11 replies to this topic

[craig333]

Is good advice if you follow it. Its time for the 54th annual Sierra Trek. I won't do Fordyce in my Jeep anymore. I run 33s on my Jeep and now 35s are the minimum. I've done it enough anyway, don't need to beat my Jeep up anymore. 

 

However, I was not really prepared for this trip. By the time I was ready to pull out it was late and I just said the heck with it and left the Jeep home. Horribly smoky on the way up 80 but by the time I got to Meadow Lake it was nice and clear. No pics of the truck stuck. Camp pics is all I have. 

 

 

Unfortunately the band wasn't the greatest.

 

 

What to do after breakfast? We (Riley was along of course) hiked up the road and out onto the rock where it sort of overlooks the Fordyce trail. My legs are still paying for that (plus the numerous trips from my camp to the main camp) one. Then I decided it was time to go for a drive. I'd locked the hubs earlier to get up on the blocks and low range seemed like a good idea anyway. The road is marked and mapped for all vehicle but its rough and I hope no one actually tries to drive it in a car. I was a ways into it and I was checking out a spur to my left when I felt the truck slide into the ditch. Its a good thing the hubs were locked in because there is no way I'd have been able to lock the passenger side sitting in the ditch. 

 

Drug out the winch cable only to find no power to the winch. Now I'm having visions of massive tow bills. I needn't have. Its Sierra Trek weekend and tons of people are out and about. Some SxS came by about ten minutes later. I wasn't surprised they couldn't budge the truck. Then a couple Jeeps come up the road. They tried pulling my backwards. That just got me deeper into the ditch. I'd rather not send for help back to the main camp though I'm sure plenty would have come to help. Well if we just drag it forward the ditch gets shallower and it may come out. It worked! Happy happy joy joy. Enough for one day. Time to turn around and go back. I'd had enough for one day. 

 

My side light got ripped off and some scratches and so forth but no dents. I was lucky. One lady in a SxS had stayed and took pics. Later in the main camp she comes up to me. Are you missing anything? She hands me my phone. I hadn't even realized it was missing. Phew. 

 

I just finished washing the truck and I notice the rear passenger side tire looks low. Yep, about half what I normally run. I never noticed a thing driving home. Time to go out and diagnose the winch.

 

Btw, Sunday the smoke rolled in thick. No relief in sight for the fires

[Lighthawk]

Hey Craig

 

Glad you got pulled out.  Sounds a lot like some of those trails we use above Meadow Lake, heading towards the Baltimore Lake trailhead.   Last time we were up, there was a tree across the road, and only the SxS folks had gone around.   My Tundra just made it, but I know my bigger truck would not.  I always pick up a few more scratches on the trail.

[craig333]

I was on the road that leads into Jackson Meadows Res. I'm not sure if I've hiked into Baltimore Lake or maybe just some little pond in that general area.

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Well Craig some days your the windshield and sometimes your the bug

Glad everything worked out. It could have been really bad what with a

lost phone .

 

You had some good Karma going that's for sure.

Frank

[ski3pin]

A good story that had lucky written all over it. So nice when it turns out that way!

[Lighthawk]

I was on the road that leads into Jackson Meadows Res. I'm not sure if I've hiked into Baltimore Lake or maybe just some little pond in that general area.

 

I know that stretch, which is heading north past the Meadow Lake cemetery from the campground.  I think there's Tollhouse and Catfish lakes if you keep going to Jackson Meadows.   There are some deep ruts! 

 

Nevada Irrigation District has gated off the road to French Lake, but you can walk in to the dam on that road.

[Ronin]

Glad you got out Craig!! In the 90's I used to camp at the north end of Meadow Lake or on the shoreline in my '85 Westphalia. Used to be a favorite spot to paddle around and hike. Stopped going there after the campground was developed sometime in the early 2000s. 

[craig333]

Bunch of people camped at Tollhouse. For as many times as I've been to Meadow Lake I don't know the rest of that area very well. I need to spend some time up there with the Jeep just familiarizing myself with the rest of the lakes nearby.

[Lighthawk]

Bunch of people camped at Tollhouse. For as many times as I've been to Meadow Lake I don't know the rest of that area very well. I need to spend some time up there with the Jeep just familiarizing myself with the rest of the lakes nearby.

 

I always wanted to get up to Hidden Lake, on the flanks of English Mountain.  

 

Another spot you might enjoy is Bear Valley, just off the Meadow Lake Road, where the PCT crosses it.  

 

We finally made the trip from Bear Valley (near White Rock Lake), to Tom's Valley, and down, down, down to Perazzo Meadows.  

It's another way back, if you get stuck behind the trailer traffic after the Sierra Jamboree, although much slower and rougher.  Don't need a jeep, just drive it when things are dry.  There's some big mud holes.

[Ronin]

Some areas to explore out of Nevada City are Graniteville Road from Malakoff Diggins to Bowman Lake or Gaston Road from Washington to Bowman Lake. Perazzo Meadows that Lighthawk mentions is beautiful in the fall and worth checking out. Lots of brookies in the creek that meanders through it.