Gold lake group run (May 3rd-5th)
- Thread starter Jon
- Start date
As Jon said, it was a great weekend guys, glad you all could make it.
I have a picture or two of the switchbacks, but I was a ways back. I'll try and get them up tonight. And in your case, I think the pucker factor was slightly higher since someone was hanging out the window snappin' pictures, haha.
Havin fun - hope you had fun. Sorry we weren't able to link back up with you. We hit the mountain pass late in the day and it was not passable. We tried to reach you by CB, but I think there was a mountain or two in the way. Let us know how you fared.
I have a picture or two of the switchbacks, but I was a ways back. I'll try and get them up tonight. And in your case, I think the pucker factor was slightly higher since someone was hanging out the window snappin' pictures, haha.
Havin fun - hope you had fun. Sorry we weren't able to link back up with you. We hit the mountain pass late in the day and it was not passable. We tried to reach you by CB, but I think there was a mountain or two in the way. Let us know how you fared.
Last edited:
having fun
New member
Well Steve, as you can tell I came home earlier than expected, went packer rd., but was supposed to make the first right after that. We didn't, Ran into, ROLLING BLACKOUT though. We went to downieville with TIM. We made it through the rains and all, I had responsibilities to my buddies that couldn't get into where we wanted.
Kieth took his kids back home that night, Tim stayed until Saturday afternoon.
I had to set up a leantube setup for bad weather, it worked until the severe hail storm. Mother nature won that battle. Have pictures later. Might be heading out tomorrow morning for a light travel setup. Might be back Tuesday-Wendsday.
Next adventure will be only my rig with you all. No backing out including that tree Jon demoed for us to get through, or was it his rig that got demoed. LOL.
You all have some BAD AS RIGS in there different aspects. Will be game for another adventure, and if I am going on one I let all of you know so if you wish to join, it would be a pleasure.
AND ROB, the no show, if you would have come and performed that ceramonie on opened the demon portal , I would have never had that hail storm wipe me out and chase me out early
downpour11
New member
LOL I'm trying to figure out the timeline of events from this trip - how did you guys get split up? Where was Keith coming from? Was he just on his way to meet the rest of the group?
having fun
New member
Keith said he was going to be a couple of hour behind and couldn't meet at Grass Valley.
That tree Jon wiped out was narley, had a lot of spurs on it for possably tire damage. My buddies had a stock 2wd p/u truck, couldn't make it in that far. I would have had to come back out and retrieve them and gear. I was staying to more days than everyone else and would have to go into the ruff, 2 more times to get all that gear back out.
Me and Tim decided to try to come in from PACKER RD, from the south. That is what Steve said was impassable.
At least I got my fire permit issued from Tim. Tim said he owed to much on his truck to take the chance of doing what JON did to his truck at the tree crossing. Believe me it wasn't pretty, the crossing. Jon definitely took one for the team.
downpour11
New member
Ah I see, understandable. That would suck going back and forth.
Damn I didn't even notice all the pieces of wood in the bead! That sucks Jon, you gonna have to pull the tire to get it all out? Can you take a plunger to that body damage? lol I wish I coulda made it! :dammit:
Damn I didn't even notice all the pieces of wood in the bead! That sucks Jon, you gonna have to pull the tire to get it all out? Can you take a plunger to that body damage? lol I wish I coulda made it! :dammit:
Ya, so here was the basic sequence of events:
We all met up at Raley's in Grass Valley and drove up to Gold Lake together. Made it up at about Noon (or so). We had one more join the group at Gold Lake (maxamillion2345 + 1). We aired down and hit the trail at about 12:30 or so.
The beginning of the trail wasn't too bad, pretty much the same as it is in the summer. Every once in a while we ran into a small 3 to 6 foot wide drift across the road. Nothing too bad, and then we hit the tree.
Jon will probably have better details, because I was about 5 vehicles back, and didn't get out until I heard the chainsaw fire up, haha. The short end is that there was a fallen tree laying parallel to the road in a narrow section of the trail. The tree was covered by snow to begin with, so Jon had to take a few attempts to get over it. Finally he did, which uncovered all the branches he was getting stuck on. He chopped those off and then we started stacking rocks, but it was a bit gnarly. It was on the side of an off-camber hill, and it was pushing us into a hole right next to the tree. We ended up stacking rocks, etc. to get over, but there were still some punji sticks threatening to cut the tires.
At that point Leonard and Tim decided to attempt Packer Road instead. The plan was for them to come up that way and meet us up at the top, but the trail gods were against that plan and we never were able to meet up with Leonard or Tim again.
The four of us remaining continued on. The trails was pretty mild again until we hit another downed tree running across the trail. Jon again plowed over the tree, and then he hooked a strap to the tree and drug it off the trail. And again we continued.
Further down the trail again, we happened upon the third and final fallen tree. This one was a little to big to pull off the trail, and was pretty big. With the right lines, we were all able to crawl up and over the tree, which was later pulled off the trail by another off-roader.
After that, we made it to the end of Gold Lake and started making our way into the hills towards Snake Lake. At this point, the snow had become thicker because we were in a valley on the north face of the mountain. The snow drifts were getting noticeably bigger and thicker. After getting hung up in 3 or 4 snow drifts, and with the late hour (it was about 3:30 at this point), we decided to go back to Gold Lake and camp there.
We were the first ones in, so we had the pick of the place.
Saturday morning, Jon and I drove back out to the Gold Lake boat ramp to pick up a couple of friends of Jon's that couldn't make it Saturday. Later in the day, we made attempt two to get to snake lake. We made it in a little deeper, but the main trail to Snake Trail was still too heavy with snow. We decided to take a side trail which, as mentioned, turned into a big, hairy set of switchbacks up a very steep, fairly sheer mountainside. That took us to the top of one of the tallest mountains in the area. After which we headed back to camp.
There wasn't quite as much wheeling and trail running as I planned for originally, but I think the complexity of the trails we did run made up for the lack of trails. Hopefully we can reschedule this again in the summer or fall when there isn't snow and do the run we had originally planned for.
I'm sure Jon and others will chime in with pictures over the next few days which will probably say infinitely more than my words.
We all met up at Raley's in Grass Valley and drove up to Gold Lake together. Made it up at about Noon (or so). We had one more join the group at Gold Lake (maxamillion2345 + 1). We aired down and hit the trail at about 12:30 or so.
The beginning of the trail wasn't too bad, pretty much the same as it is in the summer. Every once in a while we ran into a small 3 to 6 foot wide drift across the road. Nothing too bad, and then we hit the tree.
Jon will probably have better details, because I was about 5 vehicles back, and didn't get out until I heard the chainsaw fire up, haha. The short end is that there was a fallen tree laying parallel to the road in a narrow section of the trail. The tree was covered by snow to begin with, so Jon had to take a few attempts to get over it. Finally he did, which uncovered all the branches he was getting stuck on. He chopped those off and then we started stacking rocks, but it was a bit gnarly. It was on the side of an off-camber hill, and it was pushing us into a hole right next to the tree. We ended up stacking rocks, etc. to get over, but there were still some punji sticks threatening to cut the tires.
At that point Leonard and Tim decided to attempt Packer Road instead. The plan was for them to come up that way and meet us up at the top, but the trail gods were against that plan and we never were able to meet up with Leonard or Tim again.
The four of us remaining continued on. The trails was pretty mild again until we hit another downed tree running across the trail. Jon again plowed over the tree, and then he hooked a strap to the tree and drug it off the trail. And again we continued.
Further down the trail again, we happened upon the third and final fallen tree. This one was a little to big to pull off the trail, and was pretty big. With the right lines, we were all able to crawl up and over the tree, which was later pulled off the trail by another off-roader.
After that, we made it to the end of Gold Lake and started making our way into the hills towards Snake Lake. At this point, the snow had become thicker because we were in a valley on the north face of the mountain. The snow drifts were getting noticeably bigger and thicker. After getting hung up in 3 or 4 snow drifts, and with the late hour (it was about 3:30 at this point), we decided to go back to Gold Lake and camp there.
We were the first ones in, so we had the pick of the place.
Saturday morning, Jon and I drove back out to the Gold Lake boat ramp to pick up a couple of friends of Jon's that couldn't make it Saturday. Later in the day, we made attempt two to get to snake lake. We made it in a little deeper, but the main trail to Snake Trail was still too heavy with snow. We decided to take a side trail which, as mentioned, turned into a big, hairy set of switchbacks up a very steep, fairly sheer mountainside. That took us to the top of one of the tallest mountains in the area. After which we headed back to camp.
There wasn't quite as much wheeling and trail running as I planned for originally, but I think the complexity of the trails we did run made up for the lack of trails. Hopefully we can reschedule this again in the summer or fall when there isn't snow and do the run we had originally planned for.
I'm sure Jon and others will chime in with pictures over the next few days which will probably say infinitely more than my words.
rolling blackout
New member
I still enjoyed being out in the woods, even though I didn't get much trail time. One of these days I'll put together a more capable rig to keep up with you, Jon!
It was nice meeting you Leonard, thanks for showing me that area near Downieville, my kids had a blast there!
It was nice meeting you Leonard, thanks for showing me that area near Downieville, my kids had a blast there!
downpour11
New member
Sounds like quite the adventure! Still sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. Lookin forward to some more pics.
crazydubman
New member
Looks like you all had a blast. what were the temps like overnight? Looks like a bit of snow was still on the gound.
having fun
New member
Pleasure meeting you Keith, I have been all over that area, so I new I could make a good camp out for the size of group that we ended up with.
You have some cute kids there, I enjoyed what little time I seen them.
My buddies did really, REALLY tied one on for 2 nights. Might have been a wise choice you made there. They where not to child visual friendly while drinking.
having fun
New member
My adventure
Just to show that Keith was there and showed up.
The rest of us that where there, and the piles of rock piles left over from building a bridge in that spot.
Since I didn't get to enjoy the others on there adventures, I decided to do some rock climbing on the piles.
Decided to go on an adventure up RED OAK OHV trail.
These 2 shots was going down on the way out. Serious 45* angle, going up couldn't see the road in front of me. A 1500' elevation climb in a 1 mile distance.
Just to show that Keith was there and showed up.
The rest of us that where there, and the piles of rock piles left over from building a bridge in that spot.
Since I didn't get to enjoy the others on there adventures, I decided to do some rock climbing on the piles.
Decided to go on an adventure up RED OAK OHV trail.
These 2 shots was going down on the way out. Serious 45* angle, going up couldn't see the road in front of me. A 1500' elevation climb in a 1 mile distance.
Attachments
having fun
New member
continue
We ate good there, good old open face chile, cheese, bacon, burgers.
Bad whether started the night before so we set up a tarp to keep dry. Had to utilize the winch for a line and tension.
The next day we encountered the serious down pour, marble size hail storm.
Picture is when it started, 5 minutes later, the tarp collapsed from to much weight. No pictures of that, running for cover, and followed up by packing up.
The whole place was covered like snow, and drenched. :happens:
We ate good there, good old open face chile, cheese, bacon, burgers.
Bad whether started the night before so we set up a tarp to keep dry. Had to utilize the winch for a line and tension.
The next day we encountered the serious down pour, marble size hail storm.
Picture is when it started, 5 minutes later, the tarp collapsed from to much weight. No pictures of that, running for cover, and followed up by packing up.
The whole place was covered like snow, and drenched. :happens:
Attachments
Ya, we lucked out. Looks like you guys got the worst of it the first two days.
We didn't get hit by any weather Friday night (other than wind).
Saturday night it got cold and windy, and we got rained on for about 10 minutes, but the storm mostly missed us.
Sunday morning on our way out big dark clouds had rolled in and we got a nice thunder and lightning show as we made our way out on the trail. That was actually kind of cool.
All in all, not too bad, other than having chapped skin all over from the wind.
rolling blackout
New member
Thanks! Also thanks for the heads up, but I'm glad I came home because on Saturday I found my next (non 4runner) project!
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/rollingblackout2/media/2013-05-04_17-24-02_363_zps8394c8a9.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/rollingblackout2/2013-05-04_17-24-02_363_zps8394c8a9.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 2013-05-04_17-24-02_363_zps8394c8a9.jpg"/></a>
having fun
New member
Good view of that damn tree.
Now that tree crossing looks easy there, nothing like when we first encountered it, or should I say when JON encounter it.
having fun
New member
Sam, you have one bad ass, sweet ride there. And it shows.
All I heard on the radio as I was going around the other way was, SAM just went up there no problem.
It was a pleasure to meet you, and hope we have more run ins.
