A little snow ride

[hemingray]

I got a wild bug today to go see if I could ride FR-19 with some snow on it and decided to chance it. Turned out to be quite nice - about 5 inches at Lake Valley Reservoir, and increased to about 7-8 inches at about 7,000 feet. I made it as far as the old - now stolen - "High Clearance Four Wheel Drive Vehicles" sign about 3/4 of the way to Big Valley Bluff.

Black Mountain from the North Fork



And the North Fork



Where the road hits the top of Monumental Ridge, all the tracks stopped and it was pristine snow!



Not a ton of snow on the Sierra Crest



Gorgeous day up there!



Along with the tracks I was making, I liked all the animal tracks along the way.



I guess they lit off all the burn piles on Thursday or Friday before the storm, there were a lot of them, mostly burned out.



At the end of the journey, I could not go uphill - both routes going to Big Valley Bluff have little grades and I could not go up them at all. So, I made some snonuts.



Which filled in the wheels neatly!



Time to retrace my tracks



I tried to go over to Huysink lake, but the grade downhill spooked me and I didn't try it (it also had some more deep stuff).

All in all, a nice ride. And, my tires are really clean!

[EigerMike]

great pics !!!!!! i enjoy making tracks too! looks like the weather was just right for your ride . very beautiful pics!

[auendave]

gosh that looks like fun I love riding in snow. evey thing is so pristine, great pics.

[QMaze]

Fantastic pics, must have been so much fun.

[hemingray]

Thanks - it was fun. Also, it was a chance to really learn what the traction is like in snow. I was surprised at the end, a small uphill grade completely stopped me. The thing just dug in and bogged down. I was also surprised to find that locking the front diff just made it dig in faster.

I wish the weather was better today, I was tempted to go back with the other quad and the 26" Bighorns and see what the difference is.

[hellcat650]

Nice ride