Spring overnighter...

Well I'm a little over two weeks out past knee surgery and I was feeling pretty good. I asked Mary to take Sasha for the weekend and she obliged so a plan was set in motion. It had been pretty warm this week but the weekend was supposed to cool down so I decided a trip up the hill was in order. I had a butt load of office work to do on Sat morning so my start was delayed till nearly noon, that put a bit of a damper on my plans but dammit if I was going to let it get in the way.

 I knew I wasn't going to make it all the way out to the Spaulding Lake Trail on Sat like I had wanted to, it's nearly 80 miles of pretty steady climbing, probably in the 10,000 range and it's likely better that I didn't push my knee that much anyways. I just kind of figured I would ride till I didn't want to anymore and call it good at that, a novel concept that seems to escape me sometimes.

I took off from the house on the Flash, which I don't think I've ridden loaded since the Colorado Trail race a couple of years ago, I forgot how fun this bike is loaded, it's not my favorite bike unloaded but it really is a different beast with bags on it.

Foresthill Rd. Overlooking Royal Gorge

Foresthill Rd. Looking South towards the Sacramento Valley

Foresthill Rd.

The awesome hand pump at Robinsons Flat

I made my way up Foresthill Rd. to Robinson Flat where the road turns to dirt and headed left towards Soda Springs. I got to the turn off to head down to Soda Springs and decided to head over to the Tevis Trail at Lava Point to see if the motos had been on it yet.

Eagle Mountain with Grouse Ridge in the background

Lava Point

 It looked like I would have first tracks on the Tevis Trail, I hadn't seen any snow of any significance yet so I decided to head on up. This trail can be very nice if it hasn't been ruined by dirt bikes, it only takes a few motos on it to render it really useless to mountain bikes. Tevis rolled out pretty nice until the trail dropped off the North side of Lyon Ridge where the snow was still pretty prevalent. It took me nearly 2 hours to do the 5 miles of trail to Rd. 52 at Lyon Ridge. I was dragging my bike on 45 degree snow fields, all the while hoping I didn't lose my footing as I would have slid a long ways before stopping with a thud into some rocks or trees.

Tevis Trail crossing Foresthill Rd.

Suckered me in.

More good trail.

Tevis Trail

Some nice views up there.

Cool section on Tevis Trail

And the dragging begins.

More nice views, French Meadows Res. in the distance

Lots of this.

 The whole time I was dragging my bike through the snow it was cool to see that the wildlife also use this trail. Lots of footprints, deer, squirrels, what looked like a mountain lion or large bobcat and bear.

Others have passed this way....

 I finally made it to the fireroad that drops down to the Cedars and climbed my way up Soda Springs Rd. I had often wondered where a little side road off of Soda Springs Road headed. It was getting late and I was already way past the 4 hours of riding I was supposed to do today when I headed down the little side road. It opened up into a spectacular open space with views and sounds of the North Fork of the American River dropping into Royal Gorge. It seemed a great place to spend the night.

Home for the night.

Not a bad view.

Morning light on Royal Gorge.

I usually sleep pretty well on these things, but man it seemed like I only slept for a couple of hours at best. The moon was full and it seemed like someone in a car with their lights on was parked right outside my bivy. Morning came and although it was a bit chilly, it was just a beautiful morning. I really didn't have a plan for the day, I knew I needed to be home at some point, but how I got there was up to me. I made my way up Soda Springs Rd. and headed down Donner Pass Rd towards Cisco Grove where I hopped on the freeway. I had to make a decision here, turn off on to the Fordyce OHV trail or head down Hwy 20 to the Cascade Ditch. Either way I'd end up at the Cascade Ditch, the choice was whether I got there in 5 minutes or three hours via Fordyce/Spaulding lake trails. I actually passed the turnoff for the Fordyce OHV trail and turned around and headed back up the freeway to Eagle Lakes Rd and the Fordyce OHV, there really seemed no reason not to do it.

 Super glad I did, up to that point it had been pretty much roads, both dirt and paved and the super technical trail was a great way to spend the morning and really provided a boost to my energy levels. I was clearing stuff on the hardtail that I would usually flail around on so it was inspiring. 

 Passed a few jeeps on Fordyce OHV on my way to Eagle Lakes and the Spaulding Lake Trail. Stopped to filter a bit of water at the bridge over Fordye Creek and my filter promptly broke. What is it about water filters theses days. I can't think of one piece of gear I carry that's more important yet I've broken one Katadyne and 2 MSR's.

I'm headed to Eagle Lakes

Fun stuff

On the way to Eagle lakes.

Eagle Lake.

Eagle Lake with Red Mountain in the background.

Near Fordyce Creek.

I made my way down the Spaulding lake trail pretty well, I usually have to work pretty hard to keep on this remote trail but for whatever reason I was dialed in today. A few more trees down than last year, but overall super happy I made my way out there. At the top of Spaulding I turned down the Upper Pioneer Trail, a trail I'm happy to have a hand in building.

Fordyce Creek

Spaulding lake Trail

A little of this, not bad though..

Spaulding Lake Trail goodness.

Spaulding Lake Trail

Spring, springing...

Spaulding Lake Trail

Pioneer Trail

Pioneer Trail

At the end of the Pioneer Trail I made my way up to the Cascade Ditch for the trip over to old US 40 and the drop into Alta.

Bad selfie...

Old US 40, the precursor to Interstate 80

Old US 40

From Alta it was Old US 40 down to Norton Grade Rd and up into Colfax for lunch.

Butterscotch milkshake too!

After lunch I headed out of Colfax for the drop into the North Fork on Yankee Jims. I was hoping to keep my lunch down in doing so. I had my vest, leg and arm warmers on in Colfax and by the time I hit the river it was easily 25 degrees warmer. Everything came off and I made my way up to Foresthill. It wasn't pretty, I had been having a hard time keeping my heart rate down for the entire trip and this climb was no different, not sure what's up there.

North Fork of the American River

Yankee Jims Rd.

Lots of flowers out.

Not sure what the yellow flowers are, but they were out in force. 

I finally made my way up the pavement into Foresthill, hit a little trail here and there on the way home and walked in the door about 3 pm. All in all a nice time out on the bike.

 F-Hill, Soda Springs, Fordyce, Spaulding Lake, old US 40, Yankee Jims by seanallan at Garmin Connect - Details