Downieville beta - the Sprockets version

[joetron]

I'm headed to Downieville for 2-3 days of riding in a few weeks. Have not ridden there since 2003 and I don't remember shit.

Suggestions on what to ride? Definitely down for shuttles, I dig full/mostly-full gravity runs, but some bigger point to point-type shuttles would be rad too.

Not afraid of some pedaling.

Not really into relentless hurky jerky pedally tech.

Have I heard things about Graeagle? After a brief web search it looks like it might be worth a night up there too?


Results will be filtered through my hella Norcal consultant Kidwoo.

[kidwoo]

I gotcha covered man. Graegle is included too.



Switchbacks and technical climbing maximized. Bring the plus bike.

[joetron]

Sweet. I'm thinking Sun/Mon night in D-Ville and Tuesday night in Graeagle? Nora's gotta be in SV Wed evening.

[kidwoo]

Just depends on if you want to see old historic saloons and post offices where you sleep or pretty sunsets and marmots.

Incoming.........

[Rip'nStick]

kidwoos signature is cracking me up. Nobody seems to like creeky

[SchralphMacchio]

I'm headed up there this weekend. Doing the 1 PM DVO shuttle on Saturday and 9 AM on Sunday w/ fiancee. Where should we camp on Saturday and Sunday nights? We won't be arriving to the spot until like 5-6 PM Saturday ... not sure what is going to be mobbed ... either by hobos/dirtbags or moquitos ...

We are gonna ride Auburn SRA on the way home on Monday.

[homemadesalsa]

Sounds like you have the Downieville deal figured out pretty much, but here's some beta regardless.

Get one of these maps first-off: http://www.sierratrails.org/map

In Graeagle, don't miss this one:
http://www.yubaexpeditions.com/yuba/mill-peak-trail
So good. Half a day at most.

We also did a big rough circuit around Mt Elwell. Here's some beta (if you can dig through the hype) https://dirtmountainbike.com/longfor...umas-county-ca

Shralp- not sure what to tell you about camping. There are a LOT of campgrounds on the windy road up to Downieville and further up the road. You might want to grab an AirBnB just to be certain of having housing for late-night arrival.

Bring all your own supplies. Pretty grim up there- minimal restaurant/ grocery options.

Amazing riding.

[Dhelihiker]

Mills is fun but not as fun as DV IMO, less crowded tho for sure. I personally love the wild plum campground.

[mogul5480]

Schralph - if you can't book a campsite ahead of time, you could very easily get shut out. Bill and I had to drive to 3 different campsites two weeks ago to find a spot, and that was Friday night on a random weekend in June, rather than Saturday night of July 4th weekend.

Cal Ida is your best bet I would think, but I really wouldn't go unprepared. Another option that may be available is that there were these small cabins available nearby on hipcamp.com. I was actually thinking of grabbing them for the family but we are going to camp in Grass Valley instead. Check out the site if you strike out on pre booking a campsite to see if still there.

[kidwoo]

I personally love the wild plum

Hell yeah you do









That's a testicle joke.

[LightRanger]

No problem getting a site here two Fridays ago:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Co...!4d-120.317428

We rolled in really late too, like 8:30. It's about an hour above DV. Nice campground. There were more people on Friday evening, but I was blown away how empty it was on Saturday evening. A bunch of the sites are set aside as first come, first served.

But yeah, pushing it over the holiday. Still, there's a crapton of FS roads you could dispersed camp off of out there...

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Last time I rode in Downieville was in '89 or '90. We rode up the highway from town and then up to the LO on Sierra Buttes. Down to town from there on the original "Downieville Downhill. I remember it being a big day, but I was pretty high. It was a little tricky with the route finding given all we had was a beat up Bodfish guide. I suppose a lot has changed. There were no shuttles then and I'm not sure there was much of a bike shop. It would be nice to go back and revisit all the areas between there and Tahoe we rode. I think the day before we did the Downieville ride we did a loop around and over Mt Lola using parts of the PCT. The day after we did a ride through the Buck's Lake Wilderness outside Quincy. I love that area.

[bodywhomper]

The new inn town campground in Nevada city will be open in a week or two....

There are also a few primitive campgrounds on gold lake highway that are first come first serve for all sites.

[Esses]

Wild Plum is rad. I like the campgrounds that are higher up, too - Sardine Lake is cool and there's another up by Packer Lake. Those don't seem to fill as fast.

[SchralphMacchio]

Thanks all. I'll probably print out the topo to the Gold Lake / Packer Lake area and try the various camps up there. It would be cool to actually just ride into town from up top and then take the shuttle back to our car after.

I'm guessing there are a bazillion mosquitos up there right now ...
Anyone know how the cell service is up on Gold Lakes Highway or in Sierraville?

[kidwoo]

I'm guessing there are a bazillion mosquitos up there right now ...

Yep

Anyone know how the cell service is up on Gold Lakes Highway

Spotty. Ridges are your friend.

or in Sierraville?

In sierraVILLE: spotty but there, depending on carrier

In siera CITY: non-existent

[evdog]

You can make a good day by combining these two rides: (works best if camped at Pack Saddle campground) Drop a shuttle vehicle over at Graegle in advance. Ride your choice of DV trails into town. Catch the shuttle back up to Packer Saddle. Pedal from there over to Elwell. Drop Elwell back down into Graegle.

Just make double sure there isn't a ton of snow. The first year we did this ride there were massive snow drifts under tree cover and N facing slopes on the way over to Elwell, and the north/east side of Elwell was unrideable because of huge drifts. We had to drop back down and take trail on the N side of the lake - that was pretty fun too.

[klauss]

from our very own overlords