Squaw Ridge/ Pardoe trail 9/12-13/09

dark_fairytales · 09-17-2009, 01:08 AM

Sorry for not having any pics. the camera broke on the last trip. I thought I would still report my trip and get pics. the next time im up there.

If you are in the nothern cali/ tahoe area you should try Squaw ridge trail. The vistas alone are worth the trip. My bro in his 86 runner and I in my 86 longbed got a late start out of Sacramento and headed up U.S. 50 and then over to U.S.88 by way of the mormon emigrant trail. Took me some time to find the trail head but its is fairly easy to find. just remember to stay left left left. We arrived at the trail around 1:00pm and had a quick lunch. The first part of the trail just looks like a dirt road until you get about 1/2 mile through it to some gates, where you can pick up a map of the area and read some tread lightly info. We continued on and got to the first obstacle. I tried to go over it in two wheel drive but got stuck and i did not want to monkey around because it was late in the day for wheeling. So I put it is 4lo and hit the ARB, wow that made it easy. Next was my Bro in his stock runner other than the TG front bumper and the MC rear bumper. My bro got some good wheel spin the fist try, so I had to spot him and he passed it with ease. the trail continues with more simple dirt road and the occasional rock. Not far from the first obstacle was what i guess would be the gate keeper for the trail. Keep in mind the trail is rated a 5 on TTORA so as gate keepers go it was not scary. Again 4lo and locked the long bed made it look easy, my bro stock and open was another story. I spotted him again and after the third attempt the runner showed the gate keeper up. After the gate keeper it is fairly easy again my bro did not need spotting so we went slow and enjoyed the scenery. Wow what a scenery is was, one after the other you come across spectacular vistas to the north and south, the distances you can see out there is quite shocking. At some points you have a 360 view of all the mountains and Vally's, you can even see lights coming from modesto at night. We came to a steep decent made of dust and pebbles it continued for about 1/8 of a mile with some bends in it but this is where you get to start meeting the hardest part of this trail, one word describes it, NARROW. Along the trail many times you have to squeeze between trees, a few tight spots are on bends and turns in the trail where you have to back up or play it wide to the left or right to get through. Shortly after the first decent there is another but much worse, my mom who was ridding shot gun with me was worried. After stopping to check out how bad the decent was i determined my bro and i could do it. First I went and had no problems at all, my bro some how caught his U-bolt plait on the only large rock there, so I had to stack a few rocks to get him to rid over it. He continued down the decent but with is close to bald street tires he was sliding some on the dust which is really thick in that spot. I kept telling him slower man slower and he made it down with ease other than the sliding. we found another rout that will bypass both descent's so we did not have to worry about going back up them if we turned around and headed back. After the second decent the trail is just dust and vary smooth and then came the carnage. Here I am on the easiest part of the trail and was to far to the right. My passenger front climbed up all of a sudden, I stalled and my front dropped down again. I backed up and heard some hissing and saw some dust poof into the air, great i just punctured my tire some how. So I moved the yota further down the trail a little to a flat spot i could pull off to the side and check it out. I look and what do I see but 4" vertical slice in the side wall of my tire. I could not believe it, it looked like a razor blade kissed my tire. I walked back to the spot on the trail to see what caused this and there was just one rock dug into the dirt like a tick and a pointy end sticking out. the odd thing is the rock was not all that sharp and i was running around 8psi but that slice sure did look clean, all I could do is curse at my self for not paying enough attention. I changed to the spare and we continued. The trail is vary easy at this point, we climbed to a mountain top where we could see lights from hwy 4 to the east and lights from modesto to the west. We ate dinner and went to bed early. the next morning we rose at 6am broke camp and continued to the rest of the trail, we did not make it vary far when we came to a vary narrow spot with a bend in the trail. It was a tight squeeze with some off chamber but pasted with some spotting from me for my bro to get through. maybe 200 feet from that spot we reach the limit to what my bro was willing to traverse. so we turned around and headed back the way we came. other than the last narrow spot it was vary easy in that direction and headed to silver lake to take a break. after an hour break relaxing at the lake we headed home.

MAN I WISH I HAD PICKS TO GO WITH THIS.

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murdarunna19 · 09-22-2009, 04:37 PM

i go around that area sometimes damn. i outta take my uncles yota pu out there. hey bro u should devide the writing into smaller paragraphs its pretty thick. sounds sick tho!

dark_fairytales · 09-23-2009, 01:04 PM

ya sorry for all the writing as pics are worth more then a million words but i just tried to be descriptive and practice my writing as i don't get to do to much of it any more. I would definitely recommend the trail, it makes for a good day or weekend.

09-22-2009, 04:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
murdarunna19 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: seattle Posts: 328	i go around that area sometimes damn. i outta take my uncles yota pu out there. hey bro u should devide the writing into smaller paragraphs its pretty thick. sounds sick tho! __________________ Matt D 2000 4runner. supercharged, flowmaster, 3" toytec lift, sitting on BFG 33's. 2009 fj, arb bumper, warn winch, bfg ats, 2" lift, IPFs. 4runner Build - http://www.yotatech.com/f191/murdaru...thread-190270/

09-23-2009, 01:04 PM	#3 (permalink)
dark_fairytales Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Sacramento, Crawlifonia Posts: 218	ya sorry for all the writing as pics are worth more then a million words but i just tried to be descriptive and practice my writing as i don't get to do to much of it any more. I would definitely recommend the trail, it makes for a good day or weekend. __________________ 86 longbed/ build date Sep. 85/ build # 1131 3" body lift 6.5" rear shackles 35" tires/ 15x10 beadlocks 5.29 gears/ ARB rear/ lockrite ront Custom 3 gal. onboard AIR Cobra LT 29 CB/ wilson 1000 ant. next mod 3" drive train lift dual t-case and bj spacers sitting on my carpet wait for install

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