Road Report

[Mel]

Hey guys,

Went on an awesome drive today with the wife and pups to recon some new roads, and thought I would post up here about the roads and conditions. There were 3 roads specifically that I wanted to check out, so we shot over to them on the quickest route.

We headed over 80 to Auburn and then south on 49 all the way down to Mokelumne Hill where we turned left on 26. I will say that 49 was clean with hardly any traffic, and there were some cool parts south of Placerville which I hadn't been on. About 5 miles up 26 we turned right on Jesus Maria Rd. It started off nice and easy for the first 3 or 4 miles, then turned into an awesome goat road! It was narrow and bumpy, but absolutely no gravel, and no steep drop offs...just goat road heaven ! About 13 miles in we turned right on Railroad Flat Rd. and it was a fun 2 lane road for about 4 miles, and then we turned left on Sheep Ranch Rd.. The first 4 miles of Sheep Ranch was just a mellow ride through beautiful country, and then it tuned into goat road nirvana also for 9 miles ! Sheep Ranch ended in the little town of Murphys, and this is the coolest little mining town in the Sierra's I have seen since I moved up to Reno. We walked up and down Main St with the pups and had some lunch sitting outside one of the restaurants. Murphys is right on 4, so we turned left on 4 out of town and headed over Ebbetts pass. I have never been on 4, so was a little taken back when it was a lot of straights and sweeper type corners, as I thought it was a little tighter from what I had heard. We got about 40 miles up the road to Alpine Lake and then got to the good stuff!! It was a beautiful, narrow 2 lane road without a centerline and it went on for just over 20 miles before becoming an actual 2 lane road with a centerline. I'm not sure how long it's been for some of you guys that have ridden on 4, but at Alpine Lake there was fresh pavement for about 14 miles. While not a true goat road because of the bump free, smooth pavement, it is absolute heaven!! The whole time we were on these 3 roads, my wife was just shaking her head because I kept yelling "YES" as I was pounding on the steering wheel ! The 2 goat roads, Jesus Maria and Sheep Ranch, were in fabulous shape with no gravel, like I said earlier, but also they weren't the scary type goat roads that some guys fear like Iowa Hill for example with really steep cliffs.

We just loved Alpine Lake and want to go back there to camp. We liked it even better than Tahoe, which is really too big and too many tourists. Because of the time factor, we were not able to really check out the whole area around Murphys which was pretty cool. The whole loop was about 340 miles, but that was doing a straight shot down 49 from Placerville, instead of doing the twisties through the eastern side of 49. I figure a full day ride would be about 400 miles or a little better for the loop. I love searching out new roads and hit gold in them hills today !! After 3 years up here, the same old Geiger, Monitor, Downeville loops get a little old, especially with all those roads in the Sierra's to be discovered. I plan on doing this loop on Saturday and will post up a ride tomorrow, even though I know the regulars will be doing the Grass Valley 49 ride, but who knows, there may be some lurkers that want some adventure !

Mel

[dub]

lol, late to the party on some of those! There so many great little hidden twisty roads in the foothills East of 49.

I've ridden across hwy 4 twice so far this season. The Ebbets/Sonora loop is one of my favorite rides. I haven't been on Jesus Maria, but I love connecting 4 to 88 via Sheep Ranch/Railroad Flat/Hwy 26. Sheep Ranch is fun; it has so many pave patches there are patches on patches! Then as soon as you hit 88 you make a loop up north towards Volcano on twisty roads like Sutter Creek/Volcano, Rams Horn Grade & Omo Ranch back to 88 again.

I agree, Ebbets isn't just a cool road but a cool area. I've camped in Hermit Valley before. And if you turn off and follow the road about 5 miles down to Highland Lakes, that's another really cool spot.

I think it's funny how you take your van on these multi-hundred miles scouting trips. Part of the fun of motorcycling to me is exploring new roads ON MY MOTORCYCLE. But I get it, it doubles as a nice little day excursion with the misses and the dogs.

[NevadaWolf]

I like the Ebbetts/Sonora loop with Monitor thrown in for some fun in between.

Thanks for the update, I'm heading up there tonight to try to pull off visiting five passes in a day (well, afternoon) so knowing 4 is clear is always good news.

[Mel]

Hey Dub,

I figured you would be the one to enjoy those roads ! I agree about all the cool roads east of 49 and have been on Volcano, Rams Horn Grade, and a few others in that quadrant. If you like Sheep Ranch, you will also love Jesus Maria !

That's funny you mentioned Highland Lakes, as when we were having lunch outside the restaurant, we struck up a conversation with an old retired couple and they were telling us about Highland Lakes. I heard it's mostly a dirt road down, but not too bad. Ebbetts rocks !!

Yeah, I have actually done some exploring on my own on the bike, but when the wife is off work and we get to hang out, she likes to do things, so why not kill 2 birds with one stone ! I will say the recon trips help because I make mental notes of the road conditions and such, and when I go back on the bike it allows me to run it in deep on some of the corners with no worries !

Mel