Gold Lake near Downieville

[XJensen]

Camping and wheeling next weekend, the 25th and 26th around Gold Lake I plan on running two trails up there and doing some camping and swimming. Anyone is welcome, this will be a family trip as I will have my son and nephew.

Let me know if interested as I am still figuring out the details.

Josh

 

[XJ_ranger]

the Snake Lake trail in that area is a pretty good one.

I've spent many a summer up there at Hawley Lake (sp?)

Great times.

 

[agent98]

Are you fishing too?

 

[Tenny]

My dad's there this weekend... such a beautiful place! If work wasn't kicking my ass I'd be all over it!

 

[XJensen]

the Snake Lake trail in that area is a pretty good one.

I've spent many a summer up there at Hawley Lake (sp?)

Great times.

Thanks Opie.
Good to know, I was planing on running Snake Lake. Where is the best camping in the area. On a lake or river would be prefered.

Josh

Are you fishing too?

I am not a fisherman by any means, but I am looking to spend a good amount of time on and near the water. So if fishing is your thing come on out.

 

[kj139]

I wheeled that area last weekend. The Snake Lake trail is good, as is the Deer Lake trail. Most of the trails are easy; however, there are a few REALLY GOOD obstacles along the way. There is a killer waterfall-type obstacle along the Deer Lake trail that will require front and rear lockers. Also, there is an area of very cool Petryglyphs (I think that's what they are called) with rock designs dating back thousands of years (or so the sign said). It was worth seeing.

Take some warm clothes. We left 100-degree temps in the Valley and got rain/hail up the hill. Also, the mosquitos are mutant, so take bug spray. Some of the water in the lakes was surprisingly warm, so swimming is on the menu. We were impressed, as fuel/food is close by, and there is running water at one of the campgrounds for re-stocking camp.

A word of advice though (we found out the hard way)...The area is huge for mountain bike racing and they will shut down roads that lead to the trails for races. You can check in Sierra City to see if anything is going on; and if so, what time you need to get to the trail to avoid a road closure.

Good luck!

 

[XJensen]

Thanks for the great info, it's priceless going into this no knowing what to expect. Does the waterfall obstacle on Deer Lake Trail have a by-pass. I am open/open until I finish my axles later this summer.

Thanks again
Josh

I wheeled that area last weekend. The Snake Lake trail is good, as is the Deer Lake trail. Most of the trails are easy; however, there are a few REALLY GOOD obstacles along the way. There is a killer waterfall-type obstacle along the Deer Lake trail that will require front and rear lockers. Also, there is an area of very cool Petryglyphs (I think that's what they are called) with rock designs dating back thousands of years (or so the sign said). It was worth seeing.

Take some warm clothes. We left 100-degree temps in the Valley and got rain/hail up the hill. Also, the mosquitos are mutant, so take bug spray. Some of the water in the lakes was surprisingly warm, so swimming is on the menu. We were impressed, as fuel/food is close by, and there is running water at one of the campgrounds for re-stocking camp.

A word of advice though (we found out the hard way)...The area is huge for mountain bike racing and they will shut down roads that lead to the trails for races. You can check in Sierra City to see if anything is going on; and if so, what time you need to get to the trail to avoid a road closure.

Good luck!

 

[basalt51]

Thanks for the great info, it's priceless going into this no knowing what to expect. Does the waterfall obstacle on Deer Lake Trail have a by-pass. I am open/open until I finish my axles later this summer.

Thanks again
Josh

If its the section I'm thinking of, that portion of the trail has been closed for a long time, but it doesn't stop a lot of people from driving past the Forest service sign saying they will close the trail completely if people continue to go past it! Basically there is a turn around/parking area ~500 feet from the lake. The waterfall/steep rock steps area is from there down and is closed, though that didn't stop the 'yota on ~38s we saw (and the 20-30 hikers a day that were there) from going down just to swim a fish for a few hours.

Deer lake is amazingly beautiful, but the only place we found to camp without carrying everything all the way down was ~100yds off the parking area and we still had to carry everything. Getting there can be done in pretty much anything with 4wd.

Camping at the Southwest end of Gold lake is really nice. Just follow the "4x4" trail around the south end of the lake. If you get there early enough you might find a spot at Little gold lake just past the Gold lake camping area which is also beautiful. Swimming in Gold lake can be interesting with all the crawdads!

 

[kj139]

The "waterfall" area we went through didn't have any signs and appeared to be a main trail. We went as guests of the Grass Valley 4WD Club, and since they have "adopted" the trails in the area (and the run was for trail maintenance), I am confident we weren't on a closed trail. Unfortunately, there wasn't a bypass. "Waterfall" might not be the best description. There was a waterfall on the mountain off to the left and the entrance to the trail required a climb that was very steep, stepped rock, similar to a waterfall (but no water).

Jeprgrl took the Snake Lake trail and she is open/open. She made it no problem. There were two other techincal obstacles along the Deer Lake trail; one had a bypass and another had lines that open vehicles should be able to make with a little forethought.

Basalt is right about Deer Lake...All of the campgrounds were taken. Some of the people we were with said there is a small camping area at Snake Lake, but I didn't see it (we were above it), nor did I see anyone camping there.

Good luck (and remember the bug spray)!

 

[basalt51]

Maybe you're talking about Little Deer Lake? Deer Lake is almost accessible by 2wd

The Deer Lake I'm talking about is named in the Map below, I think Snake lake and Little Deer lake are the unlabeled ones to the Northwest, west of Gold lake? We've been wanting to hit those up some time!

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.658571,-120.67297&spn=0.057157,0.13072&t=p&z=14

 

[kj139]

That must be it, Little Deer Lake, as while we were on that trail, we could (occasionally) see the other goup running the Snake Lake trail. My wife just informed me that it was actually Gold Lake that was packed with people (no campgrounds available). She also said she is sure it was Little Deer...My bad.

 

[XJensen]

Thanks again guys. I'll let you all know how it goes when I get back and all are still welcome.

 

[XJensen]

well I got back earlier today and had a great time. I ran the trail counterclockwise, down Snake Lake Hill and then attempted to go back up. I was surprised how steep and loose it actually was but I was still able to make it up open/open with little trouble. I ran continued to deer valley trail, missed my turn, and continued on back to Gold Lake camp.

Sunday I ran Snake again, this time making my turn to Little Deer Lake where there is some great swimming and left for home via Deer Lake Trail.

I was very impressed with the area and the trails. I'll have pics up later in the week.

Josh

PS. I spotted a few XJs around the area, anyone from here?