Sierra Nevada Foothill Rides - San Andreas to Oakhurst

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are all open and ice free as of Saturday afternoon.

Does anyone have any intel about Old Yosemite Road? I know it's below the snowline but I'm wondering about mud. I was up north of Nevada City last weekend and I tried to go up to Graniteville and the road was really wet and sloppy even though the last rain was a week earlier.

They're giving away tent cabins in Curry Village ($40 for sat. night) So I was going to go down 49 to Coulterville and in on Old Yosemite Road, Sun. I was going to go 120 (if it's open after this thursdays rain/snow) and north on 395 to Monitor.

I was up that way the other day and mud was the last thing on my mind, although the dust has been knocked down a lot it is no where near muddy!!! Not sure what is expected on Thursday, but usually the road is in pretty good shape, it does not see a lot of traffic. I also think they (whoever "they" are) have done some very nice road maintenance on some of the Forest Route Roads. I noticed that they had run a grader on a good portion of the road climbing out of Briceburg. And there seems to be some new signage going up, I think they are cracking down on off-road vehicles traveling on the forest roads and need to sign in order to ticket! But that is just me!

I never made it into Yosemite using Old Yosemite either, so be interesting to hear how it goes, looks like it should not be a problem as most of those Forest Routes up that way are Big Bike Friendly.
bruce

I believe that Old Yosemite Road will not get you into Yosemite. Better get onto 120 for that. I'd call the Stanislaus FS on 120 for best intel. The FS is cracking down on unlicensed vehicles on FS roads. I talked to one FS ranger about this after he wanted to check my plate. The Briceburg switchbacks have been groomed for a few months now.

I do not think you can get into the park that way either. At least that is where I think I was 3-4 years ago. The road ended at the park boundary, with a 10 ft ditch, a raised log barricade and lots of signs.

Hey, thanks for all the responses.

I think the reason for all the mud near Graniteville was there was melting patches of snow on the sides that were keeping the roadway pretty wet. I almost lost the front end at 20 mph and I had the rear wheel spin out twice on short hills and almost lost it so I turned around.

I wasn't aware of the closure at the park entrance. I went the Briceburg way this spring, heading down the switchbacks. I saw the fork to old Yosemite Road, right after Bower Cave, and wanted to try it. But if it's a turn around, I won't even bother.

I'll be riding a KLR so plating isn't a problem, but there's an upward limit of how rough a road I can handle on such a big bike.

What is Bower Cave all about? Never heard of it.

Hey St Stam,
Well kind of got a little bored today so about noon I took off and rode up through Coulterville and hit Dog-town road and there I was on Bull Creek Road, so I thought I would take Old Yosemite up and see how it was.
Very odd ride, I was all alone but then after climbing up and up above Anderson flats and just when to road is really getting rutted in spots, wamo....a huge road grader is widening the road and softening up everything. If it is to rain tomorrow up there it will be a real mess!!! Then I see a overcrowded Honda CRV bouncing along, they are heading in the direction I just road, no clue where they were heading. When I got to the top there is a five way intersection and Trumball Peak is 9 miles and Anderson Flats is 8 miles (down) but there is another road, and it is paved up there it is marked Forest Service 20. I was running short so I headed to Anderson Flats and home, but would not mind seeing how and where that road goes...I got some pictures i will post later....

The road is not bad. From where the blockage is, you can see the toll booth. If you could follow the road it would come out 1/2 mile inside the park. It just is not going to happen.

Ok I am a little bored lately , comes with the territory....

Put this vid together last night of yesterday little spur of the moment ride...

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Would not mind doing some more exploring up that way if the weather holds, can't do anything this weekend but maybe next, if anyone is interested....

Id like to get up there, not available for two weeks though, maybe the weather will hold?!

What are you riding?

Nice video, thanks.
We met people in a small passenger car by that grader, they were para sailing down to the valley by anderson flats.

I put along on a F800 GS. so nothing super technical

I have seen hang gliders landing in Anderson Flats, did not know where they launched from but that makes sense since it appears there is a paved road all the way up to that ridge.

Perfect, I putt on a Tiger, Love to explore up there.

Going on the Fresno BMW shop ride this Sunday, hope they aren't too hard on me riding the competition!

That video is really helpful. I've been looking at the Stanislaus Nat'l Forest map, so I was able to recognize a lot of the road numbers you called out.

Bower cave is right after the turn north on Buck Meadows Road, if you're heading east from Coulterville to the switchbacks above Briceburg. It isn't a deep cave system. It's akin to Masonic Caves in Volcanoville, where it's a large outcropping of limestone with some more or less open air chambers on the sides. It's on a short trail up from the road that starts near a stone monument. I passed by but didn't go up as I had heard there was a fence part way up and the cave was on private property.

Mr B sent you a PM

Hey Bruce thanks for vid. In August I was on the Old Yosemite Rd going down the hill. It was very ruddy and I was glad to be going down. When I was up there a week or two back I came upon a paved section and wondered what the heck is this doing here. It didn't last long however. I did see the heavy equipment clearing brush projecting into the roadway.
I get so turned around up there even with GPS.
If the weather holds, I believe it will for at least a week, and I don't get a wild hair up my backside and go up to Oregon to make use of the good weather, I'm up for a day or two on those roads during the week. We could even base camp out of the cabin. Keep me posted on those spur of the moment rides.

Sounds good, just flew back in from Vegas and saw the Sierra's today,,very nice dusting

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About 20,000 feet south of Yosemite and East of Fresno, just east of Millerton Lake, at least that is the next large body of water we flew over,,don't know that area well but it was nice flying in!!

That's my home, about 22 miles West.

I was on the Left side of the aircraft and could not get a bearing as I could not see YNP, but figured it was just due East of Clovis!! The snow did not look to bad from the plane but could not make out how low it fell either...

Guess winter is slowly approaching!!