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.



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:


Day 2:











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.






The area is dotted with small lakes. Our plan was to camp at one or one of the flowing creeks.






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.



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.