Not For Soccer!: September 23, 2007: Poker Flat OHV Trail, Day Two

So there I lay, listening to the rain (which was supposed to be gone by now) pour down on us with a vengeance, punctuated only by the sound of someone's ungodly snoring. Before long, dawn broke over the canyon and as I sat, watching the boys sleeping peacefully beside me, the silence was shattered by an ear-piercing siren! Sarenna had locked the LR3 when I'd taken the boys to the tent at 3:30AM and when she opened the door, the alarm went off waking every living thing within earshot. This included Danny and Jayden who dove out of their sleeping bags and staggered around, sobbing incoherently. So much for that Norman Rockwell moment...

We eventually got the boys dressed and I began cooking breakfast as Sarenna attempted to herd the kids under the EZ-Up and out of the rain. After breakfast, Mike and I walked up to where the trail leaves Poker Flat to determine which of the two forks we should follow. To our left was an extremely steep and painfully rocky slope which cut six feet into the hillside. In front of us was a well-travelled forest road that was fairly smooth and level. Um, I'll take the second one please! After packing and checking our trucks, we were off - rolling past the ghost town and onto the road Mike and I had scouted earlier, confident that we were on the right path. You can see where this is going, can't you?

The gentle forest road followed Canyon Creek, providing wonderful views of the basin. As we rounded a narrow curve, it became very obvious this road had more in store than a liesurely cruise through the woods. In front of us was a very steep, narrow and muddy slope bordered by fallen logs and large rocks. We climbed hill after hill, each more rugged than the last until we reached the final slope. This one was special because it resembled a river that someone had tilted up at about thirty degrees! Water was rushing down the hillside and the entire roadbed consisted of 6"-9" rocks.

Slowly and steadily we began the ascent and at the crest were greeted by a smooth forest road that led back down toward the river. Of course this was too good to be true - the road dead-ended into a mine about 100 yards later! We checked the maps and a sinking realization set in that not only would we have to go back down the nerve-wracking road we'd just left, but the terrible trail we had previously seen was, in fact, the correct route. We turned back and thankfully, the spur was much easier to negotiate in the opposite direction.

Mike was ahead of Marshan and I when we arrived at the fork, so with a long wheelbase and limited- slip diffs, clawed his way up the slope. Marshan's Tacoma went next, making steady progress until about halfway when his left-front tire began slipping on a large, wet rock. His shorter wheelbase gave him nothing to push against from behind and soon, his momentum was gone. Mike and Doug scrambled down the slope and I climbed up to where Marshan was valiantly trying to launch the Tacoma over the top, but to no avail. The three of us began jamming rocks and bark into the depressions of the slope, under the tires and anywhere we could think of to give Marshan enough traction to get over the obstacle.

Sarenna and the boys didn't know what was going on, so I hiked back down to fill her in and just as I reached the truck, heard Sally on the radio telling us they'd made it up the hill! It was our turn to roll, and with the Land Rover in low-range and Terrain Response System set to 'Rock Crawl', we eased up the slope at a gentle 5MPH, trying my best to pick our way through the rocks as the truck struggled to maintain traction on the slick rocks. With both differentials fully locked, we finally reached the summit and let out a premature sigh of relief - we soon discovered that the entire trail out was either a tangle of slippery rocks or thick mud! The poor traction, combined with exceptionally steep grades (both up and down) meant that momentum was both our greatest asset and most dangerous liability. It was almost impossible to stay on a good line through the obstacles as the trucks slipped over the rocks and drove practically sideways up the muddy slopes.

We eventually reached Howland Flat, the abandoned town and graveyard that is allegedly haunted, with sightings reported as recently as early 2007. The rain was still falling as we dismounted and walked amongst the headstones and photographed them. The whole place had a somber feel to it and it wasn't long before we quietly loaded back into the trucks and continued down the trail. Deep in the forest, we could see abandoned cabins, headstones and mining equipment - remnants of the Gold Rush that now decay in silence. The entire trail is dotted with ghost towns and we marvelled at the determination it must have taken to settle this area over 150 years ago.

We continued northwest, making our way through rain and mud. We reached Port Wine and had originally planned on stopping, but we were racing the sun, hoping to get off the trail before darkness fell. At about 3:00PM, we decided to stop for a quick lunch - the boys were in desperate need of a chance to stretch their legs so we let them run wild in the clearing where we'd parked, jamming sandwiches, chips and snacks into their mouths whenever possible. The adults gathered around Marshan's tailgate and you could read the exhaustion on our faces. After over 4 hours of continuous driving through terrible conditions, all we wanted was to find pavement. We loaded up again, looking for the bypass route I'd been given to get around the Scales Road closure. We found the turnoff - an insanely steep hill covered with 8" of thick mud! Mike and Doug charged up, the Tundra 'crabbing' up the slope as Mike fought to keep the nose pointed forward. Marshan and Sally were next, his aggressive Mud Terrain tires throwing up huge clots of mud as he powered the Tacoma uphill.

I wasn't so lucky! I blasted around the corner in 4Hi with Barney, Danny and Jayden singing some insane song about Meerkats and realized I was about to be in a world of hurt. The rear-end of the LR3 whipped around, sliding sideways across the trail as I floored the throttle and prayed for traction. The Land Rover dug in and stopped short of the treeline, but I had overcorrected and ended up with the front passenger-side and both rear tires stuffed into a ditch. Sarenna looked at me like "What now, Einstein?" and radioed ahead that we were stuck. Marshan and Mike were trying to figure out the best proceedure for extracting 7000 pounds of truck, passengers and equipment from a ditch and up a steep, muddy hill and I realized we'd have to do this on our own. With the Rover in 4Lo (better late than never!) and Terrain Response System set to 'Mud and Ruts', I floored it and all four corners of the truck erupted into huge gouts of mud as the tires hunted for grip. Slowly, we crawled sideways up the ditch, gaining momentum until the front tire finally emerged. The rears weren't far behind and in a flash we were out of the ditch, plowing our way up the hill.

We continued on until we reached Poverty Hill, the bypass for Scales Road which had been closed for repairs due to a landslide. We turned onto the bypass, a reasonable-looking but somewhat narrow forest trail that had been recently graded and resurfaced with crushed rock. As we continued though, the road continued to narrow until at last, we reached a section (just two miles shy of La Porte Road) blocked by thick manzanita. We stopped and discussed whether we should cut back some of the brush or turn around - I'm not shy about a few scratches but pushing our way through this would have meant some significant damage. More than a few four-letter words were used to describe the bypass and in the end, we decided to turn around and take our chances with Scales Road.

We turned back and followed a very wide and smooth graded dirt trail, until we arrived at a four-way intersection with two of the branches marked Scales Road! According to my topos and GPS, the Scales Road we wanted was to our right and slightly elevated above the rest - so in a leap of faith we turned off the nicely-graded trail and headed back into the forest, hoping this would lead us back to civilization. We were all very tired by now - the full day of rock crawling and slogging through mud had taken it's toll and our progress had been far slower than we'd anticipated. The sun was already getting low on the horizon and none of us relished the thought of driving through an unfamiliar forest after dark.

The GPS, which has lied to us in the past, said we were on the right track though and everything coincided perfectly with both the topographical map and the trail book I'd brought with us. Our doubts were soon wiped away as we reached a old converted railroad bridge that was a clear indication we were going the right way! Before long, I could see La Porte Road on the GPS, and it felt like we'd caught our second wind - each of us taking turns trying to slide through the muddy corners and blasting through deep puddles, sending water cascading over the trucks.

Finally, at about 5:30PM, we reached La Porte Road and turned left onto the first pavement we'd seen in two days. The asphalt felt unnaturally smooth and our trucks, clothes and gear were soaked with rain and mud, but we'd made it! Apart from a few new pinstripes, none of the trucks suffered any trail damage - something that surprised me given the conditions we'd been driving through. Would I do the Poker Flat OHV Trail again? Absolutely! In the rain? Let me think about that...

Directions:

I-80 East to Hwy. 49 North
Hwy. 49 North to Downieville (Gas up and turn around!)
Hwy. 49 South to CR-509
The sign marking the trail is on the right side of Hwy. 49, slightly uphill.

Trail Notes:

The Downieville-side of the Poker Flat OHV Trail is fairly easy and with the exception of the final descent into the canyon, is rated a DR: 2 or 3. The last few miles are steep, loose and rocky and would be appropriately labelled at DR: 5. In the rain, the slopes are pretty slick, but we were able to maintain good traction.

The Poker Flat OHV Campground has about 6 sites with picnic tables and fire pits. The sites on the creek side are very large, the ones closer to the forest are somewhat smaller. There is no plumbed water (if you use Canyon Creek as a water source, boil it well!) and a single, partially-obscured pit toilet. We brought a portable toilet of our own, thank you very much! The campground is about 200 yards from the ghost town of Poker Flat and the area is littered with decaying, partially-collapsed buildings and rusty mining equipment. DO NOT ENTER THE STRUCTURES! They are very unstable and any injury could mean a very long and rugged drive back to civilization.

If you think the drive into Poker Flat is difficult, go back out that way! The drive out on the La Porte side is far more challenging and takes at least an hour longer. The slopes are either very rocky or very sandy - there isn't much in between! When it rains, the hills become extremely slick and the dusty red soil turns into a sticky mess, totally devoid of traction. If you take this trail in the rain, TAKE YOUR TIME.

This trail has a great deal of history to offer and if you take the time to roam through the woods, you'll find abandoned buildings, headstones and mining equipment from the 1800's. Enjoy the experience, but please protect our hertitage and respect the integrity of these sites.

We're not sounding too hopeful on the Mine Trail spur!

The first step on a long journey home...