Bike - Hole-in-the-Ground w/ Nancy

You are rewarded with a view of Castle Peak on the first climb.

Nancy is finally getting caught up with her landscaping, so she had the time and energy to go for a ride this weekend. Everyone at TTSA told her how pretty the flowers were on Hole-in-the-Ground, so we headed back up Donner Summit for another ride.

Stymied by a rocky section.

I dropped Nancy off at the upper trailhead and drove down to the Soda Springs fire station, saving her three and half miles and 500 vertical feet of riding. Some people shuttle this section with two cars, but that's beat.

The trail has nice, rolling forest sections.

Nancy and I rode Hole-in-the-Ground last year, but we rode it in the middle of June, which is way too early for this trail. We had to walk our bikes through two miles of snow drifts while getting stung by mosquitoes.

Even now, on the last day of July, after a month of hot weather, there’s still one snow patch on the backside blocking the trail.

Searching for a lower gear on some steep slab.

I had trouble all day with a slipping chain. I replaced my chain after the ride, but a new chain will slip if you have a worn cassette. I was limited to my front derailleur and the two lowest gears on my cassette.

More granite slab.

We saw more riders and hikers than we’d ever seen on a trail. There were at least fifty cars at the various parking spots. However, the trail wasn’t crowded, and we got to see a very talented rider make an amazing log crossing across the second creek, just past Sand Ridge Lake.

Our lunch spot—Lower Lola Montez Lake.

Despite my mechanical problems, we had a great day riding. The air was cooler than our last ride, we took plenty of food for a couple of lunches, and we rode at a leisurely pace to finish without feeling strained.

A cold beer washes the dust away.

Bike - Hole-in-the-Ground

Kevin chugging up the first climb, with Andesite Peak (8219’) in background.

Checking out the view on Andesite ridge.

Nancy’s buddies at TTSA decided to ride the Hole-in-the-Ground trail, so I tagged along, despite knowing that I would get my butt kicked.

Hole-in-the-Ground is a fun trail that throws a little bit of everything at you: tight switchbacks, dusty descents, granite slabs, forest duff, gravel roads, etc.

The trail is maintained by the Folsom-Auburn Trail Riders Action Coalition, so the trail stays in good shape despite its popularity, with lots of pavers placed in the trail to prevent erosion.

Regrouping at the first creek crossing.

It was hotter than snot, and there’s mosquitoes at various points in the ride, but it’s still a fun trail. I snapped my chain just past Lower Lola Montez Lake, right where the mosquitoes are thickest. By the time I got my chain fixed, all the mosquitoes had left, apparently too stuffed from feeding on me to fly.

End of the trail at the Soda Springs fire station. (Back: Tom, Greg, Dave, Michael, Jay and Rob. Dead: Kevin.)

I got my butt kicked, as predicted, but then half of these guys are impossible to keep up with. I decided to ride back home over Highway 40 because I'd never ridden down from the summit to Donner Lake. It added nine miles to the ride, but you get to coast down three and a half miles with fantastic views.

Bike - Coldstream Area in July

Starting up the J.P. Trail above Coldstream Road.

07/03/05 Sunday

I’ve been exploring the roads and trails in Coldstream Valley and only recently got around to following a singletrack that I’ve been passing by for a month now. The trail is called the J.P. Trail—I’d just been riding the tail end of it, at the entrance to the valley.

It continues back into the valley, hugging the ridge for a couple of miles before dumping you down onto the train tracks. It has climbs at either end and a nice rolly middle section.

At one point you get a view of the Pacific Crest.

I coaxed Nancy into giving it a try—she hasn’t ridden for a long time and she’s a little leery of climbs. However, the climbs are fairly short, the views are pretty nice and the flowers are in bloom.

Nancy tackling a log obstacle.

We took some leftover pizza and had a nice lunch overlooking the valley and the west end of Truckee. The whole ride is a nine mile loop from our condo.

Crossing a stream just before Lost Trail Lodge.

07/04/05 Monday

We continued riding up Coldstream Valley, this time sticking to the jeep road. We were looking for the trailhead for Coldstream Trail and the Lost Trail Lodge, a deluxe group of cabins back in the middle of nowhere.

There’s a guy who drives around Truckee in a Volkswagen dune buggy with a surfboard permanently strapped to the roll bar. He doesn't surf—the board just came with the vehicle, the same way little plastic surfboards came with Hot Wheels Rancheros.

So we’re having lunch next to a deep ravine miles from nowhere, and here comes surfer dude, bouncing down the 4x4 road.

Cowabunga!

A panorama of Deep Creek - Tinker Knob - Coldstream Valley.

At 8000’, the saddle between Deep Creek and Coldstream Valley with Tinker Knob (8949’) in the background.

07/10/05 Sunday

Last year, I rode up the Pole Creek drainage looking for the Coldstream trail, but I all I got was a little lost and a medium-sized hematoma.

I’ve been riding up to the same area on Road 01 from the north side, but I kept getting stopped by snow. This time, there were no snow drifts until the last couple hundred feet, so I got my first big climb of the year—2300’.

Bigfoot in the middle of the trail.

It’s not a fun ride because it’s mostly gravel on 4x4 roads, but there is some nice scenery along the way. The views at the top are terrific, with the Deep Creek drainage on one side and all of Coldstream Valley on the other. The road is only open to vehicles at the upper elevations three months out of the year, and it gets pretty sketchy, too. I’d do it on a motorcycle, but not a 4x4.

The road nearly intersects with the Pacific Crest Trail before continuing on to Pole Creek. I found the Coldstream Trail this time. It's singletrack and overgrown doubletrack, and it's all downhill for about two miles.

The view of the valley from Coldstream Trail.

The trail had snow patches for the first half mile, lots of loose rock, erosion for about a quarter-mile, and at least ten trees blown down at the bottom, so I could never get any rhythm going.

It was nice to finally find the trail after a year of looking, and nice to get down without any hematomas.