Took a personal day last week. I jumped on the KTM and met Ernie at his house in Sacramento.
Since it was Wednesday I had to get at least one on the record. 😉
Wheelie Wednesday at Ernies’
That’s when I turned on Rever.com.
On Rever, I do wish it worked better like Strava but I’m still giving it a go. I turned it off when I got back to my driveway so the overall mileage is 60 or so miles off.
We headed up Hwy 80 to the Alta exit. From there we headed north looking for a very small road, which turned into a smaller road and finally a gravel road. The hard part was finding that road.
As you get into the small town of Dutch Flat it’s easy to miss the turn. It’s right here before the grey building with the green roof on the right.
Right turn just before the green roofed building
It’s such a small road you can easily miss it!
Not that you’ll see a sign but officially the road is called Diggins Hill (about 60 miles out of Sacramento). Soon the road will turn to gravel and you’ll go around a few lakes.
We had what looked like a teeenage bear run across our path along the trail near Bear River. Maybe that’s why it’s called Bear River? Although I had a GoPro, it wasn’t on at the time. 🙁
At about 4,500 ft (75 miles from Sacramento) we reconnected with the paved road for a short time (Hwy 20). Once you hit Hwy 20 head north for around 4 miles.
We found a road that led to Camp Spaulding on the left. Take that and head north.
the road towards Camp Spaulding
The road will soon end and switch to gravel with tougher sections of exposed rocks and loose baby heads.
The trail winds it’s way up the sierras around lakes and reservoirs. We found this cool aqueduct that went straight through the side of a mountain.
Seriously! They dug a tunnel just for the water through a mountain!
Follow the signs towards Bowman Lake. Follow the trail around the lake and then up towards Jackson Meadows Reservoir. Soon we hit pavement again. I was at 100 or so miles since last gas stop so we decided to head into Truckee, get gas and then roll down Hwy 80 and back home.
letting off water at the Jackson Meadow Reservoir
Looking back, it was a full day of riding. Even though the temps were warm (80s – 90s) we rode mostly in the shade of the trees. There wasn’t much in the way of technical riding but at the same time that could come back to bite you. I found myself riding faster than I should again and again. The easy gravel and river rock roads lulled you into thinking you could go fast and then we would come around a corner and find a bunch of baby heads and other rocks in the road ready to bust a tube if you hit them too hard.
The bike got dusty, but that was about all. I didn’t drop it and there was little to no mud along the way. It’s already cleaned up and ready for the next adventure!
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, had a big cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and is currently building a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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Great writing Mike! Call me next time you’re going to venture! Remember my bike is still being paid for monthly so I don’t want to fall over and scratch it