September 9, 2007: Baltic Ridge Trail

We had expected this road to be a little brushy.
I think there's still some paint behind the license plates!

The Baltic Ridge Trail had a number of surprises up it's sleeve today - Jeremy, Catherine and their daughter Caitlyn took on this deceptive trail with us. It's labelled a DR: 3/4 (depending on which direction you take it), but the majority of the trail is pretty easy logging road that hardly requires 4WD. The most difficult part is staying on the main trail and not inadvertently turning down one of the many unmarked side roads that intersect it.

Of course, to start things off right, I had to get us lost. Yes, the guy with fully-marked topos and off-road GPS capabilities couldn't manage to find the trailhead AGAIN. We found the turnoff for 9N20 from Mormon Emigrant Trail and started down the right fork - the one that looked like an actual off-road trail. About a mile down, right in the middle of the road, we discover someone has pitched camp! Sarenna gets out to see if the trail continues past the campsite and is told that this isn't 9N20, it's an unmarked spur. 9N20 is apparently blocked by fallen trees and we'd be better off going back to Meiss Road and intersecting the trail further down. Great. So we turn around, intending to take Mormon Emigrant Trail back to Meiss Road and start the trail from there. As we approach the end of the spur, we notice the LEFT fork (which looks entirely too tame) and decide to see where it leads. What do you know? This is 9N20! Even says so on the GPS I hadn't looked at. Grrr...

The trail begins as a wide, smooth dirt road (I've seen paved roads that were in worse shape) that is very dusty, but presented little in the way of obstacles. This is essentially a logging road and you can see some areas which have recently been cleared and a view of the valley on the southern side of the trail.

Then came the first surprise - we rounded a corner and jutting out halfway across the road is a fallen tree, the end of which is pointed like a spear and sticking about three feet off the ground!

Around we go, climbing the side of the trail to get around the log. Just as the log is lined up with the passenger-side window (and aimed at my head!) I feel the ground give and the front wheels slip a few inches down the hill!

The kids are fighting about Barney in the back seat and I'm having very unpleasant visions of them watching their father get decapitated by a tree! I edge the LR3 around the log, trying not to slip the wheels any further.

Finally, we're around it and after Jeremy makes it through, we're back to cruising down the trail at a good pace. So far, we hadn't seen any of the 'lightly brushy' areas that the various trail reviews had mentioned. The trail winds through some partially-logged forest and then opens up to sporadic patches of Manzanita, but never seems overgrown.

Well, that didn't last long! We descended into a saddle between two hilltops and found ourselves facing the 'lightly brushy' stuff. Apparently, 'lightly brushy' means the trail is overgrown so that it is narrower than Jeremy's Jeep Wrangler and the 'brush' is a combination of dried-out manzanita (always good for the paint) and some kind of nightmarish thorny shrub! I don't usually get too worked up about a few pinstripes, but I am NOT happy about this.

We head through the brush, Jeremy telling me over the radio he can hear the LR3 getting scratched from his position about 20 feet back! The only pictures we could get were of the milder sections because in the thickest parts, it was impossible to open the doors. We inched along, finally getting clear of the brush and Jeremy took the lead.

As we reached the halfway point, we decided to stop for lunch and found a great turnoff that was nicely shaded. The kids had fun running around, playing with pine cones, throwing grapes and Cheez-Its and terrorizing the local flora. Jeremy and I were starting to wonder if we were on the right trail because we hadn't seen a sign in a long time and the GPS said we were in the middle of nowhere. We decided to continue on, figuring the road had to lead SOMEWHERE and the signs of fairly recent logging activity meant we hadn't completely gone off the deep end. We continued down the 'goat trail' (as Jeremy christened it) and were greeted by some more sections of 'light brush'. The roadbed also began to get somewhat rutted and rocky as we slowly descended the ridgeline.

It's been frequently reported that one of the challenges of this trail (other than being 'lightly brushy') is that it can be 'somewhat difficult' to navigate. Apparently, this means if you DO happen to see a trail marker, it will be either:

A. So old the labels have fallen off and are completely unreadable.

B. Set in the middle of a fork, clearly pointing straight into a tree/boulder/cliff/etc... and not in either of the potential directions of travel.

C. Pointing in TWO directions, both with the same trail designation.


Gotta love those tax dollars at work.

Using a combination of coin-flipping and vague guess-timation, we managed to miraculously stay on the right path, eventually coming to the section that earns this trail it's DR: 3 rating. A relatively steep, loose and rocky (but thankfully not 'lightly brushy') descent that required some spotting to make sure we left with all the parts we'd started with...






After the slow crawl down Baltic Ridge, we were once again at a nice, wide logging road that was marked 9N20. Except that the GPS said we were on 10N46. Jeremy and I got out and using our tried-and-true methods of navigational discernment (basically, saying, "Let's try this way!") we headed down the trail. I think at this point, Catherine and Sarenna were both wondering if this wasn't how the Donner Party had met their untimely fate...

With my GPS lying through it's teeth and insisting we were on 10N46, we forged ahead, making our way down the hillside until we ran into an unmarked 'T' intersection - to the left was more dirt road, to the right... PAVEMENT! Pavement means civilization, so right it is! We traveled up the roughly paved road until it intersected with NF-6, the Consumnes Mine Road.

Now the question was, how do we get back to NF-5, the Mormon Emigrant Trail? Jeremy says right, but to our left is Bonnetti Road - the same road we'd taken the first time I'd gotten us lost trying to find the Baltic Ridge Trail - which I know intersects NF-5...eventually. We head right, but a few miles down, with Jeremy placing his unwavering faith in my previously exceptional navigational skills (and GPS), we turn around and head back toward Bonnetti Road. At the intersection of Bonnetti Road and NF-6, I (finally) decide to do the smart thing and program NF-5 into the GPS. Needless to say, we turned around AGAIN and head back up NF-6 where, sure enough, it crosses NF-5.

This trail is not as scenic as some of the others we've driven, mostly because the views from the ridge are obscured by dense forest. The forest itself is quite beautiful but signs of recent logging are clearly visible. Other than my less-than-stellar navigational performance, everyone had a good time and got home in one piece!

Directions:

Hwy. 50 East to Sly Park Road
Turn right onto Sly Park Road, heading South
Turn left onto Mormon Emigrant Trail (NF-5)
NF-5 intersects 9N20 about 2 miles past Meiss Road on the right.

Trail Notes:

The Baltic Ridge Trail is not particularly challenging - any 2WD high-clearance truck or SUV should be capable of tackling it. The one exception is the final descent toward 10N46 which requires 4WD, preferrably with low-range. Your paint WILL get damaged by the 'lightly brushy' sections of trail. One lesson I learned on this trip - GPS is great, but it is always good to have an actual topo map on hand. Both were wrong at various points along the way and thankfully Jeremy has some great dead-reckoning skills! There is no water along the trail but we did see some motorcycles and ATV's so the area is fairly well travelled. The area is actively logged so it is likely that you will encounter fallen trees which could block the trail.


A 'lightly brushy' section of the Baltic Ridge Trail...















The view from behind isn't so great...

But it sure beats this one!...