Front Country NOW 5/15

[wheeler53]

Nick, 15th looks good for me, Dan

[ironpony]

15 May is a go with Patsy and I. Where and when do we meet?

For those that don't know, the route goes through the rugged Yahi/Ishi country. However, Ponderosa Way should be rather relaxed drive for a season starter.

[chicomecha]

However, Ponderosa Way should be rather relaxed drive for a season starter.

When was one of my trips ever just a relaxed drive?  My plan is to hit the dirt, then hit the gas!  Woo-hoo!  Then find all the legal wheeling possible, then come home.

[chicomecha]

Details:  Lets plan to LEAVE the Chico K-Mart parking lot near Cohasset Rd and East Ave at about 8:30 AM.  Head up to Cohasset to the end of the pavement and air down.  Then the way I figure it, we start about 70 miles of dirt roads.  You'll need to be street legal unless you want to backtrack back up to Cohasset.

Wind down along the east side of the Ishi Wilderness from 4000 ft to 1800 ft into Deer Creek and and back up to Barkley Mtn/Flatiron Mtn at 4200 ft. (26 mi) Then north on Ponderosa Way down into Mill Creek to view Black Rock and climb back out along the Wilderness Boundary. (12.5 mi) and back down to the the start of the Peligreen Jeep Trail.  PJT winds along past Peligreen Place (nothing there anymore?), Black Oak Grove (lunch?), and we'll go out to the wild horse corral, all the while skirting the northern boundary of the Ishi Wilderness. (8.5 mi)

Then down the Grapevine Jeep Trail through the Tehama Wildlife Area, and down the West Grapevine Jeep Trail if it looks accessible, otherwise just take Ishi Road over to Antelope Creek, Facht CG, and then lower slap crossing at about 1000 ft elev. (10 mi)  This crossing could be pretty deep depending on runoff.  Then up a steep climb out of Antelope Creek to the rough gravelled/lava bed Hogsback Road (12mi) to air up at the pavement again at Hwy 99 just south of Red Bluff.

I know it is a lot of dirt in one day, but that's how I'm doing it, so only come if your not going to whine at me.  We're going to stop to see all the interesting stuff, and hopefully some good wheeling sprinkled in, but we also can't afford to dilly-dally.

A good map is here:  http://www.dfg.ca.gov/lands/wa/region1/docs/TehamaHuntMap.pdf

and a general area topo is attached.  I'm excited!

[chicomecha]

We did it!  5 total rigs: me, NoWorries, Wheeler53, TripleXJ, and Scott.  What they don't tell you in any of the guide books on the Front Country is that almost all the trails run along ridgetops, so you get views all day long of the valley and Lassen and Shasta.  Here are some pics:

Peligreen Jeep Trail down there.  We're going.





The Dodge has some buckbrush lines on it, but cruised the rocks.

The ridge above the Wilderness area on the Peligreen


The Front Country before it turns brown (in a week?)



Scott coming down the Grapevine
and finally the lower slab crossing


Next time (yes next time) I would come into the area from the Hwy 32/Deer Creek end of things, do a loop on the trails, and come back out that way.  Hogsback Road is the worst piece of s#*t for a road ever.  Don't ever go on it.  And the entrance in from Cohasset is just uneventful and longer.  There are parts of the Ponderosa Way you can really get moving.  Quite fun.

[TripleXJ]

When my wife saw the scratches on the Dodge this morning, she "encouraged" me to take the Jeep next time. I can live with some scratches and I desperately needed to break in the new Toyo MT's, which were great. Great trip...Hogsback definitely sucked though. Ham radios came in handy, thanks Nick for the loaner handheld.
Pinnacle point? had some distinctive rock formations


Ridgetop trail typical of Peligreen. I had the honor of last-dog-on-the-sled-team view most of the day. Oddly enough, it was more like herding cats.

[ZCracker]

Nick pics look great. How long did the trip take,

[chicomecha]

roughly 10 hours

[TripleXJ]

If anyone is interested, here are links to the book Jeff mentioned on our trip about the Lassen trail markers.
The book, @ Amazon, is Emigrant Trails West : A Guide to Trail Markers Placed By Trails West, Inc. Along the California, Applegate, Lassen and Nobles' Emigrant Trails in Idaho, Nevada, and California and the group that placed and maintains the trail markers is http://www.emigranttrailswest.org/