Cross Hwy 49 Legally?

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GrizzlyGuy
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Postby GrizzlyGuy » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:27 pm

On Sunday, I went out and did a little field investigation on the 'Road Closed' sign at Yuba Pass. I could find nothing in the Forest Orders closing it, and the FS wasn't clear on the situation when I called around and asked. Anyhooo...

Off I went from Little Truckee Summit and made a high-speed beeline to Yuba Pass. I looked at the tire tracks going in/out of that road, and they all appeared to be light truck or passenger car radials. Not the type expected on 4x4 vehicles, ATVs or motorcycles, so unlikely this was going to be just a trail that would be closed per fire restrictions.

I waited along Hwy 49 for about 10 minutes, hoping to flag down a FS truck so I could say "Hey, watch this!" as I did what I was going to do next. That would give them an easy opportunity to ticket me if it really was closed. No FS trucks came by. Oh well, I tried. :)

I hit the gas, waved at the sign, and headed north. Here is what I found at the other end of this road:

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Looks like a normal/legal FS road to me. No 'Road Closed' signs anywhere to be seen. In fact, there were many other signs in that area directing traffic from the north to use that route to get back to Yuba Pass:

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Neat. So now I was real-real danged sure that this is a legal route. :)

Having come that far, I decided to go on out and see Gold Lake. Beautiful country along the way there:

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I rode right into the campground at Gold Lake, having crossed Gold Lake Highway via FS28 (which begins right there). Got a lot of strange looks from the campers even though I cruised through at 5 mph, but I didn't care. It is a nice lake:

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The campers must have had a good time that weekend, just look at how much trash they neatly stacked in and on the dumpster:

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Took a side trip up to Mills Peak. Neat place. Looks like a great place to launch a hang glider. Maybe next time I'll bring mine:

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Old Glory was being proudly displayed by the FS guy (Dave) manning the tower:

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Great views from up there:

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The north side of Sierra Buttes still has snow:

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I'll be darned, I crossed into Plumas NF and hadn't realized it:

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On the way back, I did some exploring of various roads in the Haskell Peak area. Found a fancy bed-and-breakfast inn: :wink:

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That road heading north from Yuba Pass actually forks. The west fork is a snowmobile route, while the east fork is a nordic ski trail (really just a big wide road in summer). I rode the snowmobile route on the way out, then the nordic ski trail on the way back. The snowmobile route is a bit tighter and steeper (for a road), so was more fun:

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By the time I got back to Little Truckee Summit, I had put 103 new miles on my wife's special edition Grizzly. So now both grizzlies are good to go for the 200 mile first service (I put 95 miles on mine the day before).

If you want to see more pictures, you can go here and view the "103 Mile Ride - Gold Lake/Mills Peak" album:

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Ken
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Postby Ken » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:46 pm

Dang...Sweet ride. Gold Lake is nice. If you look at our photos...I know the guy who has the camp on the far side of the lake. Jimmy Reed.

Downieville to Gold Lake and back..is 94 miles. Great ride....and BETTER STAY OPEN. GRrrrr.
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GrizzlyGuy
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Postby GrizzlyGuy » Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:39 pm

Ken wrote:Dang...Sweet ride. Gold Lake is nice. If you look at our photos...I know the guy who has the camp on the far side of the lake. Jimmy Reed.

Downieville to Gold Lake and back..is 94 miles. Great ride....and BETTER STAY OPEN. GRrrrr.
Yeah Ken, I saw those photos of the 2005 ride you guys did to Gold Lake from Downieville. I think that is the album with the famous Downieville Deputy shot, right? :lol:

So now my mission is to figure out how to get around that lake to go say hi to your friend Jimmy, then continue north or west. :wink: Hopefully you or someone else on here has the answer.

Here is my track log at Gold Lake:

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You can see how I came in then headed south through the campground. Right at the end of that track is the boat ramp and the pavement begins there. I didn't know if it was legal to keep heading around the lake on that pavement, I was getting lots more strange looks, so I retreated. :(

Per Google Earth, it only looks like about a mile of pavement, then dirt again. No help from the signs around the boat ramp area. But if I read "Vehicles on roads only" from this sign kind of loosely, then maybe I would have been OK(?):

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If I had made it to the dirt again, it looks like those would be trails that are closed per fire restrictions. But I don't know(?).

I was thinking of bringing some inflatable pontoons next time and seeing if I could get a tow across the lake from a ski boat. But there has to be an easier way, right? :lol:

I'd actually like to go all the way to Quincy. Someone told me at the ATV shop years ago that you could ride from Truckee to there. I forgot to ask HOW. So if I can crack Gold Lake, I might have a shot at it when fire restrictions end.

If I can bag Quincy, then maybe Oregon is possible. Gotta ride 'em while you still can, right? :lol:
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Ken
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Postby Ken » Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:30 am

We parked....where it turns to dirt...there's a parking/staging area there.

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We rode around the lake (red) and turned Left to Downieville. The arrow is where Jimmy's private camp is...there's a gate.


That was this ride....where I rolled my quad over backwards.

http://www.atvobsession.com/pictures/go ... /index.htm
The last words spoken before a YouTube video is filmed: "Hold my beer, now watch this..."

Regards,
Ken Hower
RTF Director
http://www.rubicontrail.org/

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GrizzlyGuy
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Postby GrizzlyGuy » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:35 pm

Ken wrote:We parked....where it turns to dirt...there's a parking/staging area there.
Awesome info Ken, thanks! That sure is nice country out that way. 8)

So it really is just a short bit of pavement to get to that parking/staging area and dirt. Any idea whether the trails/roads going out of there are closed per the current fire restrictions? It seems like the stuff out by Snake and Deer lakes would be closed, but dunno.

If I do make it past the lake and out that way, I'll be sure not to take that ornery little path that did the number on your handle bars!
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scotte
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Postby scotte » Fri Jul 27, 2007 11:26 pm

Thanks for all your pictures, brings back lots of memories from 20-25+ years ago when my folks had their house up there (you can still see it as you come down the final stretch of Gold Lake Rd to Hwy-49 maybe 3/4 mile up from Bassetts or so, across the river perched (or so it looks) on a big rock.

I have fond memories of spending summer afternoons swimming at Sand Pond or fishing in Sardine like or Salmon lake or hiking up to the lookout.


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