NorCal Trail Riding
12-12-2011, 05:56 AM
#1
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Location: Bay Area, CA
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NorCal Trail Riding
Anyone recommend good trail riding for my 2010 4x4 XLT in Truckee/Lake Tahoe area? I am looking to cruising around next weekend. Want to get the truck dirty and maybe engage the 4x4. Chance of snow showers this Friday....thanks. Not looking to do anything crazy..
12-13-2011, 01:43 AM
#4
Senior Member
I have several favorite places to play, but you can get in a jam very quickly if you don't have some previous experience; this is something that you 'grow' into.
Many spots are hard to describe (location) and hard to find. I lived and worked in the Tahoe Basin for several years and now live down the road a piece (US-50 corridor) in a foothill community along hwy. 50. I have not done much off of the I-80 corridor in a number of years.
I also like to play out in the desert of Nevada, out past the Carson Valley near Carson City and Minden/Gardnerville region as well as further out US-50 on the Nevada side of the hill.
And yes, there are showers predicted for the latter part of the week; and this time of year, that usually means fast changing weather conditions and snow up on most of the passes such as Echo Summit and over on Donner Pass region. So you need to [carry] chains, even if conditions permit 4X4 ops w/o chains, you must have them available. I have been in blizzard conditions at the top of Echo Summit and beyond, with all four wheels chained up on my truck.
Do you have some good A/T or M/T tires, or are they the stock type? Looking at the way you have your truck described/set-up now, I would stick to some easy trails and maybe at lower elevations, during this period of the year.
A [lot] of folks from the Bay Area come up here to play, and end up in a ditch off the road, when things get ICY after or during a good snow fall, because they drive too fast for conditions. It is one of those things that just takes a lot of time and practice and on-going experience.
Here is a general map of many areas which have a wide range of difficulty, but some may be closed already for the winter, due to snow and/or downed trees.
Good luck.
http://www.trails.com/activity.aspx?area=14713#trailid=XAD001-032&lat=39.23931&lon=-119.5845&zoom=9&m=terrain&a=OD
This is a great book to have:
http://www.4x4books.com/gtcan.htm
Many spots are hard to describe (location) and hard to find. I lived and worked in the Tahoe Basin for several years and now live down the road a piece (US-50 corridor) in a foothill community along hwy. 50. I have not done much off of the I-80 corridor in a number of years.
I also like to play out in the desert of Nevada, out past the Carson Valley near Carson City and Minden/Gardnerville region as well as further out US-50 on the Nevada side of the hill.
And yes, there are showers predicted for the latter part of the week; and this time of year, that usually means fast changing weather conditions and snow up on most of the passes such as Echo Summit and over on Donner Pass region. So you need to [carry] chains, even if conditions permit 4X4 ops w/o chains, you must have them available. I have been in blizzard conditions at the top of Echo Summit and beyond, with all four wheels chained up on my truck.
Do you have some good A/T or M/T tires, or are they the stock type? Looking at the way you have your truck described/set-up now, I would stick to some easy trails and maybe at lower elevations, during this period of the year.
A [lot] of folks from the Bay Area come up here to play, and end up in a ditch off the road, when things get ICY after or during a good snow fall, because they drive too fast for conditions. It is one of those things that just takes a lot of time and practice and on-going experience.
Here is a general map of many areas which have a wide range of difficulty, but some may be closed already for the winter, due to snow and/or downed trees.
Good luck.
http://www.trails.com/activity.aspx?area=14713#trailid=XAD001-032&lat=39.23931&lon=-119.5845&zoom=9&m=terrain&a=OD
This is a great book to have:
http://www.4x4books.com/gtcan.htm
Last edited by NorCal-09; 12-13-2011 at 01:45 AM.