Well, first thing we have to decide: Mild Country Drive Trail, or more difficult trail?

I've been up to the Gold Lake 4x4 Lake a couple of times now, and there are some descent trails up there. Everything from mild to wild. With a small group, most of the trails can be done in the same day, or we could camp and hit 2 or 3 trails over the weekend with a base camp. Many of the trails can be run by stock vehicles, although they may need some help. Some others are more difficult (there are guys who run some trails in dedicated rockcrawlers).

The biggest issue with Gold Lake is that it's about a 2 to 3 hour drive to get there, but I've done a few runs up where I leave early (6 AM) and I'm back before dusk.

Either way, I think we should figure out what type of run we want so we can plan from there.

Opinions?

 

Have you got any pictures of the trails? 2-3 hours away, from Sac? Where is it exactly? I guess I could google it

 

After doing some Google'ing, I found my answer, GO FIGURE! If we are talking about the same Gold Lake, probably are, it's about 1 hour north of Truckee on Highway 89. I was watching a few videos and looking at some pictures and it looks like fun! Some spots may be a little tricky, looks like sliders might be recommended but nothing looks axle breaking. Elevation is at 6400Ft so there is most likely still some snow, I'm at 6000 and we still have about a foot.

To the people looking to go wheeling, would you prefer we wait until all of the snow is gone or would some snow not be an issue? Of course we can not go next weekend, sometime in the next two months seems more logical so there might not be any snow anyways.

Anyone down to go scope it out with me? a quick day trip?

 

Stew-
Yep, that is probably the correct one. Here's a map of the trail from my buddies site:

http://4x4trailmaps.com/4x4Trails.php?Trail_ID=47

This trail by itself is not too bad. There is one big ledge down the backside which gets a bit gnarly. It's much easier to go down then go up. You won't be going up it without a winch or at least lockers, coming down is more doable. The biggest issues I had with it was my tires getting into the fenders too much.

When I was by myself, I ran the trail in about 2 hours. In a group with a lot of trucks, this could easily take 3 or 4 hours, with all the cut backs, etc.

Part of the fun of this trail is that you have to off-road in about 30 to 40 minutes just to get to the trail head. There's also a number of other trails that snake off of this one, if we wanted a longer or shorter day.

I would say this is probably a 32" tire and 2" lift minimum trail, and sliders would definitely be a good idea. You could probably do it with a less built rig, but you may need to get winched, and you would want to be an experienced driver.

 

I found this thread on the trail, http://www.reno4x4.com/forum/showthr...ke-4x4-Camping, from what I understand, the trail that the videos show are just to the camp site, pretty mellow looking. If we were to set up camp and then go play around, it would be easier for the drivers of the less built rigs to hop in the better built rigs and ride along. Just a thought. . I myself am stock and plan on getting sliders here pretty soon, hopefully before I go wheeling next.

This looks like a great spot to camp/wheel. The website says 4WD is required so no minivan packed families will be there, I would hope. . And it's free to camp with fire rings and toilets

 

All of the campsites require some level of off-roading, but I feel confident that I could make it to nearly all of the lake side campsites in my Pre-Runner Tacoma. You need (some) ground clearance to get to them, but not 4WD or Low Range.

Stockers can definitely get into the campsite, and there are a lot of smaller trails that the lesser built rigs can definitely do. A lot of them are old fire roads, etc, with beautiful trails and views.

I think if we try to do this, we should try for a weekend run, head up Friday Night / Saturday Morning. Wheel Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, then pack it out and get back to Civilization.

How does late April / Early May sound to everyone as a tentative date? Hopefully by then most of the snow, etc should be gone, and it will be warm enough to do a run like this.

If I can get a tentative date going with some commits, I'll start a separate thread to track the join list.

Until then, if anyone has ideas for a day snow trip or coast run, I'm game.

 

Tht sounds like a great plan, I'm an hr west of sac but am willing to travel a few hrs, went 3hrs for squak ridge

 

where the hell did this board come from?!?!

 

Does that mean you're interested in joining RefWolf's trip?

Sent from my iPhone using YotaTech

 

Yea I'm def interested

 

i probably won't be able to do much wheeling this summer with y'all because we're expecting our 1st kid in beginning of june - but if something gets planned before then I will try my best to get out with you guys (because i know i won't be going anywhere after...). i should be good for any time except 1st weekend in may if planning for end april/early may.

as for snow...at some point this winter, I told a buddy that we should try to hit up some snow in our Cruisers and do some sledding, now that he just bought an FJC (I've got a 100 series). not sure when this would happen, if ever, but it will be before snow melts away and most likely either Mormon Emigrant Trail or Yuba Gap area which I just read about on Pirate (Forest Route 19 - enter @ Yuba Gap, exit @ Emigrant Gap). Other area might be out of Georgetown toward Rubicon, whichever might have less traffic on it. All these areas are fairly close to Sac for day trips. If anyone wants to try and plan something, lets see what schedules look like - or when would be best for snow. more rigs we have, the more rigs to help pull stuck rigs, hahaha! I don't think I have much going on in first half of march and first half of april.

 

Since nobody else responded I'm assuming nobody wants to go snow wheeling
I was up in South Lake last weekend and based on what I saw on the ground, and from the direction the weather has been headed this year - I'd be hesitant to say a snow trip is even a possibility this year. Thank you global warming and all the ignorant people who don't believe in it!

 

Hey guys, I'm in Davis.
I won't be able to get out until the first two weeks of June.
This winter seems super dry, though! It makes me sad...
I went out to the MET once and on the hard-packed icy ruts everything was fine but as soon as you went to one side or the other everyone was having trouble. I got pulled out by some folks in big ass yota rigs on at least 38's, all sas'd or sfa, and one of them got stuck after I did.

 

Hey All-
I just posted up a thread with a plan for a trip to the Lake Basins Recreational Area (Gold Lake).

The thread can be found here: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f46/...3rd-5th-266158

Here are the basic details:

Date: May 3rd through 5th

Location: Lake Basins Recreation Area - Gold Lake

Number of Runs: Presently planning for 3 runs over two days.

Camping: I will be camping Friday and Saturday night. The campground will be centrally located, and we will be returning to camp at the end of the first day of trails.

If you have any other questions, or are interested in the run, please post-up in my thread linked to above.

BTW: This will be my first time planning to lead a trip, so take it easy on me.

Thanks!

 

Wish I saw this a bit earlier, I would have met ya halfway or something, especially since you won't be wheeling this summer. And congrats on your first kid! If you do have any time left before summer hits to go wheeling, let me know.

 

I might have something going on May 3, but I'll try my best to make it for the rest of the trip!

 

i would be all over that trip, but unfortunately i've gotta be at a baby shower bbq that weekend. i'd ditch it, but it's for my kid...oops...

 

It's all good. It would be great if you could make it for part of the trip though. Presently my plan is to hold off as much as we can Sunday to try and wait for people to arrive who are driving up Saturday.

As we get closer, just give me a heads up on if you are planning on coming, and I will try to hold off for you if we can.

 

Well, at least now we know your priorities: Kids over Wheelin'. Sheesh...

Honestly though, I totally understand. Have a big piece of Steak for me!

 

yeah i know, what have i gotten myself into? planning to train the kid well and get the outdoors in early - i think i'll be able to pull off 1-2 camping trips this summer when the kid is only a few months old, lol. i think i was 2mo's when my parents first brought me camping...and it supposedly snowed. not sure how wheeling with an infant would go - i'm guessing not so well.


as for the steak.....i'd love to be able to afford ribeyes for everyone, but instead i'm going to buy a Costco vacuum bag of tri-tips and possibly a couple chickens to grill up. Gonna douse them up with some Pappy's and throw them on the bbq - if you've never tried Pappy's, try it! Some of the best stuff i've ever come across - make sure you get the salt-free version otherwise you're paying the same price for mostly salt, which you can add your own, better salt! first time i ever bought one of those bags of tri-tips, there were 9 of them hiding inside