Headed up to the Sierras for Labor day weekend. Will turn this into an ongoing TR thread as I have a bunch of other recent and older sierrras trips that could be of interest. Any omissions of ride locations is intentional!
Labor Day weekend 2019:
As usual had a list of way too many rides I wanted to do, and even toward the end of the drive up had still not decided which ones to hit or in what order. Finally pulled off the highway and had to flip a proverbial coin.
Downieville would be up first.
Had left after work so it was now late at night. Needed to find a campsite as well and there is not much right around Downieville. Also wasn't sure if the road I'd be going up next day was even driveable - Trailforks listed it as 4wd road, so figured I'd drive up a ways and check it out, and hopefully find a campsite. Turned out the road was great but not many good campsites. Next thing you know I'm at the top and there was a nice flat pullout, so I crashed out there. In the morning stashed the bike away and drove back to town to set up the self shuttle.
Dropping my truck at the river. 8am and already warming up, was tempted to go for a swim
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Moto shuttle back to the top. Best part about doing a moto shuttle is the shuttle part is like another bike ride.
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Great views right off the bat
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There was a bit of a doubletrack traverse to start with some steep climbs and descents. When I stopped to get a photo here I could hear something huffing in the bushes below the trail. Never saw the bear but he wasn't pleased I was there....
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Wasn't sure what Chimney Rock would be like. It is moto trail and follows a ridge top so was expecting steep in places, but mostly it was pretty good rideable grades
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Some turns were armored. I loved the toothy rock edges to keep riders from cutting the corners
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Climbing higher views really opened up
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Looking back
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I guess this is the Chimney rock
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Had to break my no-selfie rule for this sweet pair of shades I found. Not being cool enough to pull these off, I left them trailside.
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Trail got good beyond Chimney Rock
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Most of the climb was good and the views were outstanding. After some more traversing and a pretty stout climb I came to the turnoff for Empire Creek trail. Empire was 100% descending, once again on moto trail. Nothing mind blowing, just a fun decent. Lots of small stream crossings and paver sections. Would not want to climb it (under my own power!)
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The singletrack portion of the descent was around 5 miles, ending with a wider stream crossing that I barely cleaned without getting feet wet. A couple miners were camped there and watched hoping I got wet. Sorry to disappoint! Then there was a couple miles road descent before being dumped onto the Downieville DH route above First divide. Got my fill of the DH route back into town and then got my fill with a burger, after going for a swim. I definitely liked the route. Fun as the descent was the highlight for me is the traverse on Chimney Rock with its amazing views and ridge top riding. You don't hear of many people riding it which is a shame. But of course, the shuttles don't go there so what do you expect.....
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After retrieving the moto I decided to head over and check out Mt Hough near Quincy. Its a ride I've wanted to do for a few years but never got around to, being a haul from Downieville. This time dropped the moto at the bottom and headed up the hill.
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Got to the top just in time for a golden hour descent. Saw a few motos headed down the road while I was nearing the top, otherwise had the place to myself.
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Super fun flowy trail. All the trail sanitizers in Socal need to go up and ride this trail, as it is their holy grail of strava-hero buffness. Maybe they'd get it out of their system and stop pulling rocks out of every trail in socal. /rant
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This marked the end of the trail
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Sunset on the moto ride back to the truck. Super silty/dusty...glad there was no other traffic
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Lots of other trails nearby, looks like I have a reason to come back. The shuttle is pretty short time-wise, so these other trails would turn it into a full day adventure. Would do Mt Hough again for sure... Great day on the bike!
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