Trip Report: Plumas-El Dorado National Forest Gold Lakes

Last weekend a couple of the Northern California UY crew took a trip up the hill to relax and beat the heat. Our destination was the area north of the Sierra Buttes (Downieville area) and south of Graeagle, CA off of Hwy 89. In attendance was Paddlenbike, Stuart, Slimscherer and myself. Three 3rd gen's and one 4th gen.

General area of exploration was in the red rectangle.

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We spent two days on the trail. Day 1: 16.5 miles and Day 2: 13.5 miles. Average speed was about 7 mph as the terrain was never really flat nor straight. Lots of creek crossings, rocky up and down hills, some off camber stuff and some u-turns.

Day 1:
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Day 2:
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We spent half of day one on a ridge that separated Plumas and El Dorado forest land. Adjacent to our trail was the PCT and many wild flowers.
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The area is dotted with small lakes. Our plan was to camp at one or one of the flowing creeks.
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There are quite a few old mining sites within this area. In fact Gold Lake got it's name from the apparent gold that used to line it's shores.
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We stumbled upon this quartz vein that had a guy working it with a metal detector. He's was quite protective of his area so we left after asking him a few questions. Other than him and a couple mountain bikers we didn't see anyone else that day.
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Day one continued.

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Our contest to see who can indirectly break a window on Stuart's 4Runner.
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We set up camp at Smith Lake. It's was a nice small and quiet lake we had all to ourselves.
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Once the sun set and a fire was lit we were joined by two deer. Totally random deer that just hung out in our camp. We would see them then not. Every once in a while we'd forget about them then heard cracking in the bushes only to be greeted but these guys. They were so unafraid of us we figured they were hiding from something that wanted to eat them, were deaf or were Fish and Game robots checking on us.
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Day 2 saw similar sites to the previous day. Actually day two had narrow trails with sharp and stout manzanita lining the trails. These trails happened to be the ones we'd end up having to turn around on. Not a huge task but with 4 vehicles and limited space we had to get creative. These trails really highlighted the width difference between a 3rd and 4th gen. I'm just glad I was in the narrower group...and didn't have a roof top box.

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One of the only areas that had smooth dirt trail.
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Little Deer Lake
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A couple of nice campsites on Gold Lake in the OHV camp.
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In all a great trip and all the rigs did great.

Awesome pics! Glad you guys are getting out and about!

It's fun to get out in a group. We are so busy with projects and family it's hard to nail down an outing. The family and I get out on a day trail about every other week just to get out and play. It's fun to get away and play in the water, do some fishing and put it in 4WD. I've had a set of 890 coils on my work bench for nearly two months now. Just haven't had the time to toss them in, instead I'm getting my monies worth from my 906's.

One of these days we will get you bay area and socal people up here for a run...

Beautiful pictures and area! Sounds like you all had a great trip. Thanks for sharing!

Great write-up, Mike. Excellent trip, too...thanks Ken. No biggie with the rtb, but I think I have some permanent, full-length battle scars on each side. Tried a bit of polish, and they got better, but not gone. Less to worry about the next time I follow you narrow guys.


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