This weekend, I bounced out to Downieville, CA, up in the Sierras. Its up in the northern Sierras, specifically, a region called the Sierra Buttes. It is home to a world-famous downhill mountain bike course. 17 Miles of screaming downhill.
Here's what some of the trail looks like; smooth side-hill single-track snaking through trees.
There is 1/4 mile of climbing in there too. Not only that, but Downieville has several companies that shuttle you up to the top of the mountain, from 2600 feet to 7700 feet. I felt a little strange as the only person wearing full spandex amongst the elbow-padded, baggy-shorts, full-face helmet crowd of the shuttle vans.
In any case, it was beautiful up there.
A small mountain brook, that grows to feed the N. Fork of the Yuba.
The next day, we took the advice (foolishly perhaps) of the locals and explored some of the other trails in the area. We chose a route that started in Downieville, climbed to Chimney Rock Peak (7700) and then came all the way back down. Unfortunately, the "single track" routes we had chosen were single track for OHV's too. We didn't see any while we were there, but their dominance on the trail was felt. Mostly in my legs.
The top of the climb brought us to a saddle between one small peak and another.
From there, we descended on more loose, rocky, slippery single-track back to Downieville, narrowly escaping heat stroke and bonking.
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