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Rockin' Cottonwood Canyon and Bear Valley

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 8:38 pm
by hemingray
Took a trip out to Little Truckee Summit for a ride. I couldn't decide on Perazzo Meadows or Treasure Mountain - so I did Cottonwood Road. Last ride out there for me was a tour that Grizzly Guy took me on, including part of Bear Valley and on down Trosi Canyon, Badenaugh Canyon etc. Fun ride.

So, I tried to ride the same route, but as always, curiousity drags me off the plan.

Smoke from the Trail Fire near Foresthill is pretty present.

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A smoky view of the Sierra Valley.

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Old railroad grade makes for a nice road

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Waiting for them to fly

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I'm having fun!

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Land Peak, Sardine Point and Sardine Peak

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Old tree by the road

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Oooh, a shiny thing!

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And it looks shiny too!

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More nice views

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Gettin' up top

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Rocky

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Grizzly Guy waypointed this as "Rock Garden", and it sure was. I called it adrenaline hill.

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Past the hard part

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Trees on top

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I don't know how you rock crawlers do it. I got onto one of the Bear Valley trails (one-way) and the climbs kept getting sportier. I don't do the rock stuff and steep pitch stuff, and I was beyond my ability but not the Wolverine's! There's no way I would have ridden my quad up this stuff but the Wolverine did an awesome job. So much adrenaline - those few miles wore me out and a mere 24 miles of cruising felt like 100. Have to admit - it was kinda fun.

Re: Rockin' Cottonwood Canyon and Bear Valley

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:31 pm
by silvertip
Thanks for the Pic. Dave. I like that area also. Got a few climbs that make you I hope I make that. Did you go up to Sardine Peak Lookout? The last time I was there was still a little snow and the gate was still closed. I heard that it would be open when they started renting it out.

Re: Rockin' Cottonwood Canyon and Bear Valley

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 10:21 pm
by hemingray
The one near Ball Pein was tough enough for me (I hate the feeling of tipping back when the front end walks up a step or rock) so this was a kind of "conditioning" ride. I learned to trust it a lot more. Then I came to the 2nd hill and that was really one with the "I hope I make that" 'cause there was no turning around! Not sure I'll ever ride that again either. I turns out that GG and I rode part of that trail system backwards - all the markers are arranged in one direction and there's no such thing as passing on a lot of that stuff. I love the trails, but not the technical stuff. Still, I have to say the Wolverine was a blast on it and I enjoyed it more in that than the quad. :shock:

I didn't get over to Sardine, I had planned to. But have a friend who stayed there recently, so it's definitely open for business - at least for renters.

Re: Rockin' Cottonwood Canyon and Bear Valley

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 5:29 pm
by EigerMike
awesome dave!!!!!! great pics!!!!! you just need to ride more rocks!!!!!!

Re: Rockin' Cottonwood Canyon and Bear Valley

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2016 8:08 am
by Kendo
Bear Valley Loop is one of my favorites! There is only one "more difficult" obstacle that I have not ridden, nor do I wish to. I'm not sure what it's called, but it's probably a third of the way thru and the trail splits into a Y. To the right is the hill of death that i am sure would raise a front tire and make me tumble backwards no matter how careful I was. I have ridden down it on the quad, and that was bad enough. The rest of them I think are pretty fun.

Have they cleaned up the end of the loop? Last time I was up there the trail just kind of disappeared into the brush and I wound up backtracking and getting back on Cottonwood Rd to get back to the trailhead.

Re: Rockin' Cottonwood Canyon and Bear Valley

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2016 4:58 pm
by hemingray
I don't know it well, but there's Ball Pein (near BV09 on the map) - if you're following the correct direction, it's a keep right (signed diffficult) deal. Also, between BV09 and RCKGRD (Rock Garden) Eric waymarked a winch hill which also was a diffcult/easy route choice (of course, you know which one I was on!).

The other is Eric's BVTOUGHSPO - last fall he and a friend were on a ride and it got so nasty he ended up turning the his buddy's quad around and came back down. I may check it out next time.

I can't find any maps of the loop, but I did run it out from BV06 to BV16 and met Cottonwood Rd just fine. From about BV16 it's just plain old road.

I have to agree, it's a great area. Even the nasty (to me) sections, and the more I think about it, the more I liked it. So, any chance of you undoing the ride-less thing anytime soon?


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Re: Rockin' Cottonwood Canyon and Bear Valley

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 8:48 am
by Kendo
This is the spot Dave. Of course the video makes it look easy, but that section right before the very top has a vertical section that, in a short wheelbase vehicle, would surely cause some liftage of the front.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQz8anLjeM8

Re: Rockin' Cottonwood Canyon and Bear Valley

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 7:19 pm
by hemingray
Yikes, that's a rough one! I plan to check it out next time. That vid did not make it look easy to me though (no surprise). Despite the wide angle view, it still looked steep to me - the angle of the people at the top tells the tale! No chance I'll be on that, probably not even downhill!

Thanks for the vid - cool to watch steel-huevo'd people get up stuff like that! ;-)

Re: Rockin' Cottonwood Canyon and Bear Valley

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 3:32 pm
by Ken
hemingray wrote:Thanks for the vid - cool to watch steel-huevo'd people get up stuff like that! ;-)
I'm ready!!!