it "must" be in the TOP 5 list of all time rides. That's how good it was.
Later that day, Micki and Brooke decide to take a nap. I take Mousse for a hike to the Yuba River and get her nice and tired, and Steve......well Steve decides he need to go for another ride. The guy just isn't happy unless he's clocked 50 hard bike miles a day or something.....He really makes the rest of us look bad. So stop that Steve. He goes out on what he describes as a "hell ride." He was gone for 4 hours I think and we were getting a little worried. He came back and basically said it had stunning views and downhills, but was a "&#@%$$-#%^#&%" of a ride. Tales of gravelly loose trail, 45 degree climbs and a lot of hike-a-bike. Damn, glad I missed it. If you look at his GPS it looks like an EKG machine with a guy going into cardiac arrest. Extreme ups and downs. Maybe tomorrow? Careful what you wish for.......
Day 7
Ride: The Divide Trails 1 - 2 and 3
Distance: 14 miles - 1800' of climbing
Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
Rider: Sticki, Andy
This time around Brooke opted to stay at camp and get some rest. That left the 3 of us to journey out to the "Divide" trails in Downieville. When we first pulled into town we stopped at a bike shop to ask someone local about the best trails and how to get to them. Another California "snafu." The only guy there was still wet behind the ears and knew close to nothing, but pointed at a huge map on the wall like a cave man. Uh, uh, ugh. He did point out some trails that were highlighted, but knew nothing else. Hmmm. Along with that, the store hours were most peculiar. Nothing happens in Downieville except on the weekends and major holidays I guess.
After talking to the young chap that day, we try to find The Divide trails on our rough idea and crude map that turns out to be last printed in 1995!!!! A time warp of sorts. With no current map to go off of and bad directions from everyone in town the adventure begins. All we know is that the trail starts off Lavezzola Road. With only a couple streets to choose from, drive through this quaint little town hoping to run into Lavezzola. We find it, but, as we travel down the road, it starts to splinter off to the left and to the right. With no street signage to mark the street names we are left to give it our best guess. Guess #1 wrong....we end up going up a steep wooded road with a dead end sign, which is totally plausible, since we're mountain biking, only to find out about 500 yards later the road is a private drive. WTF! Couldn't mark that at the start huh? Back down to guess #2. And Walla. We see a brown trail sign hiding behind a couple of poles that indicate Lavezzola Road and the Divide Trails.
Finally at the trail head, we offload the gear and mount up. We have a trail that shoots off to the left, but is steep and has traction blocks to aid the climbing or a mellow fire road to the next junction with a nice warm up. We opt for the fire road. Steve pulls off to the side to swap out GPS batteries and Micki and I keep on a truckin'. That's when we spot this little guy making on the road right in front of us. It's a good thing Brooke wasn't with us or she would've called it a day right there on the spot. She DOES NOT LIKE SNAKES-AT ALL!!!
Micki and I come to a the junction of the fire road and Divide #1. Steve's back with us and we debate on what to do. We hear some voices in the distance, and then the roar of bikes coming off the trail. About 4 guys were coming off the trail that were shuttled( remember what I said earlier) to the top and were just gravity droppin' it. We asked them which way to go. They suggested to stay on the fire road to the top and then come down the same way they did. WHAT????? Sucka's!!! They departed, we continue on the road, Steve is up front about 10', then me, then Micki. Micki starts talking about her knees and such...blah, blah, blah......and then I see something black out of the left side of my peripheral and it disappears behind Steve and then pops out again. From Micki, all I hear is my knees are.....THAT MEANS MOMMY........THAT MEANS MOMMY. I'm reacting with a "what the hell was that" and the yelling from Micki's lungs. It all happened pretty quick. A little Black Bear crossed right in front of us and then went down the side of the embankment. With a baby bear around, that automatically means that momma bear is not far away. The makings for an episode of " I survived- A Black Bear Attack" on the Discovery Channel. We came to a screeching halt from 10mph to 0 in a nanosecond. We listened closely for any noise from where the bear came from............listening................listening.................listening.............Micki now scoots in behind Steve for protection. Good move..........what about me? Awe crap.............listening..............and.............nothing. Thank the lucky stars. The momma bear must have been in front and the little one in tow. First close bear encounter........check. Nothing in my drawers.......check. No, it wasn't that scary, now if the momma bear had popped out, that would be a different story. Now that there is no threat from an attack, we carry on. What do ya know...a trail sign.
Now at home on single track, we get to work. These sections of trail were very nice, although there was a lot of climbing, it flowed well. Here is Steve taking care of business.
Very edge on this trail as well. Brooke's bad side again, good thing she didn't come. Snakes and edginess=no good. You could hear the sound of rushing water from the raging creek that feeds the Yuba river throughout the ride.
Come on Micki....almost...there.......Did I mention that there was A LOT of climbing? There were a couple of recovery sections but damn, there was a constant grind going up hill.
LOOK.....another trail sign......I can't believe it. Actually, this was one of the better marked trails once you were on it. We chose to climb up to the top of Third Divide. This section had some technical thrown in just for fun and is also a part of the Downieville Classic Bike Race.
With dense forest all around, I kept my eyes out for any "wild life" that we might stumble upon. After all, besides us, it was pretty quiet in here. Already a climb from the get go, there was a massive switchback before the top. Steve went first, he was pedalling his SS up the mountainside with gusto. It looked as if the trail were to keep going up and disappear into the canopy of trees. " Dang, that's steep," I though to myself. I turned away and looked back at Steve as he yells "switchback." Sweet! I clip in and start grinding away. It was more like an escalator to heaven. Slow,monotonous and steep. Climb, climb, climb. Lungs burning and legs ready to explode, the blue sky was peaking through the trees. I was almost to the top. Hell yeah!!! I cleaned it along with Micki. Gasping for air and glad we were finally at the top, the only thing was to clip in and hang on for the bomber down hill down Divide #3 for the return trip.
This was a mad down hill. Smooth sweeping turns and super fast single track, we were haulin' ass. A couple blind corners with rock gardens thrown in the mix to keep you alert and make sure you weren't lolly-gagging around. With nearly 7 miles of downhill to go, this was going to be a rippin' downer. We finished up Divide #3 and popped out on the fire road. Looking for the single track to get us home, we pass by a rather nice mountain estate with it's own private helicopter pad. Hmmm. That would be nice. We asked a gentle man that was parked on the side of the road as to where the trail starts again. Just up a ways and there it was, Divide #1. Boo-ya. Another awesome section. We cross the fire road again at the junction where we met the riders coming down earlier. Just flowing real nice, rolling hills all the way down back to the Subie. Awesome ride.
With orders from Brooke to pick up a burger for her after we we done, we made it so. With dinner in hand for all three of us we head back to camp for some much needed R/R, after all, this is a vacation.
Day 8
Destination: Auburn California
Trail: Connector to Forest Hills Loop Divide Trail
Distance: 24 miles
Time: 2 hours 50 minutes
Coming Soon....check back
