Grass Valley Trail Ride

[WARDOG]

Well I finally got IronHide put together well enough for a summer ride.

We'll be having a Grass Valley Meet & Trail ride Sunday, Sept. 21st, 2014. *SEE POST #5 for meeting location and time.
Ladies welcome, dogs are not, on this trip since we'll be stopping on the lodge property of Grass Valley Sportsmens at Weaver Lake for lunch and 'non-member' dogs are prohibited.

The route will basically be Hwy 20 thru Nevada City, down the Yuba Canyon to the Little Town of Washington (Pavement ends), Relief Hill Cross Rd. to Graniteville Rd. popping out by Snow Tent Springs, thru Graniteville down to Bowman Lake (Meadowlake Rd.), Up McMurray Lake Rd. (Rough & bumpy for about 4 miles) passing McMurray lake and Weaver Lake on the north end, looping around the base of Pyramid Peak popping out on Pinole Ridge Rd., with a stop at the Grass Valley Sportsmens Lodge at Weaver Lake for lunch / bathroom break for the ladies. The lodge has real bathrooms, drinking water, and a hardline telephone for emergencies. It will be a nice introduction for those who have not been there before. Eat lunch overlooking the lake with Bald Eagles and Osprey's fishing.

After lunch we'll take some backroads/logging trails (Steep and bumpy for a bit) back onto USFS Rd. 41 (Graniteville Rd.) thru Marsh Mill, to USFS Rd. 50 loop, back to USFS Rd. 41, down Gaston Grade back to the Town of Washington. We should be back in Grass Valley by 6 pm, assuming there are no breakdowns.

Nothing technical, however there will be a few spots you'll have to lock the hubs. No body-damaging rocks but you may get some shrub scrapes.
No winching is expected.
Total distance will be about 100 miles so plan gas accordingly.
There is NO cell service out there.
We'll stop for some group photo ops.

Highest Elevation will be about 7000 ft, with most of our traveling at around 5000 ft. See some high lakes and some great ridge views.

Trying to keep this simple, bring a picnic lunch for yourself, FMRS/GMR radio's will be on channel 6.

Meeting location and time will be posted within a week or so. Probably meet at 7:30 am, head out at 8:00 am. The route may change slightly due to weather or logging operations on certain roads. The roads may be dusty which will slow us down, maybe a high-sierra shower the night before? We'll have fun anyway.

CHIME IN if you can go. Meet some fellow Bronco owners. There might be a Heep or old FJ in the mix but we have tow straps for them.;D

I am always open to suggestions.
QUESTIONS or comments:
Please e-mail 'Reno' aka: WARDOG - sierra-sportsman@sbcglobal.net

[70 Steed]

Re: Grass Valley Trail Ride

A few of the Grass Valley folks have been talking about a trail run all summer. Thanks to Reno for putting this together.

I'm in.

[Bronco Brian]

Re: Grass Valley Trail Ride

If my rig was drivable I would be all over this. Would be a nice trip to take the wife on. Maybe next year

[Wingman]

Re: Grass Valley Trail Ride

I agree, if mine wasn't in the beginning stages of an engine and tranny swap I would love to go. You have to do this again.

[WARDOG]

Re: Grass Valley Trail Ride

Grass Valley Meet & Ride

Here are the details for the meeting location, Date, times, etc.

We'll meet at the Gold Flat 76 Gas Station on Hollow Way in Nevada City.

Meet on Sunday, Sept. 21st at 7:30 am, head out 8:00 am.

From G.V. take the Gold Flat exit, turn right and immediate left onto Hollow Way (Towards Hooper & Weaver Cemetery, a frontage road that follows Hwy 20/49)

The station will be open for fueling up, snacks, coffee, etc., plenty of parking for staging and easy onto the freeway with no signal lights to jam us up. Remember you will need to bring a lunch.

I drove the route we are taking this last weekend. I cleared some timber and rocks. The loop total mileage will be about 120 miles round trip and it should get us back into GV around 6pm.

It IS dusty but we'll manage. It is not so bad on the back trails because we are going slow. Maybe we will get a little mountain rain that day or the day before. We will take turns in the train so the caboose isn't eating too much dust all day long. We will be locking the hubs on several spots, but there is nothing technical. Lockers aren't necessary. As I said before, there shouldn't be any rocks to deal with but there are some tight spots with bushes. Lots of bear tracks, coyote, bobcat and deer tracks. It is very common to come across a bear or deer on the road if you are near the font of the pack. Binoculars might be handy to bring along.

We are still stopping at the Grass Valley Sportsmans property on Weaver lake for lunch so please do not bring any dogs if you want to have lunch with the rest of us. There are picnic tables, real bathrooms and awesome views. It is a fantastic place considering it is out in the middle of nowhere.

Cell service is very limited to non-existent out there.

If you have a family radio we will be on Channel 6.

Feel free to contact me 'Reno' by e-mail, (WARDOG) sierra-sportsman@sbcglobal.net or 'Skip' (70 Steed) seventybronco@att.net if you have suggestions, comments.

Please let me know by e-mail or on this Topic on NorCal Broncos if you are going.

[kawikevin250]

Re: Grass Valley Trail Ride

Damn!! Ill be stuck in Elko at a wedding. Sorry to miss out.

[70 Steed]

Re: Grass Valley Trail Ride

Less than one week to the Grass Valley trail run. I know that there hasn't been a lot of interest here but we have at least 4 Broncos going on the run. Everyone is invited.

[WARDOG]

Re: Grass Valley Trail Ride

Hey All. Our ride is just 2 days away.
From the response I received via e-mail we have the following 5 rigs coming along.

Fritz G. in Orohippus
John & Sophie Link in ROKRATT
Skip & Renee Hendricks in 70 STEED
Reno & Regina in WARDOG sierra-sportsman@sbcglobal.net 530 273-6858
Rob & Katy Hulse in... well....a.. '58 Jeep

We'll meet at the Gold Flat Gas Station on Hollow Way in Nevada City.
Meet on Sunday, Sept. 21st at 7:30 am, head out 8:00 am.
From G.V. take the Gold Flat exit, turn right and immediate left onto Hollow Way (Towards Hooper & Weaver Cemetery, a frontage road that follows Hwy 20/49) There seems to be a recent name change to the Gas station, but it is the only station on the street and the street is only 2/10ths of a mile long. If you hit the Hooper & Weaver Cemetery stop and look over your right shoulder. It will also be the only station with EB's in the lot.
The station will be open for fueling up, snacks, coffee, etc., plenty of parking for staging and easy onto the freeway with no signal lights to jam us up. Remember you will need to bring a lunch. We have about 19 miles of pavement until we get to some dirt.
Weather looks to be good in the mid 70's.
Although we got some rain a few days ago in G.V., the area we are going didn't get a drop. There is a 20% chance of rain on Sunday, but up there you just never know. So it may be a little dusty.

Family Radios will be on Channel 6 (GMRS), if you have a UHF radio you can program it to 462.6875.
There will be a few spare radios for folks who do not have a family radio.

WARDOG will have a Hi-Lift jack, an on-board air compressor if you want to air down/up, and some tools.
If you need replacement parts or a kitchen sink, I think ROKRATT has everything else.
If a rig breaks down, we will leave no rig behind.

REMINDER: Please no dogs on this trip, Bring a lunch, binoculars and a camera would be handy. The ride is about 120 miles round-trip so plan gas accordingly. There is a steep grade out of the town of Washington, so you might want to bring some water too.
We're looking forward to the ride.

If anyone has questions or suggestions, or if something has come up and you can no longer make the ride, please give 'Reno' a call @ 273-6858, or e-mail sierra-sportsman@sbcglobal.net