Part II
Yesterday's outing was mostly an exercise in probing -- looking for ways to get through the lower elevations of the Stanislaus National Forest on the general line I had planned -- but without success. Still, it was a fun outing with a lot of nice scenery and some interesting new roads.
The route I'd hoped to do:
The route I ended up doing:
As mentioned elsewhere, I opted to defer the sections between Wentworth Springs Rd and Hwy 50 and between Hwy 50 and Hwy 88, as these are close to home and are more flexible in terms of access; they can be done about anytime.
Going south, the sections between Hwys 88 and 108 provide much more limited access because the canyons of the Mokelumne and Stanislaus rivers each have only one "backroad" across them apiece, in the national forest zone, and these are closed in winter. It has been an unseasonably dry autumn, so roads have remained open, but that changed on Friday when a minor storm pass through the area. I had spoken with someone from the Stanislaus National Forest earlier in the week, and she indicated all roads were still open but were schedule for closure December 15. My hope was that Friday's storm was light enough not to prompt a swift closure and that I could get out there early Saturday and complete these sections.
It was not to be. All the routes I tried into the forest leading to Blue Mountain and on to Arnold (at Hwy 4) were already closed.
This was the first of the closed gates encountered yesterday.
Resigned to missing a great 4WD route across the Mokelumne (pronounced muh-CULL-uh-mee), I headed west down Hwy 88, trying a couple of other access points along the way, with similar results.
At Pioneer, the revised route led south down Defender Grade Road, and then across the Mokelumne River on Hwy 26 to the little town of West Point.
By the way, I'm skeptical of the Kit Carson connection, and if Bret Harte lived here, he never wrote any stories about it.
Yesterday's outing was mostly an exercise in probing -- looking for ways to get through the lower elevations of the Stanislaus National Forest on the general line I had planned -- but without success. Still, it was a fun outing with a lot of nice scenery and some interesting new roads.
The route I'd hoped to do:
The route I ended up doing:
As mentioned elsewhere, I opted to defer the sections between Wentworth Springs Rd and Hwy 50 and between Hwy 50 and Hwy 88, as these are close to home and are more flexible in terms of access; they can be done about anytime.
Going south, the sections between Hwys 88 and 108 provide much more limited access because the canyons of the Mokelumne and Stanislaus rivers each have only one "backroad" across them apiece, in the national forest zone, and these are closed in winter. It has been an unseasonably dry autumn, so roads have remained open, but that changed on Friday when a minor storm pass through the area. I had spoken with someone from the Stanislaus National Forest earlier in the week, and she indicated all roads were still open but were schedule for closure December 15. My hope was that Friday's storm was light enough not to prompt a swift closure and that I could get out there early Saturday and complete these sections.
It was not to be. All the routes I tried into the forest leading to Blue Mountain and on to Arnold (at Hwy 4) were already closed.
This was the first of the closed gates encountered yesterday.
Resigned to missing a great 4WD route across the Mokelumne (pronounced muh-CULL-uh-mee), I headed west down Hwy 88, trying a couple of other access points along the way, with similar results.
At Pioneer, the revised route led south down Defender Grade Road, and then across the Mokelumne River on Hwy 26 to the little town of West Point.
By the way, I'm skeptical of the Kit Carson connection, and if Bret Harte lived here, he never wrote any stories about it.
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