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