2022 NorCal Wheeling, Camping, and Fuckery Thread

I turned off of Los Burros on to 23S10 and there are a lot of camp spots in that area before the road gets real narrow.

 

Lots of pretty lakes in the Bowman Lake area. Also check out Ice House Road; all paved to some large lakes, but some offshoot roads can take you to good views on ridges or to creeks.

 

I'm too late, but this late in the season,, I would advise hitting Wheeler instead of Usal

 

Definitely, the Bowman area is pretty nice. Lots to explore out there.

 

Some info on Stanislaus National Forest

Did this route this weekend. We did some exploring on some of the roads we've never been on.

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/uW75Fn5c8OSzG2RPUWIN9O1Z

2N29 Bourland Tressel is clear. We made it back there no problem.


The crossing (Clavey) at 3N21 is just about down to where you can cross in a fairly stock rig. The center of the crossing is kind of deep, and decieving.



We tried 3N26A it's impassable. Way too many trees for us to cut.

3N14Y is passable if you don't mind pin stripes. Found a cool place to camp back there.

3N32Y has a big assed tree where we turned around.

3N17 (Rock Creek Rd) has has a MAJOR slide. I think we could have made it, but I think I'd rather have some buddies with me. The slide covers the road for about 200 yards. Would be fun to do, but today wasn't the day. We turned around at the lower side of the slide.



I walked to the end of the slide. The road appears in good condition on the other side. This is a loop road.

We came in from the upper side of 3N17 (Rock Creek Rd) but didn't go all the way to the slide. We turned off on 3N25. The road is a little pin stripy, and you have to drive around a bunch of trees. But it's clear enough to the end.



The rest, above 3N25, on this trip was clear sailin.

 

Few more pictures

 

When I was up there in late April both 4N09 and 3N10 were clear of trees. 3N29 was clear until a bit East of the bridge and then there were some trees down. There was still some snow then but I’m sure it is gone now.

 

I camped that spot this weekend. Great views.

 

Did the Bowman trail this weekend for the first time, fun trail definitely doing it again. Tried heading to Meadow Lake but a Jeep was stuck in the snow and I pulled him out, so decided no to head up. I am pretty sure I could have made it but didn't want to chance it.

 

Check out this thread for some ideas.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/forest-roads-routes-lakes-camping-off-roading.478320/

 

Thanks!

 

You probably had it the night after us! We tried to go up forest road 41, but the 2WD vehicles in my group couldn't pass the snow bank up at Pinoli Ridge, so we came back down and camped a second night around Bowman.

 

Sooo...

Anyone interested in the Niagara Rim Trail clearing/opening run this weekend?

 

This we

I'm interested, as I have a new winch I could put to use!
But the trail sounds too big for my tiny stock-sized tires
Don't want to be a liability!

Thinking I might have to take my 4 donuts over to the Gold Lake 4x4 CG and ride Downieville instead

 

you planning on going Saturday or Sunday?

 

Right now I'm planning on going up Saturday, stay the night, come home Sunday.

Sounds like Forest Service is letting us stay in Niagara Rim Camp.

 

If you're really interested, they are saying those who can't make the trail can hit the side trails that lead in to NRT. There are 4 or 5 roads rolling in to NRT proper.

The 1st section of the trail is really the only part that you need to be built for. There are 2 other areas that are completely optional sections of the trail.

 

Here is a link to the Gaia map for the Niagara Rim Trail area.

https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=13...ckId=a2ee0302370419361b97b05593bac4e0420b294b

Here's a snapshot of the area



The dark purple line is Niagara Rim Trail (normally runs from Jeep icon to the left). The portion that really needs skids etc is the section from the Jeep icon to the green line. It's the part that really has no bypasses. The rest of it is pretty much a really, really, rough fire road for the most part. You'll notice there are some small loops off the trail, those are obsticals that can be bypassed.

Red line is 5N01 Eagle Meadows Rd.

Red way point is Niagara Creek Campground - we will be camped here Saturday night.

Plan is to clear NRT proper on Saturday. Stanislaus National Forest will let us in at 8:30 AM and shut the gate behind us (at 9:00AM). When the trail is cleared (hopefully Saturday afternoon) Forest Service will open the gate, and open 5N01. (probably just to beyond the NRT trail head = Jeep Icon).

Apperantly there may be some side by sides going up there as well. They will be clearing the roads in between NRT and 5N01. If someone is coming up that doesn't think they can make the begining part of NRT, clearing can still be done on the inside of the trail (entrance roads) as well as the back half of the trail it's self.

I'm not sure if anyone else is staying, but my plan is to stay Saturday night and clear trail to Barn Meadow and some of the other primitive camp spots in the area on Sunday. The more we can clear, the less Forest Service has to clear, and the faster they can open the rest of 5N01 back to Eagle Meadows, Long Valley, Bennett Juniper, and Relief Reservior, etc.

 

Well, the route sounds pretty doable, having never been there, lol.
And plenty to do, no matter the trail...

I am going to head up there on Friday after work.
I don't suppose the Forest Service would let us in to the campground Friday night?

And on Saturday morning, where exactly is "the gate" we meet FS at? The Jeep icon?

 

Forest Service is going to open the gate at 8:30 AM on Saturday morning. The gate is the main gate right off 108. It'll close at 9:00 AM (behind us).

We'll be meeting at the wide spot on 108 across from the Eagle Meadows gate. (5N01 is Eagle Meadows Rd)