Sierra Loop Trail? (with as much single track as possible)

Has anyone put together a Sierra Loop Trail? (my searches on the web and this forum couldn't find any).

The basic outline would be:

(I'll throw out the south end of 49 around Oakhurst as an arbitrary starting point)

West: Stay east of highway 49 and get as much (skinny) dirt as possible as close to Wilderness Boundary as possible
North: Cross the Sierra as far north as is still dramatic (obviously subjective). Likely in the Plumas National Forest
East: Come down Eastern Sierra staying West of 395 and getting as close to various Wilderness boundaries as possible
South: Cross in a dramatic place north of 178
West Again: Stay as close to Wilderness Boundary as possible

There could obviously be a million variations, but I would be looking for the one with the most single track as possible (riding a KTM 500 EXC).

The Pacific Quest Crest looks like a good start for the western part. For the Eastern part, Countdown over at GPSXchange has some good looking stuff.

Any suggestions, ideas on how to fill in remaining gaps much appreciated!

Image below is a VERY VERY rough outline based on ambition more than knowledge of where the trail would actually go (that's why I am asking you guys, after all )




PS: in my search for all this info I came across the Friends of Jawbone and the CTUC maps. I'm sure everyone here knows about them, but for future newbies like me who stumble across this thread, they are awesome and surprisingly affordable ($3 a map and $1 shipping). Can't wait to put my Inyo North Map to work this spring - http://www.jawbone.org/foj/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=19&Itemid=160

A great idea! Being somewhat familiar with the east side of the Sierras, I would be hard pressed to meet your requirements--particularly staying West of 395 and emphasizing single track. In the north, you could put something together which primarily runs on the east side of 395 with mostly 2 track. That would get you down to Mammoth or so. From there you could get over to the west side of 395, but with a lot more 2 track than single track, getting you down to Lone Pine or so. From there south to 178, I am not familiar with much going north and south. Again, moving east would open up some possibilities through Death Valley/Saline, Panamint Valley, on down to the Trona/Ridgecrest area and on down to 178/Walker or not so far toKkennedy Meadows and west there.

Speaking of the east side in VERY GENERAL terms, you won't find much single track moving you very far north and south. What you will find is a lot of is 2 track farther east, in the more desert/pine nut mountain terrain of NV.

Fun to think about.....

DONE!

It is called the Statewide Motorized Trail System, Route 3 (west of sierras) and route 5 (east of sierras). See history on SMTS.Info and find current tracks on GPSXchange.com

Countdown, I think you meant SMTS.info. I've been mapping out your gps tracks on google earth for a father-son dualsport trip through that region hopefully some time in September 14. [Thanks so much for posting the tracks, its really helpful when looking at maps and trying to figure out the unfamiliar territory] We've been dreaming of riding through the sequoias and yosemite on a pair of KLRs for a few years. Trying to make it a reality this year. Any recommendations beyond your tracks as far as things not to miss (must sees)? I'm trying to browse all related posts to collect as much info as I can find. Just ordered an IMUS map of the sierras. Can't wait.

Oops, yes SMTS.info fixed in first post

We did this ride about 25 years ago before GPS. I rode it and made a roll chart for it then my partner took six or so customers. We started in ridgecrest, went up Rt 5, over Tioga, down Rt 3, over pass south of Walker back to Ridgecrest. Now, I would cross over in the north on 108 or 4. One guy had just landed in the states and has been here ever since, Uwe from AdMo tours.

One caution, in my book Dual Sport bikes are under 600cc. So if on a 600 or larger and rider is not an Endure A rider always take the Adv options.

Rt 3 is basically the PCQ but I have not been on it from Kernville to Hwy 108 in years. On my bucket list, but spent last three years recording Tracks for the Great Western Trail.

Thanks for the info- pardon my ignorance but what is or does PCQ stand for? Also for route 3 how can I view the road / trail names and numbers? Trying to trace out on a map. Thanks for the help.

About 10 threads down Pacific Crest Quest.

No way I know of to get FS road/trail numbers but to locate them on each forest MVUM. Don't understand problem though? Open my file with MapSource or Base Camp and view it, print it, what ever.

Thanks I printed the MVUM maps out and was trying to trace out the route. Then I figured out how to add the road names on google earth. That tied it all together for me. Appreciate the help, happy new year with many new miles of trail!

Yes but not enough time, I am 70.

Chris,

Sorry, I had not updated GPSXchange for SMTS after doing a lot of work north of Hwy 108 specifically with the Pacific Crest Quest trail.

Delete your above thread and then re-review .gpd tracks from GPSX (did not update .gpx yet) and ask questions.

Yes CTUC maps (I work for them) are the best ones out there for legal trails. A guy from Inyo forest and I did the Inyo ones, I provided all the GPS tracks except for Jawbone ACEC for the big Jawbone map. Didn't work on any of the others.

Deleted the thead above. Will check out GPSX for the N sections of Sierra Loop Trail. Thanks again for all the great work.

Loaded up all the SMTS routes and the PCQ. Great resources, thanks all! Since the goal of the Sierra Loop Trail would be to avoid as much pavement as possible, wondering if there is anyway to get from Kyburz to 80/Truckee with a lot less pavement. Currently the PCQ follow ice house road which is paved. From looking at FS maps, looks like getting to Union Valley Res is easy on dirt and from there maybe another way to skip ice house until joining up with the blue trail (see image, blue trail i got somewhere off gpsxchange and appears to avoid paved PCQ for a section. not to be confused with the dark blue trail on the right which is the Rubicon).



Also, any ideas on how to get from Gardnerville to Reno on as little pavement as possible? There is a cool section of trail that starts at the top of kingsbury grade and goes north. But to get there means tons of pavement through gardnerville and then pavement back to Carson City. from there it appears there is a big gap to get you from carson to Reno without pavement. From looking at satellite images, and having climbed off Goni Rd north of Carson City, it appears you could stay mostly on dirt from Gardnerville to Reno... with the crux being getting around Reno on dirt before joining up with the many dirt options north.

Any ideas much appreciated. In both images, i drew a slightly thicker red line to guess at what might work...

Thanks again Countdown for all the gold over at GPS exchange. Ive spent way too much time downloading all those tracks and loading into Google Earth and scheming big link ups. Great stuff.

May have mentioned it before but I would cross over on Hwy 108 Sonora or Hwy 4 Ebbets. They are both very fun and very scenic highways. Hwy 4 is only 1 1/2 lanes for 30 miles and we just opened a long section of the original dirt portion on the East side. Nothing much worth riding on the east side north of Topaz Lake.

That trail between Kingsbury and Spooner Summit on 50 is a real POS with giant whoops but Kings Cyn down to Carson is a great old piece of original Lincoln Hwy but just too much paved road to be worth while.

I will be riding Rt 3 up west side of Sierras as soon as snow melts to get fresh Tracks. Already did it from Tehachapi to Piutes and near lake Hume.

I have some good track that takes you from Gville into Dayton, then up into Virginia City, over and down into Washoe Valley (South of Reno). There's lots of tracks off Jumbo Grade, I just moved out there and started exploring, but it looks like getting into Reno proper would be doable. I don't have my tracks on me. I drew up the basic outline on GPSVis.

There's also the track that Countdown mentioned that stays to the west of Carson up around the lake, but this one has better single track.

The first time I did that ride was my first ever night ride. That dust, and those whoops.. man, what a crappy ride. You're totally correct about King's Canyon though, that was a good ride down.

Seems like we need a "retracing" and updating of the SMTS route ! Im in to mapping it from Pine Flat near the Kings Canyon to Tuolumne, CA. You can ride from Jawbone to Kernville very easily over Jawbone canyon rd ...and there are quite a few ways down the east side including tracing the aqueduct..

and if anyone is doing this route please look me up as I may be able to offer up a place to stay or even ride through with ya !

subscribed

Yes that dates way back to the first PCQ ride. I started working it but got stopped by snow & ice. I will work it with a friend from Kernville in a couple weeks then will from Kings river north with friend who lives in North Fork. Dop you want me to let you know when?

Sure! If I can make it I live in Oakhurst and may know some other routes than your friend. Damon Powell my buddy from tehachapi have discussed this. Let me know

Heading out Friday from Lake Isabella through Sierras hitting Seqouia and Yosemite national parks on a pair of KLRs. .


Catalyst

if you guys went into Oakhurst on Rd 426 on loaded KLRS... I saw you two on Friday just around noon.