Sacramento Riders Thread DS & ADV

Hello,
New to the forum rider here. Finally bankrolled a proper adventure bike and anxious to get out and "adventure" away from the frequent crotch rocket haunts and get (reasonably) dirty. Anyone want to go get lost, I'm probably down for it if I am not working.

I went for a short ride from Squirrel Creek Rd to Deadman's Flat to Rex Reservoir Rd today. Unfortunately I had to cut it short but I'd like to go back and explore the area more after the rains are done next week.

Deadman's Flat


Start of Rex Reservoir

If you head out on Thursday or Friday PM me if you want company.

Bumping up this thread because I'm curious about Chalk Bluff road in the Grass Valley area. Way back on page 6, around post 87, SierraJeep organized a group ride that started out on hwy 174 going out red dog / you bet road to Chalk Bluff. I recollect a "No Motorcycles / private property" type sign where Chalk Bluff turns off from the road that goes down to the washout on the river. Has anyone had problems with the property owners in this area?

It looks like there's some interesting rding in the area between 174/20/80 but I've only skirted around the area twice. I definitely want to do more in depth exploration next year when it starts to dry out.

That sign has been up for years, I think the property owners put it up to keep ATV's and motorcycles that were riding in the creek from exploring up Chalk Bluff.

It seems to work, I've heard a number of people that stopped there from the threat. It is a county road and the upper section is a forest route, as long as you have a street licensed vehicle you can ride through to Hwy 20. I rarely see another vehicles passing through, and never any problem from any of the property owners

Hey guys,

I live in Sac and would like to do some bike camping trips this spring and summer. I've been following this thread for quite some time and have seen many great pics from rides in the foothills. I was wondering if you could help me identify some possible locations.

Admittedly, I'm a novice trail rider so I don't want to find myself facing gnarly trails or swift moving water. I will also have my bike packed for camping so I won't be very nimble. I'd like to find somewhere I can ride in a few miles, setup camp and then ride around the area exploring. Close proximity to water would be a plus.

Thanks in advance for your help. I look forward to reading the replies.

It worked on me. Generally when I'm tooling around a remote area and run across a thicket of No Trespassing signs, I steer clear. Could be an absentee landowner, or a nut waiting up the road, never know. But if it's a county road, that's another story.

My other run through the area was down Lowell Hill Road from 20 to Dutch Flat, with a side run down to the bottom of the road where there was a washed out bridge one way and a gate the other. I was checking out the upper part of Lowell Hill because I stumbled across a panoramino of the Zebright mine headframe on Google Earth. The spur roads to the mine property were gated and signed but I think the mine has been closed for years. Looks like there's a lot of old minig stuff out in that area.

A fun spot would be the campground by the Yuba River, at Washington. A good day trip would be the dirt road from Washington to Malikoff, up to Graniteville, and back down the ridge to Washington.

If you really want to get out there, theres the campgrounds at French Meadows or Hell Hole.

The El Dorado nat'l forest near where I live has 1700 miles of rideable roads but it's all logging roads with a shortage of good overnight spots. Maybe Silver Fork campground, or airport flat.

Just a quick shout out to the local guys / gals. I'm planning on selling my 2010 Ducati Hypermotard to make more room in my garage (thinking KTM 500 exc - like I really need another enduro bike).
I bought this thing for roads like Mosquito ridge and it always puts a smile on my face.
Anyway if you want a cornering machine check out my thread in the flea market or PM me.
Happy holidays.

PS I did a quick ride up to the Foresthill area today on my GS and damn it got cold recently. I was farther up there riding dirt a couple days ago and it was fine but this last cold snap really changed things. I dont mind a little winter, but I could stand another 20 degrees I think. I have truly become a soft Californian.

New member out of Elk Grove here. Currently riding a K1600 but just plopped down some money at A&S for a new GS. RCB member as well.

Ha! I rode up there yesterday..

Finning Mill Rd.

A wise decision in the foothills. The area East of Grass Valley/Nevada City, North of 174 and South of 20 has a great deal of private lands. I stay on the main roads, use it more as a means to access the North side of 20 where there s some great riding

Good advice, but here are some clarifiers:

The first sign referenced above was actually posted on Lowell Hill Road (this is the one where the bridge washed out in the mid-1990s) and today the only way to go across is over private property and the land owner clearly doesn't want folks to do that.

There are also a ton of signs posted at the Red Dog Road crossing of Greenhorn Creek. This area is also private property that is owned by Hansen Brothers Enterprises. HBE is an aggregate mining company and they do activily skim gravel in this area. For years they were NOT mining in the area of the Red Dog Road crossing so they didn't mind folks playing down there, but today it's a liability issue for them.

The tricky part in this area is with the Federal Lands. The Federal Lands include both BLM and USFS. BLM essentially has a no vehicle-access policy and they post their lands accordingly. The USFS is (currently) using an open-roads only policy. The tricky part is that you need to have a license plate and the road has to be open for travel, then you're okay. Green stickered bikes apparently are now being more regulated. The exceptions to this rule are up near the top (Burlington Ridge) where there is a designated OHV area.

The BLM lands are mostly in the vicinity of the old hydraulic diggings areas at the western side (closer to Greenhorn Creek). Up into the woods, private property is inter-mixed with USFS lands up along the Chalk Bluff Road area and the lines between the two are not always clearly marked. The largest private land owner is Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) who is the largest private land owner in Califoria. SPI is a timber company and their agenda is to log their property - that's what they do. In the past they used to "look the other way" when signle track trails skirted across their lands. Those trails are not legal trails and are NOT connected to the Burlington Ridge Trails. No, really...

The "big bike" ride I put on last time mostly used legal public roads. I seem to recall that at one point (because the roads were really bumpy) we may have accidently bounced off the public road and we could have landed on a short single-track section but that was mearly a fluke that happened to catch everyone by surprise. No, really...

The big bikes don't do well on those single track trails (that exist only in rumor up there). "Don't do well" in this case means that most of the trails out there will have a few obsticles that a 500 lb bike will find impracticle to get around - and most of those don't have a bail-out option. Notwithstanding, many of those open roads on USFS lands have water-bars and go up and down hills that make them fun on the big bikes (and even sorta fun on the small bikes).

Finally, the art of riding that area is picking the time of year. In the summer the roads get talcum-powdery dusty and if you have a group of more than one or two it will not be fun for those in the back. In the wet season, some of the roads are rather greasy (red clay) and the puddles in the roads often have surprises in them (ruts, roots, or rocks) - and they're deep. Winter covers them in snow. So the best times are those in-between seasons where rain had recently occurred, and then a little bit of dry weather before the ride.

So there's the skinny on this area.

Hey Tod how ya been? Good info. Certainly clairifies what I presumed in my travels. And yes...the talcum can be so deep as to hide submerged obsticals right in the road bed. The red water pools can be a shock going deeper and deeper into four wheel ruts.

I found out all about that talcum powder when I went down Lowell Hill road this last July. Also Henness Pass, miles of it and pooled pretty deep in a few places.

The roads in that area must get a lot more vehicular use than down here in the EDNF, because here it's mostly hardpack all the way through the season.

I was astounded by the size of the gravel bars along the sides of the creek past Red Dog. I'm assuming thats all eroding runoff from old hydraulic workings. Almost 150 years later and it's still there, amazing how destructive hydraulic mining was.

Unless the "globe" warms up out of normal this winter, I think this will be the last of the high country dualsport runs for me this season.
The cold Yuba run from Nov 25th.
I had not posted it in the Sac Rider's thread, so I feel remiss that you've all been deprived of relishing our outing. But no more...:huh
And the ride report below...
...(small print)


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7:18-time spent away from the truck
4:32-time spent with a motor running
273 degrees-hotest engine got-(ran at 193 durning the hightailing it back)
6,010-max rev's per minute
69.5-maximum MPH
121.5 miles-finger numbing, butt burning, bike manuvering, tire ghooshing fun...

Hey all...
I'm sure everyone is wondering how yesterday's ride went...
It was GREAT! I started out before the sun was up,
(sky beginning to change to blue), then got back after it was dark,
(loading bike on trailer in the dark)

You might think that's a long day, but truth is the sun shines only for a short time...
I spent the whole day absorbing it's rays as much as possable.

After final discussion about who, where and when, the plan was to drive to wavey's and transfer my bike from the trailer to his pick-up bed.
Did that, and headed out with a quick on/off for gas at the Valero.

Cruised up to G/V via 80/174 and entered the safeway parking lot where we were to meet mysticrick. Our 4th rider wasn't gonna make it so, a crew of 3 started gearing up for the fun ride ahead.

We avoided the highway by taking backroads through N/C and onto coyote street. Met up with N Bloomfeild road and went down to Edwards. No stopping there as it's dam cold,
(frost on the bridge) and the yuba was in the shade.
But at the top of the mountain we refreshed at a sunny spot.

Continuing on to the historic town of N Bloomfeild we paused again in order to take advantage of the scenic surroundings for a photo opp.

Again refreshed we proceeded north and up hill till we hit cruzon grade and the saddle.
There, it was back onto dirt again and down into the shady zones.
Again I followed my intuition which always seems to lead me into someones drive way for what is most likely a pot farm.
Never seen so many broken down cars and trash.
Later I heard tale there was fellow hollering at us as we passed right through, not stopping.
Good thing I've done this before, as I knew exactly how to get us right out of there.
Out on the side of the ridge heading east we proceeded to take a particular route more than once.
I mean, we came to the same place we had already been!
But me knowing that, we went round again anyway cause it was a blast.

Had another stop in the middle of no-where and refreshed.
It's warming up a bit now and were heading for german bar.
This is the reverse direction than what mysticrick likes, but it's my "normal"
from all the years spent up at the shed.
The road down to german bar is a bit tattered and rocky. It's steep yes.
Dumps ya out right by the bridge over the middle fork of the yuba river.
I had told myself that if it was sunny down there,
then this would be the place for an extended stop.
It was...we did...

mysticrick has a running thing going to visit the owners of the allegany bar/store
and this was to be our next destination.
Since the old days at the shed, I had only visited allegany rarely due to my "ohv only" status.
Thus I defered to mysticrick's guidance througth the maze of top-of-the-hill roads.
We arrived there and refreshed up a bit.
The wood stove was cooking away inside and things were cozy for sure!

Time to look at the map cause I had very lofty plans for the day
which included trying a never before riden trail (by me) called the fiddle creek trail.
The map helped us get out of town and I counted how many roads before the next turn.
Yet, still relying on mysticricks recollection of the area,
we went down a wrong road for a mile or so thinking it was "galloway".
(We don't need no stinking signs!)
Indeed, I rely on the looks of the road's direction, as opposed to the map's bends to figure which is right.
Yep, the next one down was galloway.
Another very steep run,
shortest way possable to get down to downieville from henness pass road.
Most people perfer to go up this. Again, I sent us down.
I was eventualy waved ahead to do the front as there were no more turns to take.
Was having a fine time in 2nd and 3rd until an ill fated manuver
sent me skidding straight to a stop on one of those out of control truck stopping type berms.
Still no trouble though, as dave arrived to see that indeed I made a boo boo...

More mountain to go down, then right into a neighborhood in downiville.
A stop there for mystic to wash his hands...
...right back on the bikes we headed south on 49 for less than a mile,
headed back onto dirt and the saddleback road.
This being another fun curvy run I think we all enjoyed,
because whether I was taking it easy or gassing it,
those guys were always right on my tail.
At the top on the saddle there's an intersection with signs pointing to
the saddleback lookout, poker flat, chimney rock ect...

...but we were on a loop and a mission to discover the fiddle creek trail.
Unfortunately we had been biting off more than we could chew...
I mean, here we are absorbing sunshine, yet fully realizing that time is short.

Going back down on road 25 is a mellow "down hill ridge run".
Through the eureka diggings and over bald top.
We found the exact road to turn on and took it.
A wonderful windy round canyon thing that was almost level all the way,
so it was great for powerslides and gassing it.
Then we came to an intersection which required a map check,
and yep, right here we should be at 27 and 25/8...
...this is it, but the sun is in the high trees now and the shade
and cold are coming on fast.

It was decided right there... no time to loose.
No time to do the fiddle creek trail.
It was time to just continue on down to highway 49
and hightail it back to the truck.
Although I hate to do it to the knobs, it was the best thing, all 3 there agreed.
Thoughout the day it was rays of sun on top,
but the canyons were dark and dank.
Down through Cal-Ida and a last check with all for a thumbs up...lets do this!
Hit 49 and we did the 55 limit when ever possable,
but I was extra careful in the turns because it's "slippey when wet or frosty"!
A numbing/butt burning experiance...
We made it back to the trucks and loaded up without an incident.
In fact, I never even fell over! LOL...(bad habit lately)
Damp roads of gushy mud sometimes. But most of it was perfect.
Not may people were out on this Sunday. Absolutely no dust!
Most of all...this was the best conditions you could ask for traction wise.
I had suited up at home and disrobed dirt gear back at home as well.
I had long johns on but never let on that I did...
...I don't know how those guys handled it. BUUURRRR
My fingers got cold while they sat in the summer riding gloves,
on the grips, gliding along in an ice box with a windchill factor.

The area of roads 27, and 25 where the fiddle creek trail is deserves a good deal more exploration.
We passed many, many signs begging the world to share the road with offroad hotdoggers.
(share the road)
The area is low enough to get into and use when the regular dirt riding "highcountry" is still snowed in for months!
The little extra drive beyond going to say, foresthill/georgetown should be worth it in newness,
underpopulated, varying degrees of difficulty available spots to scratch out.
Puts it high on a list for return trips.....next year.

That's the way it was!!!

^^^ Holly cow, that is difficult to read on my little netbook! Had to do the ctl + move to enlarge that. :eek1

Well Tod, I know, but I figured that's what people would have to do...

It's not impossable!

If you really want to know, that is not errosion SINCE hydraulic mining, that is the waste rock FROM the hydraulic mining. The source of that material you're seeing in Greenhorn Creek actually comes from the adjacent hydraulic mines from the next ridges over (in a different drainage).

By design many of the mines would "wash" that material from the walls within the "diggins" and once on the floor that slurry would be directed into a drain hole (or holes). Once it went into the drain hole it then flowed horizontally through the tunnel and was eventually deposited over into the next drainage. Those horizontal "drains" were essentially the giant sluce boxes and that is where the gold was recovered in the process. After that, all of the gravelly waste rock just accumulated in the drainage.

Warp ahead 70 years later and now that gravel material is once again being minded - but this time as an aggregate material. The ultimate plan is to try and return the creek bed back to a pre-hydraulic mining condition.

The moderators have granted me a Christmas wish.
I have now taken over a user's handle due to his inactivity, and my rightful place in the motorcycle world.

No longer identified on ADVRider as 22manyrides, and now consistant with my handle on other boards and youtube...

I am 2manyrides....Greetings for the new riding season!

The former....