Downieville

June 1-3, 2007



My favorite place to mountain bike is Downieville. Amazing trails, tough climbs, crazy decents; yea, that about sums it up. I went this year with Tom, Aaron, Rob, and Jim. We had a great time camping at Union Flat.

June 1: We left Sonoma at 6. We arrived at our campsite about 11. We decided that we would go for a "quick" ride. 3 hours later, we reached the top of the 14 mile climb to Packer Saddle. We struggled our way down Butcher Creek trail which is the downhill course. Crazy rocks, steep, and narrow. We limped into town 5 hours later excited from the amazing ride, but we were still limping. We had to ride another 6 miles back to camp, and that was painful.

June 2: We thought we were being smart by choosing the shuttle ride to the top. Unfortunately, a wrong turn on the way down turned into a 90 minute addition of hill climbing, creek crossings, and confusion. When we finally found Pauley Creek trail, we experienced the most amazing riding. Since none of us ride with body armor and huge downhill bikes, this trail suited us perfectly.

June 3: Some of our group, decided to ride to the top through Sierra City, and others decided to take the shuttle. We met at the top of a grueling ride with a couple of wrong turns. This is actually the toughest climb I can remember. The trail was 8 miles of climbing an exposed mountain side on loose shale. When we got to the top, it was nice to know where we were going as we made our way to Pauley Creek trail again. The girl at the bike shop suggested adding on "Big Boulder" trail, but we didn't want to push our luck. The decent was excellent.