Henness Pass ride II, June 4

[RichVee4]

Gauging interest in a Henness ride to finish the dirt season, for me anyway.  For others, good long day in the saddle for conditioning.   Looking at the snow pack it might be a little early, could use a few more weeks to melt off.   The last two weeks of May I have plans so June 4 would likely be the day.

We could ride to Emerald Pools again, its a great spot and there is more area to explore if we hiked up the river a little further.  Or, we could follow Henness Pass further from Jackson Meadows toward 49. 

[slmoto]

I'm up for this, same as last year or follow Henness Pass further, either works for me.

I'll probably take the KLR and can carry some extra fuel for others if needed.

[GreenMachine]

I forgot we talked about taking the north route towards Downieville.  I'm in! 

There's another short ride we could do long before that going up to a devil's postpile north of Cal-ida (Downieviille region).  I've always wanted to explore up in there.  The trick will be knowing which path and turns to take to get there.  Might not make our destination the first time.  Probably need a GPS map with waypoints.

[RichVee4]

To mix it up lets target D'Ville as our destination.  Not familiar with the roads to get there so need to look into that more.   That solves the problem of having a support vehicle meeting us for refueling and food.  Need to confirm the gas station in DVille is open.  I've stopped there but never bought gas. 

[RichVee4]

Looked at some maps and the route to Downieville would be 58 miles, one way.  As long as we can refuel there range would not be an issue. 

https://goo.gl/maps/FWwB9yvuHiM2

[slmoto]

If you're talking the gas station in town by where we all often stop, I've gotten gas there before. I believe it's card only, no attendant.

[RichVee4]

Good to know. I know there are food options in town.  Looking closer at the earth view of the road surface.  Some of Henness is paved the further west you go.  Before that its dirt but looks very mild.  Last ride it was pretty rocky when we turned off at Jackson Meadows, this looks more traveled.  Should be perfect for a KLR. 

For anyone considering this trip, its a mild dirt ride at a brisk pace. Mostly on fire roads (former emigrant trails) and a long paved section to Jackson Meadows.  Scenery itself makes it worth the trip.

[GreenMachine]

Where you been hiding that pic?  Nice one!

[RichVee4]

That pic was at Bowman Lake, thought the pano was cool. 

Looking forward to this ride.   Learned from my last outing with SL my goggles let in dust so need minimize that as much as possible.  Eyes were sore for a few days as the dirt worked its way out.   Saw the Chimney Rock trail  video on the other post.  Still trying to find a good map of the area, found this trail description.  Would be fun area to explore.  Requires 0.2 miles of riding on hwy 49, humm.

http://www.raftman.com/PDF/chimneyrocktr.pdf

[GreenMachine]

One of the things that concerns me will be any streams we may need to cross.  Last year's dry creeks are this Spring's raging rivers.  And I have to sort out the bike's starting problems.

[slmoto]

One of the things that concerns me will be any streams we may need to cross.  Last year's dry creeks are this Spring's raging rivers.  And I have to sort out the bike's starting problems.

I'm sure we'll be fine or be able figure it out. I'm doing a similar ride the week before that will cover some of the same ground, I should have a better idea of conditions after that and I'll be on the KLR so you should have no problems on a smaller 450.

Definitely want to get on that starting problem, wouldn't want to get stranded out that far. Anyone going have a tow rope? Probably would be a good idea to bring along at least one to drag someone to a nearby road if we had to pick someone up by truck.

[RichVee4]

The stream crossings we had last year were on bridges so dont remember having to ride through any streams.    There will be at least one crossing down stream from the dam at Jackson Meadows as we continue on Henness pass but remember seeing a bridge.   Its a main road by dirt road standards so dont think it will be an issue.   Tow rope though is a good idea, I have a nylon web cargo strap that I can bring just need to measure the length of. 

As far as the starting issue,  any ideas whats causing it?

 

[RichVee4]

Received my map today and routed these sections that we havent done to see a little more detail.   After Jackson Meadows turn off we have 18.7 miles to the D'ville turn onto S401 then 5 miles to town.   There are some interesting roads on the North side of 49, I mapped one possibility we can explore to get a feel of the area.   

Henness Pass from Jackson Meadows
https://goo.gl/maps/wqW2uxWzQou


Saddleback lookout if we wanted to explore some out of Dville
https://goo.gl/maps/iw71AyBhYW42

[slmoto]

Looks good. I'm up for a little exploring in Downieville.

I was thinking if you wanted we could head out of Verdi similar to what I did last weekend. Basically at the first dirt staging area on Henness we shoot up that trail I mentioned then drop back down to Henness Pass again from there take another trail towards Verdi Peak (we don't actually go to the peak). There is a powerline trail that I couldn't map on google maps that cuts off before verdi peak and takes you straight to stampede dam rd. From there cross the dam onto Dog Valley Rd cross 89 onto Holcombs rd which takes us back to where Henness Pass crosses 89 where we've crossed before. Then just follow Henness Pass Rd west to your route.

On the way back we can just do Henness Pass all the way, this would give us a little bit of a loop so were not riding the exact same thing there and back.

Anyway, just a thought. Here's a link to the map. The tracks are also on the gps file I emailed you, which I can't attach to the ssa site.
https://goo.gl/maps/CKskHs78vsj

[GreenMachine]

97° in Reno for the beginning of June.  Unheard of!  A few degrees cooler in D-ville.

All geared up.  Eating dirt and hot as hell.  Should be awesome! 

Might consider jumping in Jackson Meadows Reservoir if the heat becomes too intense.