Some friends and I did the 70 mile Henness Pass trail this weekend; Northern Sierra Route 21 in the Backcountry Adventures Book. The road is do-able in a 2WD for the most part, but the Backcountry Book rates the scenery a "10 out of 10" and there are hundreds of trails leading off Henness Pass Rd. worthy of exploring. We began in Camptonville, CA and ended in Verdi, NV.
A few miles into the trail our first obstacle. There was a momma deer and two babies that were standing in the road and as soon as they saw us, the mother took off and the babies collapsed in fear. There was no traffic on the road, so we figured the best thing to do is to leave them alone.
A few more miles into the trail and we stopped to watch a helicopter logging operation. Apparently the loggers didn’t like us because as soon as we stopped to take photos, their company pickup truck parked just feet behind us and was giving us dirty looks. Must have thought we were angry environmentalists.
That picture was for you, Dan.
Views from Pliocene Ridge:
View of Sierra Buttes near Downieville. I’ve done that switchback on both a mountain bike and a 4Runner; Mike’s, actually.
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